I know there are intelligent conservatives out there, so I’m not trying to generalize here. However, I think this does say something about Glenn Beck’s effect on political discourse on the right side of the aisle. It’s scary, actually.
In her recent article at Salon, Joan Walsh lamented the level of discourse, or lack thereof, from the right at town hall meetings. She complained that “Democrats are being shouted down by angry mobs inflamed by corporate interests spewing lies about healthcare reform”. The rhetoric has continued to worsen in recent days, and it’s mostly being fueled by lies and distortions about what is in the House bill:
At Blue Dog Rep. Mike Ross’ town hall, he was shouted down by a woman insisting Obama supports a single-payer (government) insurance plan, which is simply not true. Another woman began sobbing, talking about what her country has become, ending, “I’m scared!” They’re being terrified by false claims that Obama is promoting mandatory end-of-life “counseling” (read assisted suicide), mandatory gender-change surgery (!) and aiming to eliminate private insurance.
Some of the misinformation I’ve encountered on the internet is a result of the work of a man named Peter Fleckenstein. Apparently, he has been causing quite a stir about how the current health care bill in the House is a horrendous idea, by tweeting about specific sections in the bill that would be, in his view, particularly damaging to our way of life. These tweets then made it onto a couple of small time conservative blogs, and from there, they spread all around teh intertubez. It seems that they’re everywhere.
Well, I’ve taken the time to compare all of these tweets to the actual bill, and what I found was very interesting. Apparently, every single one is wrong. In EVERY case, Fleckenstein either didn’t understand what he was looking at, or he deliberately misrepresented the section of the bill being addressed. So, in an effort to stem the tide of ignorance that is quickly sweeping the web, I’ve provided my responses to Fleckenstein’s tweets. Feel free to copy and paste at any location where you see the original tweets. Also, feel free to compare these tweets to the bill for yourself.