The New White House "Reality" Website
The White House has released a new website, the "Reform Reality Check," the latest "fact-check" sites, aimed at debunking some of the more egregious characterizations of the still-amorphous health care reform effort. It is a signal that the Obama Administration is settling in for a long slog against its conservative critics, a fight not just for the opinions of the great American mass, but for the actual facts about what health care reform will and will not do. Here are four of the things one can learn from the new website.
1. The White House does not think people read online, or at least not the people they want to reach. All the major messages--attempting to debunk claims that health reform will ration care or force euthanasia--are delivered as videos.
2. The offices in the West Wing and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building are, well, not all that. Kavita Patel, a senior advisor to the president, works in an office overrun by plastic packing boxes. Christina Romer, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, poses in front of a laser printer and an HVAC vent. Matt Flavin, a veterans policy director, at least has a white board and an American flag. We can all thank Ricky Gervais for making such aesthetically appalling setting acceptable for public addresses by the president's senior advisors.
3. This campaign-style communications battle is just beginning, and it will continue to come at the cost of a serious debate about the most complex health care reform issues. Obama's fiercest critics, like Sarah Palin who ruminates about hypothetical "death panels" to get the blogs a-buzzing, are content to misrepresent what is in the health care proposal and reference decade-old academic papers by Obama advisers to scare voters. The White House, meanwhile, has decided, both in its legislative proposals and its rhetoric, to avoid the trickiest issues of long-term health care cost control, which will eventually have to involve, almost all experts agree, either government rationing of care, along the lines of private sector managed care, or huge new taxes to pay for the unsustainable cost increases.
4. The White House continues to exploit its own credibility. It is hard to imagine George W. Bush putting out fact-check videos from the West Wing at the end of his term because, well, so few people believed at that point that he could either do what he said, or worse say what he was going to do. Obama continues to have maintained his own credibility with most of the nation, and his team is committed to exploiting it. (A recent New York Times poll said Americans prefer his health reform ideas to Republicans by a margin of 55 percent to 26 percent.) One of the videos actually shows Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from Virginia North Carolina, alleging that Obama's plan will "put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government"--an extremely misleading distortion of what the bill entails. (There is a provision allowing funding for voluntary living wills, not any plans for nursing home executions.) The message here is unmistakable. We can be trusted, they can't.
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1
almost all experts agree, either government rationing of care, along the lines of private sector managed care, or huge new taxes to pay for the unsustainable cost increases.
Name the experts and their party affiliations, or stop transcribing GOP talkingpoints.
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1.1
Just to underline Junius' point - isn't private managed healthcare the status quo? so what if it is government rather than the insurance companies "managing" health care? The only difference is that government does not care about profits.
also, please detail the unsustainable cost increases...are you talking about the cost of insuring the uninsured? or other costs?
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1.2
Junius said what I was thinking. Please respond. Isn't it possible that if the govt negotiated for prescription drugs and modernized the system, we could begin to knock the costs down. Why can the industry magically come up with 2 trillion in cost savings when they're threatened, but going with a public option can't possibly save money for patients?
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2
1. "The White House, meanwhile, has decided, both in its legislative proposals and its rhetoric, to avoid the trickiest issues of long-term health care cost control, which will eventually have to involve, almost all experts agree, either government rationing of care, along the lines of private sector managed care, or huge new taxes to pay for the unsustainable cost increases."
Some explanation is required for this assertion referring to BOTH the rhetoric (which is odd, because Obama has consistently elevated cost-control as a major issue in his rhetoric) and the legislative proposal (again odd, isn't the medpak thingy one of the proposals to reduce costs and which, essentially is a committee to determine best health care practices).
2. "an extremely misleading distortion of what the bill entails"
Can't you just say "lie" or at least a "deliberately" misleading distortion.
3 (and finally) "This campaign-style communications battle is just beginning, and it will continue to come at the cost of a serious debate about the most complex health care reform issues. "
Shouldn't there be, for form's sake if nothing else, a mention that Obama has sought previously to explain the proposals with depth and nuance (and, really, it is all pretty much spelt out on the whitehouse website) and that the "cost of a serious debate" is the cost that republicans and those wilful distortions (LIES) that you reference further on have unfairly and undemocratically exacted from the President?
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3
Obama's fiercest critics, like Sarah Palin who ruminates about hypothetical "death panels" to get the blogs a-buzzing, are content to misrepresent what is in the health care proposal and reference decade-old academic papers by Obama advisers to scare voters.
In the real world, we call this lying through her racist, corrupt teeth. It is a deliberate, wholesale falsehood, designed to play into the hands of the hardright, racist kooks who form her base.
One of the videos actually shows Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from Virginia, alleging that Obama's plan will "put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government"--an extremely misleading distortion of what the bill entails.
In other words, peddling the same shameless, unpatriotic lies as the racist "quit and runner" from Alaska. Extremely misleading distortion my ass!
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4
1. The White House does not think people read online, or at least not the people they want to reach. All the major messages--attempting to debunk claims that health reform will ration care or force euthanasia--are delivered as videos.
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could it be that the responses are on video because the White House doesn't have anything approaching an actual reform plan that people can read?
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The reason that insanely paranoid critiques like "death panel" get traction is because the White House has never gotten down to specifics concerning what it wants, and has treated reform as a public relations question, not a policy issue. The ultimate message is "we don't care what is in the bill as long as it passes". And the revelations of back room deals with drug companies, and reliance on Senators who are owned and operated subsidiaries of health care parasites, merely compound the problem.
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The only advantage the white house has is that the GOP is so corrupt and insane. I mean, can you imagine how effective attacks on the "White House plan" would be if the GOP was not even more closely tied to PhRMA than are the Democrats? So, instead of criticism of the corrupt sweetheart deal Obama negotiated with Pfizer and friends, we get "death panels"....-
4.1
Absent the nitty gritty (and unless you expected Obama's team to draft the 1000 page legislation, I'm not sure what more you want), it's all there on the white house web site and on healthreform.gov - http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/hiddencosts/index.html is a good report on the hidden costs of the status quo, for example.
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4.2
really? Its all there? Whats the White House position on the public option? Not just whether its acceptable, but what form it should take, how many people it should cover, whether businesses should be permitted to enroll their employees in the public option, etc....
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4.3
Well, I would term all that the nitty gritty. The sites I pointed to are pretty detailed in terms of what they want to achieve. The public option is a means to an end, rather than a great thing for the sake of itself. I had always understood Obama to say that in his view the public option would be the most appropriate way to get to where he wants to get to, but that he was open to other ways of doing so. I really can't object to that approach because I don't know whether there is another way of getting to the same place and I appreciate that Obama has always said he would listen to ideas whether they are democratic, republican or alien and if they work, great he'll try to implement them.
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5
THe White House has every right to put these things together. The GOP mob opposition is blatantly lying about the president reform agenda and they have no intentions of stopping, so how else do you fight back?
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6
"an extremely misleading distortion of what the bill entails"
That's much too generous. "the batsh!t crazy lies of a dying party led by a has-been beauty queen wannabe" would be more accurate.
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6.1
Yeah, the word you're looking for is "lie."
Why can't journalists simply say "that is not true." Period. End of sentence.
The GOP pulls this stuff because they know you'll never call them out on it. They know you're a bunch of pansies, and you're proving their point.
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6.2
Sarah isn't all that bright, but she is cunning. She knows that a dramatic scary sounding lie will resonate far more than a policy-wonk style explanation. She has a special needs child. We get that. She brings it up ad nauseum. Now those socialist devils want to kill her baby. A lying skank is still just a lying skank.
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7
government rationing of care
Obama's fiercest critics, like Sarah Palin
Both of these phrases are very poorly chosen.
Usually when one thinks of a 'fierce' critic, one usually thinks of an effective one. Being the furthest over the top with misstatements and lies doesn't make one a fierce critic. It makes one a laughingstock.Also it's odd to think that the party of self-reliance is pushing a notion of 'rationing' health care. Certainly any procedure anybody wants is available to anyone.
All you have to do is be willing to pay for it yourself.Instead we have a bunch of members of the party of self reliance whining that their welfare checks won't be big enough.
It actually borders on pathetic if you think about it.
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8
Sorry, two more things:
- out of the four things you've listed as things people can learn from looking at the site, none of them relate to the facts about healthcare. Surely, there must be some factual material on the site that you can say is true?
- related to that, I object to the quotes around the word "reality" in the headline. If you are going to do that, then perhaps an example of where you say the WH's reality is not accurate or is misleading?
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9
http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/palins-poison/
If you want to see what a real-life, real journalist's assessment of Palin looks like....
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10
I got myself in trouble the other night for going all self-righteous over Amy Sullivan, so I will confine myself today to the observation that Mikey is still a tool.
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10.1
Not so much a tool, more of a blunt instrument, with no sharpener in sight.
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10.2
FT: You're never self-righteous. Blunt, yes. Self-righteous, no.
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10.3
I don't know about blunt, so much as outspoken, honest, a passionate tribune of the people! Speaking for myself, I cheer when Friar Tuck raises his head into our airspace.
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10.4
Aw, shucks!
My head's going to get swelled up anyway, no matter what I do today - 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity here in Columbia SC, "The Armpit of the South" - so I will just enjoy the compliments and risk the hubris.
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10.5
FT: See? It could be worse. You could have had to suffer the humilation that I did at work last night. A young woman under the influence of alcohol felt the need to expose herself to us (the full monty). Try as I might, I can't get that image out of my head. The horror, the horror.
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11
@homerhk,
Actually the scare quotes around reality are probably OK. You may recall that during the campaign, Obama found it necessary to put up a site simply devoted to quashing the "Secret Muslim" rumors and other Internet detrius that was going around. There were questions at the time whether he should have been giving such viral messages the credence that comes from acknowleging their existence. It's clear in retrospect that he made the right choice.
Consider this a repetition of a successful strategy and further as a sideshow to the actual serious debate.
It is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time and its possible to swat down hokum while also having a substantive debate.-
11.1
Or, as Comrade Scherer teaches us, it is possible to spew out hokum, while avoiding a substantive debate. This would be perfectly normal if Comrade Scherer were an open GOP operative, but he is supposed to be a journalist - at least, for his day job.
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11.2
Paul, I was objecting to MS's use of the quotation marks which gives the impression that the website deals in "reality" (ie, so-called reality) rather than real reality. A small point, but one I thought indicative of the common method of journalists simply reporting what each side says rather than making a determination as to who is tellilng the truth and who is lying (or, should I say "distorting")
I remember the secret muslim thing all too well - not as humourous as the Obama's father was really Malcolm X storyline I picked up from somewhere during the campaign.
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12
Reality check? Americans are finally awakening to the disturbing realization that PelosiObamaReidCare (PORC) would violate the rights of doctors, patients, and business owners on a massive scale unprecedented in the history of the United States.
Doctors on Strike for Freedom in Medicine (http://www.doctorsonstrike.com) cites HR3200 with violations of our rights, including forcing people to buy health insurance, forcing employers to provide health insurance for employees, and forcing some groups (wealthy, business owners) to pay for the health insurance of other groups.
Our country was founded on the idea of individual rights--the idea that individuals are ends-in-themselves; that we have the right to exist for our own sake; that no one has the right to force anyone to live for the sake of others; that we have the right to be left alone to pursue our own ends in life as long as we do not infringe on the liberty of others to do the same; that the proper role of government is to protect our rights, not violate them.
Americans are realizing they must act with a sense of urgency to bring a halt to this leftist-led, lemming-like leap into health care he!l. Voters, seeing politicians turning a deaf ear to them, need to crank up the volume-- civilly--until the politicians get the message:
"Earth to politicians: Health care is not a right, doctors are not your slaves, businesses are not your banks, the wealthy are not your wet nurses, and patients are not your pawns."
Dr. Gregory Garamoni
Founder, Doctors on Strike for Freedom in Medicine
http://www.doctorsonstrike.com-
12.1
I went to that website and looked under "factual ammunition" as a matter of interest. It said: "under construction". Just about sums it up.
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12.2
"Earth to politicians: Health care is not a right, "
Earth to Dr. Gregory Garamoni: That statement is more indicative of what is screwed up about the healthcare process in this country that anything else you could have possibly said. Pompous a$$.
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12.3
Stop self-medicating, doctor.
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12.4
Did you stay up all night coming up with that catchy acronym?
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I'm feeling safer already. -
12.5
Stay on strike doc. Call it a vacation and enjoy yourself. One stroke at a time.
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12.6
"Earth to politicians: Health care is not a right, doctors are not your slaves, businesses are not your banks, the wealthy are not your wet nurses, and patients are not your pawns."
.
Can we now officially bury the meme that the GOP is 'the party of life"?
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If Healthcare is not a 'right' then what right DO you have? I'm assuming that the GOP thinks you have a right to die when treatment that would save you is available, as long as your too poor to afford it. -
12.7
This is my reply to the surly statists who sneered and spit at my post:
“I quit when medicine was placed under State control some years ago,” said Dr. Hendricks. “Do you know what it takes to perform a brain operation? Do you know the kind of skill it demands, and the years of passionate, merciless, excruciating devotion that go to acquire that skill? That was what I could not place at the disposal of men whose sole qualification to rule me was their capacity to spout the fraudulent generalities that got them elected to the privilege of enforcing their wishes at the point of a gun. I would not let them dictate the purpose for which my years of study had been spent, or the conditions of my work, or my choice of patients, or the amount of my reward. I observed that in all the discussions that preceded the enslavement of medicine, men discussed everything—except the desires of the doctors. Men considered only the ‘welfare' of the patients, with no thought for those who were to provide it. That a doctor should have any right, desire or choice in the matter, was regarded as irrelevant selfishness; his is not to choose, they said, but ‘to serve.' That a man's willing to work under compulsion is too dangerous a brute to entrust with a job in the stockyards—never occurred to those who proposed to help the sick by making life impossible for the healthy. I have often wondered at the smugness at which people assert their right to enslave me, to control my work, to force my will, to violate my conscience, to stifle my mind—yet what is it they expect to depend on, when they lie on an operating table under my hands? Their moral code has taught them to believe that it is safe to rely on the virtue of their victims. Well, that is the virtue I have withdrawn. Let them discover the kind of doctors that their system will now produce. Let them discover, in the operating rooms and hospital wards, that it is not safe to place their lives in the hands of a man they have throttled. It is not safe, if he is the sort of man who resents it—and still less safe, if he is the sort who doesn't.”
From Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (1957)
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12.8
glgphd:
Thanks for sharing your sacred text with us -- a poorly-written work of fiction.
I can't decide which cult members are more deluded -- the Randites or the Scientologists.
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12.9
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.'
h/t Kung Fu Monkey
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12.10
As a physician, I have only one reply to those who are happy at the prospect of this statist healthcare fiasco being made law... and people like myself being told that we are now employed by the state...against our will.
You will deserve what you get.
Heal yourselves or just die.
I won't care any more.
I'll no longer be practicing.
I'll be in happy premature retirement.
T Taylor, MD
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12.11
All aboard for the crazy train. I don't know about anyone else, but if my doctor ever talked like that, I would would be heading for the nearest exit. It's one thing to have an opinion, but batsh!t crazy is a different matter. "Heal yourselves or just die"? Kiss my ass. You'd suck as a vet. Get a grip.
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13
correction: sad to say, as an NC resident, that Virginia Foxx is from NC rather than Virginia. Wonder if they'd like to have her instead?
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13.1
I'm sure Oklahoma would gladly take her. Hell, they're already pretty well near the bottom of the barrel with Inhofe.
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14
The healthplanb proposals do NOTHING to reduce costs, and our just another new entitlement that is underfunding. It will simply accelerate the financial problems of the country under the guise of feel-good leglislation.
I have read most of the 1,018 page bill, and it is full of cleverly worded sections that will prevent choice in healthcare plans for people that like what they have. The craziest thing is that Obama says we need to pass this right now, and Year one of the plan begins in 2013.
If you need help with the math, that is over three years from now. It only tries to hide the true underfunding of the proposal. The tax increases would start in 2010, but the free healthcare wouldn't until 2013.
And the Democrats block all proposals to declare that Congress and Federal employees would be subject to any public option they legislate into existence.
That alone speaks volumes.
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14.1
"I have read most of the 1,018 page bill, and it is full of cleverly worded sections that will prevent choice in healthcare plans for people that like what they have. The craziest thing is that Obama says we need to pass this right now, and Year one of the plan begins in 2013."
Examples, please. Bear in mind, I've also read most of the bill.
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14.2
I get that you have grown accustomed to a fact-free environment. But you will find that we require more than just your word at this site. If you'd like to have your claims taken seriously, you might want to offer some proof of what you say.
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14.3
zorkman:
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I have read most of the 1,018 page bill, and it is full of cleverly worded sections that will prevent choice in healthcare plans for people that like what they have.
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I am very interested to examine for myself whether or not the sections of legislation to which you refer do that which you say that they will do.
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I am having a problem, though, and I'd really appreciate it if you could help me out:
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My problem is that I'm trying to look up the bill online, so I can read those "cleverly worded sections" right there in black and white, but I don't know where to start looking.
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When you mention that you have "read most of the 1,018 page bill", could you please specify to which bill exactly you are referring?
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Do you mean H.R.3200 - America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, the House Bill?
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Or do you mean S. 623: Pre-existing Condition Patient Protection Act of 2009, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Bill?
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Or do you mean S.391 -Healthy Americans Act, re-introduced by Ron Wyden and Bob Bennet?
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If you could provide links to and quotes from the relevant sections of the bill that you're talking about, then I would be able to confirm with relative certainty the existence of the cleverly worded, choice-prohibitive sections of it.
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Without links and quotes, there's no way to differentiate between real information and political scare-mongering, don't you see? Without even telling us the name of the bill you've been so diligent as to read "most" of, we're just left with somebody's appeal to their own authority, and, as I'm sure you must be aware, that leads everyone but the most stupid and credulous to instantly reject such appeals as politically motivated garbage.
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So thanks in advance for providing actual evidence for the problematic language you're warning everyone who comes across this post at Time Magazine's web site about, zorkman, so that we don't just have one more piece of unsubstantiated crap on the internet to ignore.
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(BTW: When you mention that the bill is 1,018 pages long, that sounds rather daunting and scary. I mean, the impression with which I'm left is that if it's that long, won't there be something that takes my health care choices away from me in there somewhere? But of course there's no context in that statement for how long bills are in general, and whether or not this bill is abnormally verbose for this kind of legislation...you might want to add whether or nor that's a bigger or smaller bill than usual along with the huge page number, so that we're not unnecessarily anxiety-stricken by that context-less fact. Thanks so much!) -
14.4
The bill is HR3200
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3200ih.txt.pdfYear 1 is 2013
- Page 14 lines 10-13Someone seeking individual coverage when the public option is available can only buy into the public option. No choice of Blue Cross, First Health, UHC, etc.
- Page 16 lines 10-16Advance Care Planning Consultation
- every 5 years,
- page 424 line 20 thru 425
or less if you get real sick
- page 428 line 17-25
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15
The whole campaign against reform of hc is laced with lies, distortions and falsehoods. But do our Villagers ever point to that. It seems that a lie is one interpretation. OTOH lives. And Dr Garamoni: I guess he is interested in the money.
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15.1
But... but...it's fair and balanced! And isn't that what journalism is all about? You can't be objective AND report facts that prove one side wrong! That's not fair or balanced!!
*cough* But yes. Please, MS, more journalism, less stenography and 'even-handedness'. The golden mean fallacy does no one any good when one side just doubles down on the crazy every time you folks fail to call them on it, or maintain your false equivalencies for the sake of 'balance'.
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16
Why do you have reality in quotes? Trying to feed the paranoia on the right - like it needs it. Come on, Michael.
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17
I have been reading about all this hullaballoo over the health care issue. It's really saddening because instead of having a debate over how best to do healthcare it has turned into a shouting match and accusations. Rather than our political leaders addressing the issues its turned into a mud slinging match. The republicans seem to want our current health care to stay the same even though it is a hodge podge mess which is spiraling out of control. The democrats want to pass a bill that has been thrown together and none of really know what is in it. It's madness I say madness. I hear people screaming....socialized healthcare like its the worst thing that ever happened besides communisim. I hate to tell them but we already have socialized healthcare that we pay for out of our paychecks right now. Its called Medi-Cal in California, ACCCHS in Arizona, and probably Medi-Caid in the other states. Why don't we just make those programs more available to everyone and why can't we all have a few more dollars taken out of our paycheck to pay for it? I wouldn't mind having an extra 10 dollars taken out of my pay every check if it meant my mom could have access to healthcare or a neighbor down the road. Is it to much to ask?
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18
http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/08/10/gingrich_backs_palin/
Joan Walsh, I love you. I also feel vastly more confident about healthcare's chances. is there a more discredited politician than Gingrich, in all of America? The whackjob convergence has begun.
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19
I have few other things to say about our health care or lack of. What I really think is our leaders need to address what is behind the whole mess and I can sum it up in one word: greed. Healthcare policy is controlled by the pharmaceuticals and the health insurance industry. They do not care about us. We are just another number and another dollar. Those companies have our current medical care designed to keep us sick and dependent on them. They are not in the business of wellness. If they were we wouldn't be having a discussion today about healthcare costs spiraling out of control. I do not go to the doctor, I do not take medication, nor do I ever want to. The reason: once they get you sucked in you are going to be sucked in the rest of your life. The drugs and medications and medical treatments are designed to insure that you continually need them. If you were well they wouldn't be able to make money off of your illness. It's perverse and twisted but its the reality of the situation. I get angry when I hear people defend those companies. The only ones who should be directing medical policy along with our leaders are those who provide the care and that is doctors and nurses.
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20
I'm going to do my best to stay positive and on track. I've decided it is no longer worth my time or effort (nor should it be the media's job or priority) to focus on lies and dishonor. As long as the GOP wants to engage in an unAmerican, unpatriotic smear campaign designed only to instill fear in people, I will no longer, from this moment forward, give them any of my energy. I will not feed their fear machine by even acknowledging the feces that spews from their mouths.
Instead, I will focus on engaging in the actual discussion based on facts. If that means that 20% of the nation is excluded from my radar, then so be it. (And I think 20% is being generous.)
Perhaps the media can join me in having a real discussion about health care reform, instead of reporting efforts to sabotage our country as "news" or giving credibility to liars by stating that they are anything but?
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21
[...] more from the original source: The New White House "Reality" Website (Time Magazine) Tagged: against-its, long-slog, obama, reality, reform-reality, white, [...]
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22
Michael Scherer:
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Obama's fiercest critics, like Sarah Palin who ruminates about hypothetical "death panels" to get the blogs a-buzzing...
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That's an interesting way to frame it...it kinda sounds like you're excluding Serious journalists from the "a-buzzing" hive, doesn't it?
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Do you mean "blogs" like this one at the New York Times Online?
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Or do you mean "blogs" like this one at WaPo Online?
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Or do you mean "blogs" like this one at the San Fran Chronicle Online?
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Or do you mean "blogs" like the AP online?
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Or do you meant "blogs" like McClatchey online?
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Or is "The Blogs" just Village-speak for "Drudge & Politico, and therefore the rest of us following suit"?
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(By the way, have I just done something for which Rupert Murdoch would like every one of those to whom I've linked to sue the crap out of me? Because Time.com sells advertising space on this site, have I now put your employer in legal jeopardy, at least maybe according to News Corp's legions of attorneys? Is the fact that even I'm thinking about these legal issues good for journalis...err, oops, I mean The Reporting Industry?) -
23
It is about time the White House responded to the right wing lies. There is a related post at http://iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588
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24
[...] it around. The White House has released a new website, the “Reform Reality Check,” the latest [...]
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25
"1. The White House does not think people read online, or at least not the people they want to reach. All the major messages--attempting to debunk claims that health reform will ration care or force euthanasia--are delivered as videos."
--
I think they're right - the opponents do not appear to be internet savvy, intellectually curious or even borderline intelligent - if they were, they would know that the hooey about the "death panel" and end of life scare tactics are just that - hooey.
Rage is fuel for the intellectually challenged - and that's all the opponents have left.
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