• Published: Nov 21, 2009 - Page: 9B

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The Advocate was right to call our attention to the Tea Party poster that spelled out “Hussein Obama” with a swastika and a hammer and sickle, and I agree that it reflects horribly on what passes as political commentary today. More disturbing to me, however, was the fact that no small number of people will be moved by this childish attempt to smear our president. For whatever reason, such gullibility seems to be at an all time high in this country.

Consider, for example, the “death panel” fiction that virtually wrecked any chance we ever had at having a serious discussion about health care in this country. In the interest of demonstrating just how easy it was to dream up and then disseminate this myth, check out this timeline that shows the genesis of the “death panel” lie: The original health-care bill states that Medicare would cover voluntary discussions with a doctor once every five years regarding living wills, end-of-life-treatment preferences, etc. (Note: Congressional Republicans supported a similar provision in 2003 in a prescription drug bill.)

Betsy McCaughey (former lieutenant governor of New York) claims in a radio interview that the health-care bill “would make it mandatory, absolutely require, that every five years people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner.” McCaughey’s falsehood rockets into cyberspace, and Rush Limbaugh is parroting it on his show a week later.

A few days later, John Boehner, House Republican leader says “This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia if enacted into law.” Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., states that the Republican version of health-care legislation “is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by the government.” Sarah Palin ratchets up the hysteria with her Facebook comments regarding “Obama’s death panel” and the “downright evil” government system that would decide whether or not “her baby with Down Syndrome” is “worthy of health care.”

By this time, Fox News, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, the Tea Party folks, and the town hall screamers are trotting out the deception at every available opportunity, and what was initially a blatant lie concocted by those who never had any intention of ever reforming our health-care system, was magically transformed into fact.

It is hard to say exactly how much this distortion changed the course of what passes as the health-care debate in this country, but it can’t be denied that it did alter the “discussion.” Now that the concept of gay marriage is on the horizon and growing in popularity, I shudder to think how conservatives will “Swift Boat” this issue.

James Houk, Ph.D.
college professor
Baton Rouge