The top seven outrageous partisan falsehoods from Obama's speech

September 10, 8:39 AMMacon County Conservative ExaminerRobert Moon

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AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

The "post-partisan" candidate for "change" has conducted his umpteenth ultra-partisan misinformation-fest on ObamaCare. The most egregious distortions and falsehoods are as follows...

7. "Unfortunately, in 34 states, 75 percent of the insurance market is controlled by five or fewer companies. In Alabama, almost 90 percent is controlled by just one company. And without competition, the price of insurance goes up and quality goes down...I just want to hold [insurance companies] accountable."

The glaringly obvious (and cost-free) solution to insurance monopolies is to eliminate the government restrictions that make them unavoidable. This is a blatantly dishonest attempt to misrepresent a clearly government-created problem as not enough government. As usual, all that is actually needed here is to simply get government out of the way.

6. "...radio and cable talk show hosts [and] prominent politicians [have claimed] that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple."

This is called a "straw man" fallacy. It is a tactic in which you try to exaggerate your opponent's argument so much that it begins to sound completely ridiculous, thereby making it effortless to knock down--like a straw man.

As even the Washington Post has acknowledged, the entirely legitimate concern here is with the creepy, needless involvement of a government bureaucracy--one that will, by all accounts, be desperately looking for ways to cut costs--in an area as personal and sensitive as "end-of-life" counseling.

5. "There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."

There is a reason Obama had to pause in the middle of this statement. Incensed at his unaccountable, continuous dishonesty, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) finally broke down and shouted out, "You lie!"

As I have already proven, ObamaCare will in fact cover illegal immigrants.

4. "My health care proposal has also been attacked by some who oppose reform as a 'government takeover' of the entire health care system.

First, "some who oppose reform?" Please. This is called the "false choice" fallacy. Anyone who opposes a total government takeover must be against doing anything at all. Embarrassingly weak.

And second, Obama is on the record admitting that the single-payer system (government takeover) is in fact the goal here. Additionally, I have also recently demonstrated not only that ObamaCare will put government in charge and eliminate choice, but also that it will deliberately destroy private exchanges. 

3."First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits -- either now or in the future. (Applause.) I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period."

Two problems here. First, this is the same Barack "No Earmarks in This Bill" Obama who told us that he doesn't "like big government," swore that he would not compromise national defense by investigating the CIA, and promised that no one making less than $250,000 per year will see any tax increase "of any kind"...only to turn around and investigate the CIA, dramatically (and illegally) increase the size of government, and try to raise taxes on everything from cigarettes to health care benefits, to energy.

But beyond his endless credibility issues, there is the fact that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office flatly contradicts him, confirming instead that ObamaCare will in fact explode the deficit.

2."...Medicare is another issue that's been subjected to demagoguery and distortion during the course of this debate...The only thing this plan would eliminate is the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud, as well as unwarranted subsidies in Medicare that go to insurance companies..."

As I have also already demonstrated, ObamaCare would absolutely gut Medicare...by staggering amounts...far beyond what could ever be characterized as "eliminating waste."

1. "Instead of honest debate, we've seen scare tactics...Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points...And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned."

Pot, meet kettle. This is coming from the same guy who hysterically vilifies insurance companies and hilariously warned us that doctors were looking to perform unnecessary surgeries on us to make more money.

Incidentally, this backwards portrayal of civilized, open, and bi-partisan Democrats innocently reaching out to their unreasonable opponents who then lash out and refuse to work together is also provably, laughably erroneous.

Democrats have not allowed their opponents to even sit in on a single meeting on this issue since April. Indeed, since the beginning, they have stripped their opponents of basic minority rights that  have existed almost as long as the republic. And while selling ObamaCare as a mere cost-cutting initiative, they have refused to even mention (in over a thousand pages of text) the elephant in the room--frivolous lawsuits. Why? Because trial lawyers are huge campaign contributors to Democrats.

Who's being partisan here?

Americans do not want ObamaCare. They are overwhelmingly happy with what they have and want the one industry that still isn't failing us left alone. As I have demonstrated before, Democrats are losing this debate not because of misinformation, but because their time-disproven ideas and reprehensible tactics cannot compete on a level playing field.

See the House Republican Conference analysis for more on Obama's partisan falsehoods from this speech. And click here for more on Obama's habitual lying on health care in general.