The LA Times is a handmaiden to the NY Times, and this opinion article proves it.
It reads like a spoof article from The Onion, but one cannot help but assume that it was constructed by a man who firmly believes everything he writes. And so do the editors and the Publisher of the L.A. Times. God Help Them ... and Us.
Here's the crux of the opinion piece:
... As we head toward next month's congressional face-off on a national healthcare bill, the news media are infatuated with town hall meetings. Over and over, we see angry citizens screaming about a Big Government takeover of the healthcare system, shouting that they will lose their insurance or be forced to give up their doctors and denouncing "death panels" that will euthanize old people.The Author (Neal Gabler) is entirely unconcerned about his facile diminishment of a National protest against what the protesters obviously consider a Federal Take-over of fiscal responsibility.
Of course, none of this is even remotely true. [emphasis added here and elsewhere] These are all canards peddled by insurance companies terrified of losing their power and profits, by right-wing militants terrified of a victory for the president they hate and by the Republican Party, which has been commandeered by the insurance industry and the militants. But the lies have obviously had their effect. Recent polls show that support for healthcare reform -- reform that would insure more Americans, would force insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions and prevent them from capriciously terminating coverage, and would provide competition to drive down costs -- is rapidly eroding.
Maybe Americans should know better. Maybe they shouldn't fall for the latest imbecilic propaganda and scare tactics. Maybe. But a citizenry is only as well-informed as the quality of information it receives. One can't expect Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin or the Republican Party or even the Democrats to provide serious, truthful assessments of a complex health plan. Truth has to come from somewhere else -- from a reliable, objective, trustworthy source.
That source should be the media, and there has been, in fact, some excellent coverage of healthcare, especially by our better newspapers and especially lately when the untruths have become a torrent, rousing reporters to provide a corrective. But overall, the coverage has not been exactly edifying.
Look at the emphasized and hi-lited phrases. These are the rhetorically loaded phrases by which attack-liberals commonly use to denigrate the outrage of private citizens. Liberals can't stand the light of righteous indignation, so they ignore the issues and attack the individuals, or groups in an "Ad Hominem" manner.
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