Thursday, August 13, 2009

AP's Matthew Daly Debunks Himself

Associated Press writer Matthew Daly debunks himself in an article released today. Daly claims Sarah Palin's criticism of "death panels" in the health reform bill was "debunked". But strangely, the debunked criticism was so powerful that it caused the offending part of the senate bill to be removed to avoid being "implemented incorrectly".

"Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin refused to retreat from her debunked claim that a proposed health care overhaul would create 'death panels,' as the growing furor over end-of-life consultations forced a key group of senators to abandon the idea in their bill.

"Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, one of six lawmakers negotiating on a Senate bill, said Thursday they had dropped end-of-life provisions from consideration 'entirely because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly.'"

The end-of-life provisions were stripped from the bill precisely because they could be implemented "incorrectly". That sounds like verification that the bill's provisions were highly problematic and affirm Palin's claim rather than debunking it.

Apparently Daly has trouble following the logic of the facts he reports.

But U.S. News and World Report's Peter Roff got the connection.
"In what can fairly be described as an admission that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin knew what she was talking about, the Senate Finance Committee Thursday dropped language from its bipartisan healthcare reform package that Palin and others had suggested would eventually lead to mandated end-of-life counseling sessions for seniors."

2 comments:

OregonGuy said...

The amount of cognitive dissonance that writers like Daly must experience has got to cause severe headaches, wouldn't you think?
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T. D. said...

Especially when they remember looming newspaper bankruptcies, layoffs, falling salaries, forced furlough time and fewer and fewer people willing to pay for what they write.

Thanks for your comment!