Please Don’t Turn Me In!
by Mike on Aug.10, 2009, under Political
Whenever we face major legislation, such as Health Care Reform, there is always a lot of misinformation in the air. Usually, the proponents and opponents of the legislation double their efforts to refute this information, such as conducting advertising campaigns, going before the voters, etc. The Obama team has taken a fresh approach – creating an enemies list. (I guess Nixon did this also, but that was almost 40 years ago).
Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White House’s Health Reform Office, has posted a blog on the White House website, in she comments on the misinformation and spreads a little more of her own. In underlined text, she states:
“the President has consistently said that if you like your insurance plan, your doctor, or both, you will be able to keep them“
As I have addressed previously, this statement, with no qualifiers, is patently untrue.
However, that is not my biggest grievance with this blog. In order to combat misinformation regarding the Health Care legislation (presumably only misinformation opposed to the legislation and not the misinformation President Obama is spreading himself), the White House has established an email address, flag@whitehouse.gov, which is collecting this “misinformation” and the sources thereof.
What would be the purpose of collecting this information? Is the White House intending to send rebuttal emails to all the folks who rec’d the prior “misinformed” email? Is the White House intending to go to each blog identified as spreading misinformation about the Health Care legislation and post a comment refuting the blog? Are they planning to call in to every misinformed talk radio show and refute the misinformation? I think not.
My guess is the White House is compiling as list of offending sources of misinformation (e.g. “enemies”). Do you want your name on that list? Perhaps that list will be released to the Administrations blogger cronies for a frontal assault on your blog. Perhaps the list could be released to the IRS where you become a victim of a gang audit.
Perhaps nothing happens. Perhaps this is just an attempt to chill opposition to this legislation. Whatever happened to “the most transparent Administration ever” and “let’s have a full and open debate”? Perhaps that is only the campaign rhetoric. What we are seeing now is full-on Chicago-style politics with a good measure of Saul Alinsky principles thrown in.
Bummer – I was really “Hoping” for “Change”, and not politics at its lowest level.
