We know there is a tremendous amount of misinformation circulating around the country regarding the healthcare reform bill and we really need people to be quiet and pay attention to the facts.. I noted that the DNC is making an effort to dispell the myths at
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/settingtherecord While I am delighted at the effort to correct misconceptions, I'm concerned. What strikes me is that this message is like preaching to the choir. Each bullet point will be construed as inflammatory by most conservatives who enter the site because it is all about what the republicans are doing. Why not a site that merely sets the record straight. A matter of fact approach like "We are concerned about the misinformation circulating regarding health insurance reform. Here is the misinformation ....and this is the facts....." Instead, immediately the reader is hit with :
False Republican Attacks on Health Insurance Reform
In an attempt to stall or even derail health insurance reform, many Republican officials have continually made false and outlandish claims that distort the truth about the reforms that are actually being proposed.
Special Interest Groups' Misinformation Campaign
Special interest groups continue to rely on scare tactics and mistruths to create confusion and distort the debate. In many cases, they’ve attacked provisions that don’t even appear in any of the health-care measures under consideration.
Viral Chain Emails Filled with Blatantly False Claims
Many people have received anti-health-reform chain emails filled with blatantly false claims.
Staged Disruptions Organized by Right-Wing Groups
These disruptions are being organized and funded by special interest groups who are trying desperately to preserve the status quo. One of the groups behind these disruptions – Conservatives for Patients' Rights – is being helped by some of the same people behind the notorious 'Swift Boat' ads of 2004.
To me, these bullet points seem antagonistic and counter productive to our intent. If the intent is to "set the record straight" as the site indicates, it seems to me that the site will turn off the very people it is meant to inform. The site is sponsored by the DNC and linked to www.whitehouse.gov. If this is the way we are going to deciminate truth, we are never going to overcome partisan hurdles. We've got to quit with the republicans this and democrats that. Can't we just put out the information for the facts they are and not call political parties into the explanation ?