|
Jamieson, who directs a fact-checking project, says both ads are examples of "deceptive dramatization." Ryan's plan would not affect people currently on Medicare, she said. And the doctors' ad makes it sound as if Obama is cutting current Medicare spending, when his law merely slows the program's future growth. And it's unrealistic to suggest that either party believes it can afford to antagonize older voters. Erica Payne, a former Democratic Party fundraiser who founded the New York-based Agenda Project, said she stands by the Ryan ad. "It's dramatic, but it's accurate," she said. Her organization is a public policy and advocacy group. Ophthalmologist Jane Lindell Hughes, a founder of Texas-based AmericanDoctors4Truth, defended the Obama ad as a parody that responds to Payne's commercial. "It was absolutely a valid use of the president's voice," she said. People targeted by health care distortions say the attacks can accomplish two things: turning an individual into a pariah and shutting down legitimate consideration of new ideas. Pediatrician and health care expert Don Berwick, Obama's first Medicare chief, said he was never able to overcome the label of "rationer in chief" pinned on him by GOP critics of the health law, no matter how often he said he was against rationing. "When a myth gains traction ... it creates a terrain of silence," said Berwick. "A new kind of calculus is needed here, in which people believe engagement about the truth is wise." Economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin was GOP presidential candidate John McCain's policy chief in 2008 when the campaign unveiled a plan for a health insurance tax credit financed by a limit on the tax-free status of employer health insurance. It got pounded even though the idea had support from some prominent Democrats, and analysis showed it could work. That experience "reflects a deeper truth," Holtz-Eakin said. "Health care is a big issue to the American people. If it's not a big issue, you can't make hay of it in a political sense." The woman who asked Obama the question about a pacemaker for her centenarian mother said she was dissatisfied both with the president's response and how his opponents are using it in their ad. "It was just tit for tat," said Jane Sturm of Long Island, N.Y. "It's not using intelligent reasoning." ___ Online: Annenberg Center:
http://www.flackcheck.org/patterns-of-deception/
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries
Community |
Perspectives
|
Law & Courts |
Leisure Time
|
Spiritual Life |
Health & Fitness |
Teen Scene
Calendar
|
Letters to the Editor