The Name "Factcheck.org" Is An Orwellian Lie

Aaron J. Biterman of the Republican Liberty Caucus forwarded the message below from the Orwellian-named left-wing propaganda site, "Factcheck.org". My response is as follows:

>As usual, the Annenberg Foundation, on whose board, if my memory does not deceive me, Obama once sat, gets it all wrong. They call their propaganda site "Factcheck.org" which makes it sound like they're Consumer Reports rather than a left wing propaganda service linked to Obama. Factcheck.org has had trouble keeping the facts straight concerning Obama since the very beginning. Phil Orenstein on Democracy Project writes thus of Congressman Joe Wilson, who rightly called Obama a liar:

"His own frustration which pushed him beyond the brink is justified by the fact that as an immigration attorney he pushed for amendments to the healthcare bill that would prevent illegal immigrants from being covered which were shot down by Democrats in the House. The lack of any enforcement mechanism in the bill to prevent illegals from gaining free access to taxpayer subsidized healthcare, makes it an exercise in deception to claim the contrary that the bill doesn’t cover illegals. The Heller amendment to HR 3200 introduced in the Ways and Means committee which would have set up citizenship status verification systems, which are currently used in other public assistance programs, was killed by a party-line vote."

Factcheck's assumption that Obama did not know this or that the deceptive ruse of including an unenforceable provision is not a lie suggests that the name "Factcheck.org" is itself an Orwellian lie.


>>Sent: Thu, Sep 10, 2009 6:52 pm

Subject: New FactCheck Article: Obama's Health Care Speech
Obama’s Health Care Speech
We fact-check the president's address to Congress and the nation.
September 10, 2009

Summary

President Obama’s prime-time address to Congress and the nation on health care prompted a Republican congressman to shout “you lie!” Did he? Here’s what we’ve found:

Obama was correct when he said his plan wouldn’t insure illegal immigrants; the House bill expressly forbids giving subsidies to those who are in the country illegally. Conservative critics complain that the bill lacks an enforcement mechanism, but that hardly makes the president a liar.

The president said no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” But the House bill would permit a “public option” to cover all abortions, and would also permit federal subsidies to be used to purchase private insurance that covers all abortions, a point that raises objections from anti-abortion groups. That’s true despite a technical ban on use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion coverage.

The president repeated his promise that his plan won’t add “one dime” to the federal deficit. But legislation offered so far would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The president overstated the degree of concentration in the insurance industry. He said that in 34 states the “insurance market” is controlled by five or fewer companies, but that’s true only of insurance bought by small groups, not the entire “insurance market.”

Obama said his plan won't “require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.” It’s true that there’s no requirement, but experts say the legislation could induce employers to switch coverage for millions of workers.