There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.
When I read the text above, I consider it an invitation to let them know if I see or hear of a new rumor. That way, it can be debunked as loudly as possible. In other words, it’s an example of open-source intelligence.
But Jeff Emmanuel at Redstate read the post very differently:
(T)he term “disinformation” is used by the Obama White House as a catchall to describe any opposition to the President’s push for single-payer, government-run health care — meaning the White House wants to be informed of any forwarded emails or blog posts or any “casual conversations” that could be taken as opposition to their health care overhaul plan.
“Push for single-payer, government run health care” is a projection of Emmanuel’s mind. So is his paranoia about “casual conversations” being reported to the White House. The meme quickly appeared on Faux Noise’s answer to Huffington Post, Fox Nation. Then it was Rush Limbaugh’s turn, for the acknowledged leader of the Republican Party was not to be outdone:
There’s a parallel going on in the world right now to this bunch that’s running this country, and the parallel is Iran. They supposedly had a fair election. The people of Iran didn’t think it was fair, they think it was a fraudulent election, and they started protesting in the streets. They — even the people of Iran, this was too much to swallow.
The mullahs were just putting one over ‘em. They wanted a reform candidate to win. They didn’t think any of this — they didn’t think Ahmadinejad was the legitimate winner. They started protesting, and what was the result? The government went out and started cracking heads. Started putting people in jail. Some people have died as a result of government treatment when they were in the protests.
And now, you’ve got the White House asking people, its groupies, to be informants?
Did you catch that? Limbaugh has siezed on the birthers’s central theme of illegitimacy. Birtherism may have died with the Orly Taitz meltdown, but its legacy lives on, hurrah!
To fully appreciate the meta-wackiness going on here, you should know that the White House website post was prompted by this Faux Edit™ video posted by Matt Drudge with a blaring headline about Obama’s “plan” to “eliminate” private insurance:
I would hope that we could set up a system that allows those who can go through their employer to access a federal system or a state pool of some sort. But I don’t think we’re going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There’s going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or 15 years out or 20 years out
And here is Obama’s quote in context:
As I indicated before, I think that we’re going to have to have some system where people can buy into a larger pool. Right now their pool typically is the employer, but there are other ways of doing it. I would like to — I would hope that we could set up a system that allows those who can go through their employer to access a federal system or a state pool of some sort. But I don’t think we’re going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There’s going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or 15 years out or 20 years out where we’ve got a much more portable system. Employers still have the option of providing coverage, but many people may find that they get better coverage, or at least coverage that gives them more for health care dollars than they spend outside of their employer. And I think we’ve got to facilitate that and let individuals make that choice to transition out of employer coverage. (Emphasis mine)
Sounds an awful lot like the public option, doesn’t it? No socialist single-payer universal health care in there at all — until you put it in there. Just like there’s no call to report your friends and neighbors to Big Brother until you put it there. Wingnuts begin with Teh Wacky™ and apply it to everything that follows.
It’s Teh Samsara of Wacky™.
