Health Care at the 19th Hole

Yesterday we played golf, mostly with a lot of retired, undereducated Republicans. Most of them do not subscribe to any newspaper, get all their information from Fox News, and haven't read a book this side of Laura Leigh in decades.

At the 19th hole, after toting up the scores and distributing the modest prize money, drinks were ordered and the conversation quickly drifted into current events -- namely, health care. If conversations came with footnotes, "some email I got from someone" would have been the most popular citation of authority.

As illustrated all too well even here-- in a spate of idiotic, fact-free, scare-mongering messages attached to older posts over the weekend from multiple "Anonymous" readers -- misinformation about health care reform has gone viral across the nation. In rapid succession, we were told (1) Obama isn't a U.S. citizen; (2) Obama is no longer a Muslim, he's the devil ("He really is, I'm not kidding."); (3) Obama wants to "take away my health insurance;" (4) Obama's health care bill will cut Veteran's benefits; (5) Under a health care bill proposed by Obama "everybody will be put on Medicaid;" (6) Obama plans to "require everyone to have a living will so they have to die when they get sick;" (7) "they're going to take away my Medicare;" and more errant nonsense along the same lines.

Over the weekend, the White House finally began pushing back.

As of today, there's now a web site devoted expressly to correcting the most common misconceptions, disingenuous criticisms, and outright lies being circulated -- and often shouted -- by town hall meeting protesters, through the internet pipes, in circulating emails, and at all the 19th holes where we were trapped. In addition to several short but informative video clips, the web site has a Frequently Asked Questions section that gives you the latest info on where we are with health care reform.

Below, one of those videos. Check out the others, too.