August 31 ,2009
Today's Big Lies: This one is plural. Really plural. It concerns a widely circulated email that is making its way through the Internet.
The only problem with it, according to factcheck.org , a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, is that it is full of lies--at least 26 of them. According to the article, the email contains 48 claims of which 26 are outright falsehoods, 18 are at least somewhat misleading, and only four are true.
Likewise, Jennifer Tolbert, an independent health care analyst from the Kaiser Family Foundation, told Politifact, a fact checking website run by the St. Petersburg Times, "It's flat-out, blatant lies. It's unbelievable to me how they can claim to reference the legislation and then make claims that are blatantly false."
The bill is available in its entirety, in searchable form, at one of the House websites.
The Liar: The originator of an anonymous email that has become source material for right wing bloggers, congressman and talk show hosts.
The Context: It's worth looking at this email in the context of the broader disinformation campaign from the right asserting that Obamacare will cause more breast cancer, that Obama is a Nazi who wants to kill your Granny,and that Obama's plan would have kiled Sarah Palin's Down Syndrome son.
Liar, Liar: Politifacts rated some of the lies as "Pants on Fire," its rating for telling the biggest whoppers.
Some specifics: The e-mail asserts that "non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services." Actually, the bill says exactly the opposite,and explicitly prohibits "federal payment for undocumented aliens."
The email also claims that on page 42 of the bill it says that "The 'Health Choices Commissioner' will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None."
But that's not true. Under the new bill, everyone in the country will be required to have health insurance, but those who don't already have it will go through a health care exchange. The point behind that new health care exchange is to make sure insurers clearly explain what they offer and refrain from refusing service to people with pre-existing conditions. "This is designed to protect consumers from plans that have outrageous cost-sharing or really limited benefits," says Tolbert. "It's to ensure that they're actually getting coverage and not a junk policy."
Likewise, the email asserts that page 469 of the bill says that "Community-based Home Medical Services....(mean) more payoffs for ACORN." ACORN(the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), of course, is the liberal community organizing group with which right wingers contend Obama worked during his community organizing years. But it is nowhere mentioned in the bill and it does not even provide home medical services. (It is also worth noting that, according to its website, Obama never worked for ACORN, though the group did endorse him.)
And so forth. For more itemized lies, check out factcheck.org'ssand Politifact's evisceration of the email in question.
The Impact of Disinformation: But who cares about crank emails? What is its real impact? For starters, just take one assertion-- for example, the fabrication that the Health Commission will decide all benefits for you and you will have no choice. That alone appears on over 18,000 websites.
Who is Behind the Email? The email itself is unsigned, but it appears to be based in large part on the work of Peter Fleckenstein, a Phoenix, Arizona-based former Marine who blogs and twitters against the healthcare plan under the name Fleckman. Fleckenstein's website, Flecks of Life, specifically disclaims responsibility for the email--"Factcheck....cannot and never will be able to trace the email back to me.  I never wrote it."
But on another page of the same site, the author writes: "Folks, I've done this analysis and provided the fruit of my efforts here for free. I want all of you who read this to share it with as many people as possible. I've now come across sites that have advertising or services that generate income. No biggie, I love capitalism, but some have been using my work as their own. So I'm requiring that if any person or entity uses my work in any form then they must link to my blog and attribute my hard work to me. It's still free but please give credit where credit is due."
His Twitter page shows him to have done nearly 16,000 Tweets, many about health care.In addition, on his website, he devotes a substantial amount of space to countering the attacks from Factcheck and Politifact.
Fleckenstein could not be reached for comment, but according to the Denver Post, he said by email that he is not affiliated with any group or lobbyists and he tweeted about the bill "as a personal project from a regular American citizen."
Card carriers: The Liberty Counsel proudly proclaims its right wing stance.
Nevertheless, even such overtly Christian right groups such as the Liberty Counsel, a self-described "right-wing extremist" group makes a point of distributing tracts against Obamacare based on Fleckenstein's work.
