Doomsday Republicans

 

GOP Tea Party politicians and pundits came out swiftly to comment on the Supreme Court's 5 to 4 ruling to uphold The Affordable Health Care for America Act.  The following comments are examples of fear mongering, outright lies, misrepresentations and generally a lack of comprehension regarding the Constitution and the reality of the Act.

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) compares Supreme Court ruling to 9/11

"Because really, isn't it pretty difficult to tell the difference between a horrific terrorist attack and a law saying that maybe people with preexisting health conditions ought to be allowed access to our health care system too?"

Sen. Rand Paul Reacts to SCOTUS Ruling on Obamacare

“Just because a couple people on the Supreme Court declare something to be ‘constitutional’ does not make it so. The whole thing remains unconstitutional." 

Rick Santorum Comments on Supreme Court Obamacare Ruling

"President Obama believes he is above the law, entitled to abusing his power to get what he wants, and willing to violate the constitution and the oath he was sworn to uphold. He has proven to be a very dangerous person to have this kind of power, and if he is not stopped this November, I am fearful that the make-up of this country as established by our founders will never be the same."

Mitt Romney’s Response to Supreme Court Decision

"What the court id not do on its last day in session, I will do on my first day if elected president of the United States.  And that is I will act to repeal Obamacare."

Setting the Record Straight 

To set the record straight, Mike Pence's comments were deliberately stoked in fear mongering and misrepresentations.  He eventually apologized.  According to Politico: "at the time he was just in a blind, half-mad rage, and whenever Republicans are mad about something it's exactly like 9/11. Every. Damn. Time."  Pence told POLITICO:

"My remarks at the Republican Conference following the Supreme Court decision were thoughtless. I certainly did not intend to minimize any tragedy our nation has faced and I apologize."  

Rand Paul's comments are based in a total lack of understanding of the judicial system  and the precedent regarding the rulings by the Supreme Court.  He is absolutely WRONG!


Rick Santorum's comment is is vitriolic, based on innuendo and fear and completely WRONG. Our government in based on the separation of powers.  The decision of the Supreme Court has no bearing on the President's actions.  He is stoking the fires of fear and ignorance.


Mitt Romney went on to profess the affects of the Affordable Health Act and continue to spew his lies and misrepresentations.  Here are the reasons Mitt wants to repeal the Act and the truth about his statements:

~  Obamacare raises taxes on the American people by approximately $500 billion. Obamacare cuts Medicare - cuts Medicare by approximately $500 billion. INNACURATE...

~ “Obamacare adds trillions to our deficit and national debt.” This is total fear-mongering.

~ Romney’s talking points have been debunked numerous times and found false. The CBO finds that the ACA is going to reduce the deficit, not add to it. Furthermore:

The key to this claim is the fact that the health care law does not take $500 billion out of the current Medicare budget. Rather, the bill attempts to slow the program’s future growth, curtailing just over $500 billion in future spending increases over the next 10 years.

Also, it ends the Medicare Advantage program, which cost the government a huge amount of money with few benefits. Likewise, the law doesn’t add “trillions to our deficits.”  By most accounts, the law reduces the deficit over the next decade and works to reduce the overall rate of health care spending by the federal government.

~ Obamacare also means that for up to 20 million Americans, they will lose the insurance they currently have, the insurance that they like and they want to keep. This assertion is a LIE! Under the law, you can maintain your current health insurance if you like it.

~ Along with Romney other politicians including Speaker of the House John Boehner and Rep. Eric Cantor have echoed Romney's talking point that "The president’s health care law is hurting our economy by driving up health costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire. Obamacare is a job-killer. Businesses across the country have been asked what the impact is of Obamacare. Three-quarters of those surveyed by the Chamber of Commerce said Obamacare makes it less likely for them to hire people. This is a bizarre and inaccurate claim.

~ And perhaps most troubling of all, Obamacare puts the federal government between you and your doctor. FALSE  The law would set minimum benefits packages, but medical services will not be government-run, nor does the law allow for rationing of care.

Republicans have retreated from reality and launched an assault of lies instead of facing the truth about the Health Act.


Here are the FACTS about The Affordable Care Act:

1. Expands healthcare coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans,
2. Requires many health insurance plans to cover prevention and wellness benefits with no co-pay or deductibles for 54 million Americans that have private insurance,
3. Eliminates the lifetime coverage limit for 105 million Americans already insured,
4. Gives 2.3 million elderly Medicare patients access to annual wellness checkups,
5. Provides prescription care “donut hole” coverage for 5.1 million seniors, and
6. Requires insurers to cover those with pre-existing conditions, including 17 million of the 74.9 million children ages 0-17 years old residing in the U.S., according to recent US Census figures.

Most people only know about three portions of the law that have already gone into effect:

1.  The part that closes the donut hole for prescription drug coverage;
2. The provision that has enabled 2.5 million kids up to the age of 26 to piggy back off their parents’ insurance; and,
3. The part which stops health insurers form denying coverage for children and other people with preexisting conditions.


Little is known about the other parts of the law but click HERE to go through a primer on who may benefit and who will lose if the law is upheld or struck down.

The bottom line is that it is important to have the correct information to understand this Act.  Politicians who use innuendo, misrepresentation and lies based on fear mongering should be held accountable for their inaccurate statements. 

The Koch Brothers Echo Chamber

 

Brave New Foundation with Senator Bernie Sanders [I-VT] and the Strengthen Social Security Campaign want to expose the Koch Echo Chamber.

The Koch brothers want to destroy Social Security because it is a Federal government program which has been enormously successful.  The Koch brothers are funding think tanks and other organizations which are spreading an enormous amount of disinformation about Social Security. The Koch Brothers fund organizations and you have  economist and political scientist working there. They are very good getting on TV and people not know they represent an organization that is heavily funded by corporate interest.  They are very effective of getting their message out into the media.  At the same time the Koch brothers are putting huge amounts of money into campaign contributions so you have an echo chamber that starts repeating a lot of misinformation.

Disinformation/Lie 

#1: Need to Raise the Age of Retirement
#2: Social Security is going bankrupt

#3: Privatize Social Security

Fact:

#1:  Raising the retirement age is a terrible idea and a large benefit cut.
#2:  Social Security will never go bankrupt.

#3:  Privatizing Social Security would be a disaster.

The Koch Goal is to Dismember Government

The Koch brothers want to privatize Social Security to invest your retirement funds on Wall St. and you may lose all of your retirement savings when you get old. The Koch brothers' job is to do everything they can to dismember government in general and if you can destroy Social Security you have gone a long way in that effort.

WATCH:

GOP Lies and the Untold Truth

Robert Reich says that if the GOP keeps telling the same lies over and over, eventually they will become the truth. In Reich's article, The Republican's Big Lies About Jobs (And Why Obama Must Repudiate Them), he says that without the Democrats or President Obama coming out to tell the truth, the lies will become fact.

And if all others accepted the lie which the party imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became the truth.

– George Orwell, 1984 (published in 1949)

But truth doesn’t seem to matter. Republicans figure if their big lies are repeated often enough, people will start to believe them.

Unless, that is, those big lies are repudiated – and big truths are told in their place.

What worries me almost as much as the Republican’s repeated big lies about jobs is the silence of President Obama and Democratic leaders in the face of them. Obama has the bully pulpit. Republicans don’t. But if he doesn’t use it the Republican’s big lies gain credibility.

Here are some other whoppers being repeated daily:

“Cutting the federal deficit will create jobs.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was in town yesterday (specifically, at Stanford’s Hoover Institute where he could surround himself with sympathetic Republicans) to tell this whopper: “Cutting the federal deficit will create jobs.”

It’s not true. Cutting the deficit will create fewer jobs. Less government spending reduces overall demand. This is particularly worrisome when, as now, consumers and businesses are still holding back. Fewer government workers have paychecks to buy stuff from other Americans, some of whom in turn will lose their jobs without enough customers.

“Cutting taxes on the rich creates jobs.”

Nope. Trickle-down economics has been tried for thirty years and hasn’t worked. After George W. Bush cut taxes on the rich, far fewer jobs were created than after Bill Clinton raised them in the 1990s.

To his credit, President Obama argued against Republican demands for extending the Bush tax cut for those making more than a quarter million. But as soon as Republicans pushed back he caved. And the President hasn’t even mentioned that the $61 billion Republicans are demanding in budget cuts this fiscal year is what richer Americans would have paid in taxes had he not caved.

“Cutting corporate income taxes creates jobs.”

Baloney. American corporations don’t need tax cuts. They’re sitting on over $1.5 trillion of cash right now. They won’t invest it in additional capacity or jobs because they don’t see enough customers out there with enough money in their pockets to buy what the additional capacity would produce.

The President needs to point this out – not just in Washington but across the nation where Republican governors are slashing corporate taxes and simultaneously cutting school budgets. President Obama says he wants to invest in American skills, but many states are doing the opposite. Florida Governor Rick Scott, for example, says his proposed corporate tax cuts “will give Florida a competitive edge in attracting jobs.” They’ll also require education spending be reduced by $3 billion. Florida already ranks near the bottom in per-pupil spending and has one of nation’s lowest graduation rates. If Scott’s tax cuts create jobs, most will pay peanuts.

“Cuts in wages and benefits create jobs.”

Congressional Republicans and their state counterparts repeat this lie incessantly. It also lies behind corporate America’s incessant demand for wage and benefit concessions – and corporate and state battles against unions. But it’s dead wrong. Meager wages and benefits are reducing the spending power of tens of millions of American workers, which is prolonging the jobs recession.

President Obama and Democratic leaders should be standing up for the wages and benefits of ordinary Americans, standing up for unions, and decrying the lie that wage and benefit concessions are necessary to create jobs. The President should be traveling to the Midwest – taking aim at Republican governors in the heartland who are hell bent on destroying the purchasing power of American workers. But he’s doing nothing of the sort.

“Regulations kill jobs.”

Congressional Republicans are using this whopper to justify their attempts to defund regulatory agencies. Regulations whose costs to business exceed their benefits to the public are unwarranted, of course, but reasonable regulation is necessary to avoid everything from nuclear meltdowns to oil spills to mine disasters to food contamination – all of which we’ve sadly witnessed. Here again, we’re hearing little from the President or Democratic leaders.

Look, the President can’t be everywhere, doing everything. There’s tumult in the Middle East, we’re suddenly at war in Libya, Japan is struggling with the aftermath of disaster, and surely Latin America is an important trading partner.

But nothing is more central to average Americans than jobs and wages. Unless the President forcefully rebuts Republican’s big lies, they’ll soon become conventional wisdom.

Tell the President and your Congressional leaders that this country was not built on lies. Revising history, creating chaos and undermining truth is the path to ignorance.

The Myths and Fabrications of Social Security

 

Joe Conason wonders, Why are some Pundits and Politicians Hell-Bent on Undermining Social Security, in Spite of Its Success and Strength?

I don't need no stinking facts!

Among the mysteries of modern politics in America is why so many of our leading pundits and politicians persistently seek to undermine Social Security, that enduring and successful emblem of active government. In the current atmosphere of budgetary panic, self-proclaimed "centrists" are joining with ideologues of the right in yet another campaign against the program -- and yet again they are misinforming the public about its purposes, costs and prospects.

Among the puzzling aspects of the crusade against Social Security is the zeal that animates its enemies, as if the present and future recipients of those monthly checks were somehow fattening themselves at the expense of future generations. Whatever drives these well-fed but poorly informed commentators, it isn't the facts.

Social Security provides support.

First, let's remember that Social Security actually provides support at a very modest level. Last year, the average retirement benefit was $1,170 a month, or about $14,000 a year, with the average disabled worker or widow receiving slightly less. (It would be wonderfully educational for the cable talkers and newspaper editorialists to live on that amount for a few months -- they would not only lose weight but gain empathy.)

The US lags behind other countries in the amount of support.

Remember, too, that despite our status as the largest and most productive economy in the world, Social Security is among the least generous retirement programs among all the developed nations. As a percentage of the average worker's pre-retirement wages, the benefit has been declining for years and will continue to fall without any further cutbacks.

The check that used to replace 39 percent of worklife income will replace only 31 percent by 2031. Compare that with the average wage replacement in the nations belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) -- which was roughly 61 percent last year.

This is support that has been relied on by low waged workers.

More important than those comparative statistics is the fact that the great majority of Social Security beneficiaries have no other cushion for their retirement -- not because they were lazy or improvident, but because their wages were simply too low to permit much savings, let alone investment.

The foes of Social Security insist that they have no desire to force the elderly to eat cat food or go homeless -- as they did in the years before the program existed. But we must cut drastically, they cry, because we can simply no longer afford the "entitlements" that we have bestowed so lavishly upon the old and the poor.

Medicaid should not be confused with Medicare .

Whenever someone starts to talk about "entitlements," keep in mind that they are either trying to bamboozle or they've been bamboozled themselves. Under that category, most commentators mix up Medicaid and Medicare -- two programs that are indeed endangered by rising health care costs -- with Social Security, which will be solvent until at least 2037 and can easily be made solvent for decades to come with minor changes. This is a rhetorical deception perpetrated countless times every day in nearly every media outlet.

Fiscal challenges of Social Security can be solved without bankrupting the nation

The actuarial experts whose job is to monitor Social Security's fortunes have long assured us that small and gradual rises in the tax revenues that support Social Security, accompanied by small and gradual shifts in benefits over the coming years, will solve whatever fiscal challenges the program may eventually confront. There is no reason to panic, and there is certainly no reason to consider wholesale changes in benefits.

Wall Street will gain if Social Security is gutted

Well, there is a reason, but only if your real aim is to destroy the system and replace it with something less useful but more profitable. Wall Street and its servants on Capitol Hill have lusted after Social Security's revenues for many years. And they regard the current uproar over the budget as a fresh opportunity to get their hands on a trillion-dollar bonanza. Given their record in recent years, it is all too easy to imagine how badly that would work out for everybody -- except them, of course.

It's the Facts Stupid!

As consumers we all must listen to a variety of opinions and look beyond rhetoric to fact.  Today however, it is difficult to find politicians who in theory should be working for the people who they represent.  Instead, many politicians appear to work harder for the fat cat money changers on Wall St, the lobbyist who represent one side of the issue or corporations who  only look out for the interests of their stockholders.  As well it is more difficult to find independent, objective and reliable journalists to report on the lies, misrepresentations and lack of reporting of important issues.

The Factoid Factor

Robert Reich knows that the Republicans are continually repeating the "The Big Lie" to the American people. He also know that unless Obama and the Democrats counter it strongly with "The Big Truth" then the public will believe that these lies are the truth. It goes like this.

Republicans are telling Americans a Big Lie, and Obama and the Democrats are letting them. The Big Lie is our economic problems are due to a government that's too large, and therefore the solution is to shrink it.

The truth is our economic problems stem from the biggest concentration of income and wealth at the top since 1928, combined with stagnant incomes for most of the rest of us. The result: Americans no longer have the purchasing power to keep the economy going at full capacity. Since the debt bubble burst, most Americans have had to reduce their spending; they need to repay their debts, can't borrow as before, and must save for retirement.

The short-term solution is for government to counteract this shortfall by spending more, not less. The long-term solution is to spread the benefits of economic growth more widely (for example, through a more progressive income tax, a larger EITC, an exemption on the first $20K of income from payroll taxes and application of payroll taxes to incomes over $250K, stronger unions, and more and better investments in education and infrastructure.)

But instead of telling the truth, Obama has legitimized the Big Lie by freezing non-defense discretionary spending, freezing federal pay, touting his deficit commission co-chairs' recommended $3 of spending cuts for every dollar of tax increase, and agreeing to extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Will Obama stand up to the Big Lie? Will he use his State of the Union address to rebut it and tell the truth? Maybe, but so far there's no evidence.

In his weekly address yesterday, the President restated his "commitment" for 2011 "to do everything I can to make sure our economy is growing, creating jobs, and strengthening our middle class." He added that it's important "to look ahead - not just to this year, but to the next 10 years, and the next 20 years" to find ways to stimulate the economy through innovation. And that it is critical that the US discover ways to "out-compete other countries around the world."

Become more innovative? Out-compete? Who or what is he talking about? Big American corporations are innovating like mad all over the world, with research and development centers in China and India. And their profits are soaring. They're sitting on almost $1 trillion of cash. But they won't create jobs in America because there's not enough demand here to justify them.

In the Republican address in response, US Senator-elect Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) restated the Big Lie. "The American people sent us to Congress with clear instructions: make government smaller, not bigger," she said. Deficit reduction "isn't a Republican problem or a Democrat problem - it's an American problem that will require tough decision-making from both parties." And the way to shrink the deficit is to cut government. The extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts over the next two years, she said, was an "important first step" to jump-start the economy.

Starting Wednesday, when the 112th Congress convenes with a Republican majority in the House, we'll be hearing far more of the Big Lie.

George Orwell once explained that when a public is stressed and confused, a Big Lie told repeatedly can become the accepted truth. Adolph Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf that "the size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed" and that members of the public are "more easily prey to a big lie than a small one, for they themselves often tell little lies but would be ashamed to tell big ones."

Only the President has the bully pulpit. But will he use it to tell the Big Truth?

PolitiFact has a tracked President Obama 's campaign promises and his actions.

Phase out exemptions and deductions for higher earners

The Promise: Promise Broken Restore the phaseouts of personal exemptions and itemized deductions for those making more than $250,000 (couples) or $200,000 (single), with threshholds indexed for inflation.

Update December 21st, 2010: Current tax rules continued for high earners

>> More

Freeze the 2009 estate tax law

The Promise: Compromise Freeze the 2009 estate tax law, which exempts the first $3.5 million and has a top rate of 45 percent.

Update December 20th, 2010: Obama agrees to lower estate taxes

>> More

Repeal the Bush tax cuts for higher incomes

The Promise: Promise Broken Repeal the Bush tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 (couples) or $200,000 (single)

Update December 20th, 2010: President Obama signs off on continuing tax cuts for high earners

>> More

Extend the Bush tax cuts for lower incomes

The Promise: Promise Kept Extend the Bush tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 (couples) or $200,000 (single)

Update December 20th, 2010: Obama gets extension for the middle-class tax rates

>> More

Extend child tax credits and marriage-penalty fixes

The Promise: Promise Kept Will extend aspects of the Bush tax cuts such as child credit expansions and changes to marriage bonuses and penalties.

Update December 21st, 2010: Tax compromise includes extensions of child tax credits and marriage-penalty fixes

>> More

Expand the child and dependent care credit

The Promise: Promise Broken Expand and make refundable the child and dependent care credit.

Update December 21st, 2010: No expansion for the child care tax credit

>> More

Increase the capital gains and dividends taxes for higher-income taxpayers

The Promise: Promise Broken Increase capital gains and dividends taxes from 15 to 20 percent for those making more than $250,000 (couples) or $200,000 (single)

Update December 21st, 2010: No increase in capital gains taxes for high earners

>> More

Eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-ups

The Promise: Compromise "Barack Obama understands that small businesses are the engines of our economy, and he will eliminate all capital gains taxes on investments in small and start-up firms."

Update December 10th, 2010: A short-term fix

>> More

Create a tax credit of $500 for workers

The Promise: In the Works Enact a Making Work Pay tax credit that would equal 6.2 percent of up to $8,100 of earnings (yielding a maximum credit of approximately $500). Indexed for inflation.

Update December 7th, 2010: Tax compromise may cut taxes for workers.

>> More

Change federal rules so small businesses owned by people with disabilities can get preferential treatment for federal contracts.

The Promise: Promise Broken "Barack Obama and Joe Biden would direct the Small Business Administration to amend regulations under the Small Business Act that provide preferences in federal contracting to small businesses owned by members of socially and economically disadvantaged groups to include individuals with disabilities."

Update November 19th, 2010: No sign of progress toward small business boost for Americans with disabilities

>> More

According to PolitiFact, Obama's scorecard for promises made during his Presidential campaign indicates that he has kept 128 promises, broken 28 promises and compromised on 40 promises. Also, 82 promises have been stalled and 225 are in the works.

According to a new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll, most Americans think the United States should raise taxes for the rich to balance the budget.

President Barack Obama last month signed into law a two-year extension of Bush-era tax cuts for millions of Americans, including the wealthiest, in a compromise with Republicans.

Republicans, who this week take control of the House of Representatives, want to extend all Bush-era tax cuts "permanently" for the middle class and wealthier Americans. They are also demanding spending cuts to curb the $1.3 trillion deficit.

Sixty-one percent of Americans polled would rather see taxes for the wealthy increased as a first step to tackling the deficit, the poll showed.

The real issue is whether Obama will stand up for 'Truth' or allow 'The Big Lie 'to become a 'Factoid!'

Debunking the Conservative Myths, Falsehoods and Lies

Republican and conservative politicians, commentators and pundits have continually repeated a litany of falsehoods regarding such issues as tax cuts, the deficit, the economy, and the cost of health care. Dave Johnson has put together the "Eight False Things the Public "Knows" prior to Election Day."

There are a number things the public "knows" as we head into the election that are just false. If people elect leaders based on false information, the things those leaders do in office will not be what the public expects or needs.

Here are eight of the biggest myths that are out there:

1) President Obama tripled the deficit.
Reality: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.

3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
Reality: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

4) The stimulus didn't work.
Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.

This stuff really matters.

If the public votes in a new Congress because a majority of voters think this one tripled the deficit, and as a result the new people follow the policies that actually tripled the deficit, the country could go broke.

If the public votes in a new Congress that rejects the idea of helping to create demand in the economy because they think it didn't work, then the new Congress could do things that cause a depression.

If the public votes in a new Congress because they think the health care reform will increase the deficit when it is actually projected to reduce the deficit, then the new Congress could repeal health care reform and thereby make the deficit worse. And on it goes.

Framing the issue is so important. These nasty conservative lies must be addressed and dealt with by the Democrats and President Obama. New frames are needed to counter all falsehoods.

Let's Know the Lies

PolitiFact has the Top 5 lies about Heath Care.

We've been fact-checking claims about health care for more than a year now, and have noted several distortions that won't seem to die. Here's five that resurface gain and again.

1. It bans private insurance in favor of a government-run plan. Opponents have repeatedly said the plan would force Americans off their current plans, even though most current plans would be allowed to continue. Republican House Republican leader John Boehner said that "forcing Americans off of their current health coverage and onto a government-run plan (is) exactly what the Democrats' plan would do." We rated that False.

2. Preventive care saves the whole health care system money. People who favor the plan regularly imply that preventive care will lower its overall cost. While early treatment can save individual patients money, research shows that the benefits don't outweigh the costs of the additional screening procedures. President Barack Obama said preventive care "saves money." We rated that False.

3. Millions of people will lose coverage. Opponents of the plan have argued that millions of people would lose their health insurance. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that the proposal would result in insurance for 94 percent of the country. Republican commentator Nancy Pfotenhauer said that "hundreds of millions of people (will) lose their current insurance coverage." We rated that Pants on Fire.

4. The plan will lower health insurance premiums for most people. A few people will see significant reductions in what they pay for health insurance if they qualify for low-income tax credits to buy their policies. But the vast majority of Americans will see no decrease or a very slight decrease in premiums, according to projections. Obama said, "The costs for families (in the individual market) for the same type of coverage that they're currently receiving would go down 14 percent to 20 percent." We rated that Half True. Obama's statement is true only for those in the individual market who are buying comprehensive plans right now. For people buying high-deductible, low-cost plans, the premiums will increase, because they'll have to buy plans that offer more coverage.

5. Bureaucrats will dictate treatment for patients, or tell you what insurance plan you have to buy. The proposal does include new boards to make recommendations on evidence-based treatment. But they won't consider any individual cases or deny procedures for specific patients. The bill also sets minimum standards for insurance companies, creating a baseline for basic coverage. People will still be able to pick the plan they prefer. We received a chain e-mail that said, "The 'Health Choices Commissioner' will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None." We rated that Pants on Fire.

Related rulings:

The president's health care proposals will cause "most Americans to have their premiums increased, not decreased, and hundreds of millions of people lose their current insurance coverage."

Nancy Pfotenhauer, Wednesday, January 27th, 2010.

Ruling: Pants on Fire! | Details

"Forcing Americans off of their current health coverage and onto a government-run plan isn't the answer, but that's exactly what the Democrats' plan would do."

John Boehner, Monday, October 26th, 2009.

Ruling: False | Details

Preventive care "saves money."

Barack Obama, Wednesday, September 9th, 2009.

Ruling: False | Details

In the health care bill, "The 'Health Choices Commissioner' will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None."

Chain e-mail, Tuesday, July 28th, 2009.

Ruling: Pants on Fire! | Details

It is necessary to know what is true and what is not.

LIES: GOP Style

Rachel Maddow on blatant hypocrisy and falsehoods...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Disinformation of the Right-Wing Media

Center for Media and Democracy has information about The Right Wing Media's Lie Machine.

In a video posted on YouTube on February 3, House Representative Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) explains how the right wing media machine creates and spreads disinformation in an effort to smear the left. "Disinformation" should not be confused with "misinformation," the unintentional form of wrong information. Disinformation is produced by people who intend to mislead their audience.

Step 1: Fabricate the Lie

Frank tells how John Fund, an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal, told a lie about him in November of last year: In a speech at a conservative function in Florida called "Restoration Weekend," Fund claimed that, after losing the special election in Massachusetts, Democrats Chuck Schumer and Barney Frank were going to propose a bill to create universal voter registration. Fund further stated that Democrats were going to add all welfare recipients and unemployed people to the voter rolls, and he called it "felon re-enfranchisement."

In reality, Frank explains, there was no such bill.

Step 2: Activate the Right Wing Media Echo Chamber

Despite that there was no such bill, the Washington Times ran an article proclaiming "Schumer and Frank have plans to ram through legislation that will produce universal voter registration," and saying, "It'll be on the floor of the house in two weeks." Next, conservative TV host Glenn Beck picked up the lie and repeated it on his show, and then Rush Limbaugh did the same. Soon after, the Situation Room, a CNN political program, contacted Frank to ask him why he was bringing the universal voter registration bill. Frank told them there was no such bill, and inquired about the source of their information. He discovered the source was Mr. Fund's statement in his November speech at the "Restoration Weekend."

Thus Fund's disinformation provided fuel for the right-wing media's echo chamber, wherein more and more media outlets pick up the disinformation and repeat it across the country, with the intent of generating anger and outrage against Democrats.

Step 3: Zero Fact Checking

Not one of these broadcast figures or entities took the time to check the facts of what they were talking about, Frank said. After discovering the source of the quickly-spreading disinformation, Frank wrote to Mr. Fund to tell him that his assertion about the bill was factually incorrect. Rep. Frank asked Fund to publicly acknowledge that there was, in fact, no bill. Fund did not comply. Fund later admitted privately to one of Rep. Frank's staffers that he had made a mistake, and when the staffer asked whether Fund had issued a retraction, Fund said, "Oh, yeah." But when the staffer asked for a copy, Fund said, "Oh, I, uh, told a couple of people." Fund he never issued a formal retraction of his misstatement.

Voila': A Disinformed Public, in the Dark About Policy

Creating and disseminating lies through the media this way creates a disinformed, confused public. It breeds mistrust and contempt for the press and media, and complicates the lives of Americans immeasurably, as they try to figure out what their government is doing. No wonder politics in recent years has given rise to a fearful, angry cadre of teabaggers who believe in "death panels" and that the President is a socialist Bolshevik from Kenya.

Are you appalled yet?

Be Afraid...Be Very Afraid...

...of Republican, GOP'n, Conservatism, Right-Wing'n, Bull Crap'n & Outright Lyin'!!!

This takes the cake from Think Progress:

Few Republican congressional members have served as a greater fount for hyperbolic and uninformed ranting about health care reform as has Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC). As ThinkProgress previously documented, Foxx has claimed Democratic reforms would mean...

seniors are “put to death by their government,” that

health reform is a “distraction,” and that

“there are no Americans who don’t have health care.”

She was at it again today on the House floor, arguing that health reform is a greater threat to our country than “any terrorist right now in any country”:

Everywhere I go in my district, people tell me they are frightened. … I share that fear, and I believe they should be fearful. And I believe the greatest fear that we all should have to our freedom comes from this room — this very room — and what may happen later this week in terms of a tax increase bill masquerading as a health care bill. I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country.

Watch it:

I really believe these fear mongers and false information peddlers should look at themselves in the mirror and see it is their ignorance and fear hysteria that is doing more harm than good to this country. They are right to be afraid...of their own shadow!

Media Conservatives Claim Obama "Lied"

Via Media Matters

Summary: Many media conservatives have recently embraced and promoted the accusation, almost in unison, that President Obama has "lied" or broken promises. In many cases, these accusations are based on distortions of comments he has made or misrepresentations of campaign pledges.

In recent weeks, many media conservatives have launched attacks on President Obama, claiming, for instance, that he "lied" and accusing him of having, in the words of The Washington Times, "broken so many promises during the first month-and-a-half of his presidency that it is hard to keep track."

Following his February 24 address to a joint session of Congress, some in the media singled out Obama's comment that he doesn't "believe in bigger government" to accuse him of dishonesty, lying, and even in one case of committing "a huge, brazen, audacious, demonstrably outrageous lie." In fact, in the speech Obama said that, while he does not believe in "big government," a strategy on the scale he is proposing is necessary in the current economic situation.

Moreover, many in the media have falsely claimed that Obama "promised no earmarks" in spending bills during his administration and that he has since broken that pledge. In fact, Obama consistently said during the campaign that he intends to "clean up" the process in an effort to curb spending on earmarks, not eliminate the process entirely.

During his February 24 address to a joint session of Congress, President Obama spoke to the necessity of passing the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to improve the economy and commented that he wanted the stimulus bill passed "not because I believe in bigger government -- I don't -- not because I'm not mindful of the massive debt we've inherited -- I am."

In the days following the speech, media figures have contrasted that comment -- that "I don't" believe in bigger government -- in isolation with the cost of Obama's proposals to say that Obama "lied," that he committed a "the biggest whopper of all" and that his "rhetoric does not match with his policies." But, as is clear from the speech, Obama was taking the position that that failure to act on the scale he is proposing "would have cost more jobs and caused more hardships" and "would have worsened our long-term deficit by assuring weak economic growth for years."

Jindal's Katrina Tale: UPDATE

TPM has the story about Bobby Jindal's GOP response to President Obama's speech to Congress. Jindal had his first chance to impress a national audience. To do so, he told the following story:

During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office I'd never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: 'Well, I'm the Sheriff and if you don't like it you can come and arrest me!'

I asked him: 'Sheriff, what's got you so mad?' He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go - when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn't go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration.

I told him, 'Sheriff, that's ridiculous.' And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: 'Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!' Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and start rescuing people.

Nice story but there is evidence to suggest that it is not true. According to Kos, "He was lying about this being his personal experience."

It would seem logical to ask Sheriff Harry Lee to confirm whether this is true. But Lee died in 2007.

_______________________________

UPDATE: But now:

A Jindal spokeswoman has admitted to Politico that in reality, Jindal overheard Lee talking about the episode to someone else by phone"days later." [...]

There's a larger point here, though. The central anecdote of the GOP's prime-time response to President Obama's speech, intended to illustrate the threat of excessive government regulation, turns out to have been made up. [...]

This doesn't seem to bear on the key question. As we said, the key elements of Jindal's story were that he was in Lee's office during the crisis itself, and that his support for the sheriff helped ensure the rescue went ahead. Neither of those things was true, it now seems.

The Same Spin The Same Lies

Jon Perr has an interesting perspective about Republicans continuing the lie about the effect of Obama letting the Bush tax cuts expire.

In his first budget, President Obama apparently plans to keep his campaign promise to let the Bush tax cuts expire for Americans making over $250,000 a year. And just as during the election, Republican leaders are falsely claiming that Obama's proposal constitutes a tax hike on small business owners. This time, it is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell echoing John McCain and Joe the Plumber in spreading the lie.

McConnell's myth-making came during an appearance Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." There, he fired the first salvo against President Obama's plan to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans who need it least. Claiming that "a vast majority of American small businesses pay taxes as individual taxpayers," McConnell thundered:

"I don't think raising taxes is a great idea, and when our good friends on the other side of the aisle say raising the taxes on the wealthy, what they are really talking about is small business." Of course, they're not talking about small business. As CNN concluded in October, "fewer than 2% of small business owners would pay more under Obama's plan.

As it turns out, McConnell is merely parroting the same fraud now that John McCain tried to perpetrate then. Last fall, then Republican presidential candidate McCain attacked Obama, wrongly asserting, "The small businesses that we're talking about would receive an increase in their taxes right now." As it turned out, McCain's human shield and faux small business owner Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher will receive a tax cut, and not an increase, under the just passed Obama stimulus package.

But in case there was any doubt the Republicans' deception on the point, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center quickly put it to rest. As the Obama campaign correctly claimed, 98% would see their taxes decline or remain the same:

Even using the broad definition of small business that McCain likes, very few owners would see their own taxes rise.

That's because the lion's share of taxable income comes from a small number of wealthy businesses. Out of 34.7 million filers with business income on Schedules C, E or F, 479,000 filers fall into the top two brackets, according to an analysis of projected 2009 filings by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

The other 34.3 million - or 98.6% - would be unaffected by Obama's proposed rate hike.

Of course, the complete falsehood of a statement is no barrier to Republicans uttering it. Now as in 2001, Republicans wrongly claimed that the estate tax led to the loss of family farms. When President Bush blasted opponents who say "the death tax doesn't cause people to sell their farms" with a mocking "don't know who they're talking to in Iowa," neither Hawkeye State farmers nor researchers could name one. As the New York Times concluded eight years ago, "Almost no working farmers do, according to data from an Internal Revenue Service analysis of 1999 returns that has not yet been published.

But just because it's a lie, doesn't mean Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party won't keep saying it.