This morning we highlighted the Obama Administration’s flagrant attempt to pass off their Potemkin “health care community discussions” as actual open and transparent democratic government. If the prestigious Columbia Journalism Review is representative of the liberal media establishment, we should expect the silencing of dissenting health care reform views to continue. CJR’s Trudy Lieberman writes:
Ezra Klein over at The American Prospect’s blog was right on point last week when he sent along some ominous news. … Klein wrote that he had thought the public option might die once legislative wrangling began, but he was surprised to hear that it might disappear so soon. Right-wing think tanks, which often provide the intellectual ammunition for the special interests, are also on the march. The Heritage Foundation released two reports this month. One, a Web Memo, struck at the heart of Daschle’s plan to have a federal health board recommend new technologies, drugs, and treatments that may be more effective and less expensive than ones commonly in use. Heritage health policy guru Robert Moffit argued that a powerful board plus a “controlled” market dominated by a government health plan would end existing private coverage for people and “ensure unprecedented government interference in the delivery of care.” Heritage uber health guru Stuart Butler made similar arguments in a Washington Times op-ed on Thursday. Such thinking is likely to seep into mainstream reporting.
As one commenter at the CJR blog quipped:
Yes, we obviously cant have any ideas “seep” in and pollute the approved “narrative” that is being generated by the “objective” press now can we.
Huh, uh oh, Im at the Columbia Journalism Review…the bastion of objectivity.
And for those of you who believe ideas should dominate, and not just seep, into policy debates, check out Moffit’s latest WebMemo demonstrating how Obama’s health care plan would force 77.5 million Americans into socialized medicine.
Special thanks to Amy Menefee for flagging the CJR post.
