VIDEO: Death Panels Are Back, Baby!

Candidate Dan Fanelli with RNC Chairman Michael Steele. Courtesy of <a href="http://www.electdan2010.com">Dan Fanelli</a>.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Pop quiz: Your political party, the one with the elephant logo, lost a congressional seat not long after the party’s longtime incumbent turned out to be a closeted gay man texting inappropriate messages to his teenage male ex-interns. The new Democratic congressman, while occasionally prone to foot-in-mouth syndrome, is an energetic young firebrand with national media recognition. Also, the district is mostly in South Florida and mostly registered Democrats. Not much to run on locally here for a GOPer.

What do you do?

You lie and play to your constituency’s deepest fears, according to PolitiFact. That’s what the Pulitzer-winning news site is saying about Republican Dan Fanelli and his latest ad campaign to unseat Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), he of the regular Rachel Maddow sound-bite showcases. To win, Fanelli needs elderly and retired voters to swing his way. So in a TV spot whose lack of subtlety is rivaled only by its lack of production values, Fanelli is convincing the olds that OBAMACARE is going to BUMP THEM OFF:

PolitiFact‘s deconstruction of this ad—as if it needed it—is truly epic. Turns out the doctor in the spot is a real doctor, a dermatologist who purportedly saved Fanelli’s wife’s life once. But when contacted, the doctor (whose practice accepts Medicare) now says of Obamacare, “It’s not going to happen like in the commercial,” which he stresses should be read only as a “metaphor”…

When asked what evidence he has for the ad’s claims, Fanelli the candidate fumbles:

  • He cites the experience of his French aunt, who (he says) was told she was too old to receive a pacemaker. Except, then she did receive one.
  • He also says he had England’s National Health Service in mind. Except PolitiFact had already debunked that claim—if ageism happens in the NHS, then the difference can be made up with private insurance, as it already is here.
  • When asked where in the health care bill he’d found evidence of age cutoffs for treatment, Fanelli concedes he hasn’t read it: “I have tried to look at that bill and it’s a masterful mess,” he said.
  • When asked if he has other sources—news clips, et cetera—for his age-cutoff claims, Fanelli says only, “I have been at lectures…I don’t remember the name. I wasn’t anticipating getting a phone interview on this…There are various articles. I can’t quote verse, page and date.”

PolitiFact then goes to some field experts, who confirm that the ad has “no basis in reality whatsoever,” adding: “There is nothing in that bill that I am aware of, or certainly every reporter who has combed every inch of it, that mentions anything about ‘age limits.'” Thus does PolitiFact conclude:

So to recap, Fanelli’s ad offers a dramatic scene that has no solid facts behind it. He claims it portrays “Obamacare,” but he cannot cite any provisions in the health care bill—other than vague fear of a European system—that could cause such a tragic scene. He referred us to his wife’s dermatologist—who also happens to be the star of the commercial—but the dermatologist did not produce any conclusive evidence, either.

So the ad has lots of melodrama but no facts. We find the claim Pants on Fire.

Pants on Fire, by the way, is the same designation the site gave to Sarah Palin for her “death panels” claptrap last year. At least Fanelli has company.

The sad thing here: There is, in fact, plenty to be concerned about when it comes to health care, and rationing, and age…and our very own James Ridgeway deftly navigates those waters, in pieces like this one and a fabulous long story in MoJo‘s upcoming July/August issue.

The difference? Ridgeway did his homework, and he didn’t need to lie. But then, he didn’t need to pull off an upset victory in a congressional race with no new ideas to offer, either.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate