The big lie
Truth is message plus repetition
The big lie
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
Following up on yesterday's piece, varying the format...
"This Friday morning meeting of the Committee to Kill Health Care Reform will now come to order. Let's get a fill from our communications director. How are things going for us?"
"They're going terrific, Mr. Chairman. This 'death panel' BS has really caught on. These people in the town hall meetings really believe that the reform bill gives Obama the power to kill their grannies."
Much laughter around the table. The chairman shakes his head in bemusement: "It's amazing what we have accomplished, given the fact that the bill only talks about voluntary end-of-life counseling."
"Oh, its better than that, Mr. Chairman. Remember the Medicare prescription drug bill of 2003? Take a wild guess what provision more than 280 Republican lawmakers in both chambers voted in favor of: Voluntary end-of-life counseling, for the terminally ill! Yep, the Republicans were for 'death panels' before they were against them!"
"Don't let that one get around, OK? We're fortunate right now that so many people are such gullible sheep."
"The beautiful thing is, people are so fixated on our BS, they have no clue that the voluntary counseling provision in the Senate bill was actually introduced by Johnny Isakson - "
"I know, the Republican senator from Georgia. Never mind that, either. Let's just keep spreading our message. Let's stick with what works, maybe even improve on it. Anybody got any ideas how to improve on 'Obama would kill your granny?' I see that our director of talk radio outreach has his hand up. Whatcha got?"
"How about 'the foreign-born Muslim would kill your granny'?"
"Get Glenn Beck on the phone. Other ideas, folks?"
Suddenly there's a knock on the door. A breathless aide rushes in, brandishing a news story printout. "Mr. Chairman, sorry to interrupt, but I knew you'd want to hear this: The Senate has dropped the voluntary end-of-life counseling provision! It's not in the Senate bill anymore! I got the news right here. The wires are reporting that the provision has been dropped in order to quell the entire furor, to make it go away."
For a long moment, a stunned silence reigns as the strategists ponder the apparent loss of their message. How could they keep morphing "voluntary counseling" into "forced euthanasia" if the voluntary counseling provision was no longer on the table anymore?
"Our communications director seems anxious to say something."
"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I see that you're smiling. I'm smiling for the same reason. This new development changes nothing. The senators' decision to kill their voluntary counseling provision is a sign of weakness. In response, we should simply press our advantage. Why should we stop with our message just because they have surrendered? They're such saps. They have the truth on their side, and they don't even have the guts to fight for it."
"But what is 'the truth,' anyway?" scoffs the talk radio outreach director. "The truth is what people come to believe. The truth is message plus repetition."
"Therefore," says the communications director, "we should simply stick with our message, keep talking about the plot to kill granny. What difference does it make if the voluntary counseling provision is still in the Senate bill or not? We just proceed as if it's still in there. Most people won't catch on that it's gone, and we certainly won't tell them. And even if they do catch on, they'll still think that killing granny will be part of Obama's master plan some time down the road. Especially if we help stoke that notion. In other words, we should just work the basic lie that we've had all along - and compound it. Make it bigger. Right, Mr. Chairman?"
"Exactly. You know, there's an old quote I read somewhere, about how easy it can be to persuade the masses. Something about how 'in the primitive simplicity of their minds, they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie.'"
"Mr. Chairman, with all due respect, didn't Adolf Hitler say that?"
"Well, yes, he did. In Mein Kampf, I think it was. But what he said is true about all societies, wouldn't you agree? Or would you all be more comfortable if I cited an all-American example?"
Everybody nods expectantly.
"Fine, let's go with P. T. Barnum. 'There's a sucker born every minute.' Meeting adjourned, folks. Have a good weekend!"
Gee still...nothing about those three opinions from the left/Democrats about the end of life provision? Does it disspell the myth that only right wing nazi's, fascists and racists come up with those opinions?— tom - wilmington, de- tom: are we reduced to "they could arguments"? You could make that the case for anything. Doctors also have a financial incentive to get you an MRI when you go to thwem w/ a cold. Should we put language in the bill to prevent that? Wait, they have a financial incentive to cause me to slip into a coma and use my organs in expensive transplant procedures. I have to call my congressman. Great, now we're afraid seniors will be "pressured" into signing a living will. It's much better to not sign, let them lapse into unconsciousness, and have their treatment be at the whim of the same docttor that we apparently didn't trust in the first place. Yeah, that makes sense.... As for your allowing coverage across state lines, if you change "mandates were eliminated" to "mandates were standardized", then I'm all for it.— still_independent
- still, $210 Bil per year (per year) wasted on 'defensive' medicine and fraud by doctors! What percentage would you assign to each? I would doubt the fraud is a high number by doctors or maybe i'm naive, but the defensive medicine number has to be in the $100-$150 Bil range per year and would be greatly reduced by tort reform in my opinion and the opinion of many others as well.— NEPhilly
- tom: "Gee still...nothing about those three opinions from the left/Democrats about the end of life provision? Does it disspell the myth that only right wing nazi's, fascists and racists come up with those opinions?" Yes, Democrats can be just as misinformed as Republicans. However, do not ignore intent. Some are simply incorrect; others know it's not true but say it on purpose.— still_independent
- Remember the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, the one that passed with the votes of 204 GOP House members and 42 GOP Senators? Anyone want to guess what it provided funding for? Did you say counseling for end-of-life issues and care? Ding ding ding!! Let's go to the bill text, shall we? "The covered services are: evaluating the beneficiary's need for pain and symptom management, including the individual's need for hospice care; counseling the beneficiary with respect to end-of-life issues and care options, and advising the beneficiary regarding advanced care planning." The only difference between the 2003 provision and the infamous Section 1233 that threatens the very future and moral sanctity of the Republic is that the first applied only to terminally ill patients. Section 1233 would expand funding so that people could voluntarily receive counseling before they become terminally ill. You would think that if Republicans wanted to totally mischaracterize a health care provision and demagogue it like nobody's business, they would at least pick something that the vast majority of them hadn't already voted for just a few years earlier. Because that's not just shameless, it's stupid............. and it burns.— the stupid does burn
I'm curious Mr Polman , as a journalist isnt your job to report the truth . Instead you constantly post the propaganda of the Democratic party , your job is to hold goverment accountable whatever side of the aisle it is . Both sides of this argument are using lies we all know that but you as a journalist are guilty of gross incompetence and media bias what a big difference from last year when all we got from you was the president is a liar ect yet when the current one tells blatant lies you repeat them as truth great job , really awesome .— PAEnglish- Mike Vick, i'm a fan and glad the Eagles have given him a 2nd chance! Any thoughts?— NEPhilly
- This year's deficit 1,300,000,000,000 Number of US households 116,000,000 Let just tax the those making over 100k Number of US households earning over 100k (21.6%) 25,056,000 Require revenue to cover per 100k household 51,883.78 No problem just tax those making over 250k, oh, wait that would be three times a year's salary. Not sure about your but I did not get 25k of value from government so far this year, did you?— Fisher
- Yes, I noticed my typo immediately after submitting my post and was sure it would only be a matter of seconds before someone got excited about it. Nevertheless, my question was legitimate, but I guess there is no answer to it. I honestly thought there was some meme spread through conservative blogs regarding this "O" and the frequent misspellings of things. And I also agree that we should be discussing ideas about how the market can help healthcare reform (ie allow more shopping as Tom suggested). This is why it is odd that people are defending the status quo under the idea that they actually have some "choice" in the matter. Most people just take a job and sign up for the plan. These are very interesting ideas, but instead we have to talk about "death panels" and how "evil" a plan might be. Are you kidding me?— puttinonthefoil
- ***The 5-year survival rates for all childhood cancers combined increased from 58.1 percent in 1975–77 to 79.6 percent in 1996–2003. The 5-year survival rate for prostate cancer was just 66.9 percent in 1975. In 2000, it was 99.2 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute. In 1975, the survival rate for breast cancer was about 75 percent. In 2000, it was better than 90 percent. In 1975, survival rates were at 49.4 percent. In the year 2000, survival rates for colorectal cancer jumped to 66 percent. Improved screening and treatments are credited for the improved survival rate. Although lung cancer is still the deadliest of all cancers, rates have improved slightly: In 1975, survival rates were 11.9 percent. In 2000, they rose to 16.9 percent.*** Further proving the excellence of our current health system:)— NEPhilly
- CD75: A discussion about end of life decisions is not a death panel. I find it curious that conservatives who used to pride themselves in their ability to make hard, non-sentimental choices in life's decisions now want to keep everyone alive forever. I have some conservative friends who believe that a person's value to society is their ability to produce income and that in reality, the sick, disabled and elderly were a drain on society. Boy, have they changed their tune. Perhaps if the likes of CD75 used their analytical prowess to debunk Bush's lies about Iraq we could have saved thousands of lives and a trillion bucks.— Rabe56
- still...I did not mention about doctors being incentivized, Charles Lane did. It does fit nicely into Obama accusing doctors of deciding treatments based on a reimbursement chart....take tonsils out instead of treating a possible allergy because they get paid more....amputate a limb for that $30,000 reimbursement instead of treating that diabetes (FYI - medicare only reimburuses $750 to $1,000 per amputation). All for making mandates standard across the board....we therefore agree. Now I have to go shower.— tom - wilmington, de
- Conservative Economist: "In January, the Congressional Budget Office projected a deficit this year of $1.2 trillion before Obama took office, with no estimate for actions he might take. To a large extent, the CBO’s estimate simply represented the $482 billion deficit projected by the Bush administration in last summer’s budget review, plus the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, which George W. Bush rammed through Congress in September over strenuous conservative objections. The CBO estimate also did not take into account a significant decline in tax revenues during 2009, despite the fact that the economy was hemorrhaging jobs in Q4 2008. Thus the vast bulk of this year’s currently estimated $1.8 trillion deficit was determined by Bush’s policies, not Obama’s, and this year's deficit would have largely been the same had McCain won."— the stupid does burn
- If the purpose of healthcare reform is to lower costs, and if 80% of medical costs are incurred in the last year of a person's life, then how are cost going to be lowered and controlled unless that last year of a person's life does not involve care rationing? Seems like a simple question to ask those who are proponents of the House bill. Can they answer it? Of course, our dear leader, who has exhibited such extraordinary leadership on this issue, has come out and endorsed exactly what in any of the 4 Senate and one House bill. Let's see...he signed the stimulus without reading it (nor was it on the White House website for 5 days before being signed as he promised during the campaign). He signed the omnibus spending bill without reading it (and it also was not on the website as promised). He was in favor of the cap and trade bill the House passed without even knowing what was in it (like the trade protection language). Would he sign a healthcare reform bill without reading it? Will it be posted for 5 days on the website as promised?— tom - wilmington, de
- hey stupid...got a link to go with that quote? Got a name for that conservative economist?— tom - wilmington, de
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
ARCHIVES
All commentaries posted before April 18, 2008, can be accessed at www.dickpolman.blogspot.com.
- American Spectator
- David Limbaugh
- Free Republic
- Glenn Reynolds
- Hugh Hewitt
- Human Events
- John Hawkins
- Matt Lewis
- Michelle Malkin
- National Review
- Opinion Journal
- Power Line
- Red State
- The Brody File
- The Daily Caller
- Town Hall
- Weekly Standard
- Center for American Progress
- Crooks and Liars
- Daily Kos
- David Corn
- Huffington Post
- Media Matters
- Mojoblog (Mother Jones)
- Open Left
- Political Animal
- Salon's War Room
- Talking Points Memo
- Tapped
- The Democratic Strategist
- The Grey Matter
- Unclaimed Territory
- Andrew Sullivan
- Attytood
- Chi Tribune's The Swamp
- CJR's Campaign Desk
- CNN's Political Ticker
- CQ Politics
- FactCheck.org
- Gail Collins
- Howard Kurtz
- Mickey Kaus
- NBC's First Read
- Obit
- Political Wire
- Politico
- Politics Daily
- Pollster.com
- Real Clear Politics
- The Atlantic Wire
- The Fix
- The Moderate Voice
- The Plank
- USA Today On Politics
- Wonkette
