USA: Groteskt uærlige høyreorienterte

 

Amerikanske høyreorienterte er så kyniske at det også er litt komisk.  I f.eks. den pågående debatten om Obamas helsereform, har de viselig innsett at sannheten helst ikke bør komme fram:

 

Krugman på mandag:  “For the main G.O.P. [dvs. republikanernes] line of attack is the claim — based mainly on lies about death panels [se nedenfor] and so on — that reform will undermine Medicare [dvs. helsehjelpen til eldre amerikanere].  [..]  Think about just how bizarre it is for Republicans to position themselves as the defenders of unrestricted Medicare spending. First of all, the modern G.O.P. considers itself the party of Ronald Reagan — and Reagan was a fierce opponent of Medicare’s creation, warning that it would destroy American freedom. (Honest.) In the 1990s, Newt Gingrich tried to force drastic cuts in Medicare financing.”

 

Magasinet Rolling Stone hadde nylig en artikkel om “The Lie Machine”, f.eks. om ovennevnte “death panels”:

 

“Citing page 425 of [Obamas helsereform] — a section that outlines the same kind of optional [dvs. frivillig], end-of-life counseling that Republicans have voted for in the past [min kursivering] — [republikansk eks-viseguvernør Betsy] McCaughey uncorked a terrifying lie. “Congress,” she said, “would make it mandatory — absolutely require that every five years, people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner.” The Obama plan, she added, is financed by “shortening your mother or father’s life.  [..]

 

McCaughey has run this con before. During the debate over Clinton’s health care overhaul in the early 1990s, McCaughey [..] claimed [beviselig uriktig] that Hillarycare would prevent even wealthy Americans from “going outside the system to purchase basic health coverage you think is better.”  [..]  McCaughey’s claim was echoed endlessly in the press, with each repetition pounding a stake further into the heart of the reform effort.

 

[..]  But what has not been reported until now is that McCaughey’s writing was influenced by Philip Morris, the world’s largest tobacco company, as part of a secret campaign to scuttle Clinton’s health care reform. ([Reformen] would have been funded by a huge increase in tobacco taxes.) 

 

Kort sagt:  Betsy McCaughey lyver så det renner - for å hindre folk i å få helsehjelp, og for at tobakksprodusenter skal tjene mer penger.  Sånne folk finnes altså, de er ikke bare fiktive skurker i filmer og bøker.