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Krugman confronts Ailes with Fox News' "deliberate" health care "misinformation" documented by Media Matters

Ailes responds with GOP talking points

January 31, 2010 11:10 am ET

From the January 31 edition of ABC News' This Week:

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Goler reverses meaning of Obama quote to falsely suggest he supports European-style health care

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    • Author by Bad News (January 31, 2010 11:12 am ET)
      10  
      Roger Ailes, "I'm Mis-informed and i'm Proud"


      Mr. News
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Maurice Bretzfield (February 01, 2010 12:04 am ET)
           
        Ailes is not "mis-informed", he knows exactly what he is doing. He is the "mis-informer" in chief.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by dogbreath (January 31, 2010 11:15 am ET)
         
      I am not watching this show. . . does George Will ever speak?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by temphandle tearfully55timetable (January 31, 2010 11:24 am ET)
      16  
      Oh, he's insufferable. Again with the constitution! Ailes is not misinformed he enjoys misinforming with deliberate calculation. How offensive that he so callously uses the constitution to further his goal of deliberately misguiding the public to further his own Fox's own goals. What a travesty.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Civic Racecar (January 31, 2010 2:59 pm ET)
        3  
        Apparently, Ailes would like a health care bill that states the following:

        "11th US Congress
        House of Representatives
        H.R. 3962

        Be it ordered:
        the US government shall help in providing health care to individuals who do not have it or who lose it."

        We can just let the Supreme Court determine how to apply it, because they're the ones that interpret the laws, right? Legislation is supposed to be vague so that no one knows what it means and the Supreme Court can tell us. /sarcasm
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Publius39 (January 31, 2010 4:20 pm ET)
          5  
          Yeah, I hate that tired old attack "well, the bill is 2000 pages long" as if legislation like this would be able to be contained in a bill of only a couple of pages.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by neil1017 (January 31, 2010 9:53 pm ET)
            5  
            The health care bill could have been done on one page. "Starting on Jan.1,2010, all American citizens will have the option of applying for and being covered under the Medicare/medicade health plan, no exclusions or denials." There the health plan is complete.
            Report Abuse
      • Author by mk3872 (January 31, 2010 4:21 pm ET)
        5  
        Oh, yeah, right the U.S. Constitution ... You must mean that document that serves to protect the freedoms and rights of global corporations, yes?
        Report Abuse
      • Author by Wren61 (February 01, 2010 3:15 pm ET)
           
        Having a court ruling that states you can legally lie to your audience means never having to say you are sorry for doing just that.
        http://www.relfe.com/media_can_legally_lie.html
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Boxer1979 (January 31, 2010 11:34 am ET)
      10  
      Krugman confronts Ailes with Fox News' "deliberate misinformation" on health care

      Ailes do not care about facts. It's all about the RATINGS!

      SMH!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by GreenLantern (January 31, 2010 12:08 pm ET)
      11  
      I love the "2000 page, nobody has read it" idiotic argument! Yeah, I could never read a 2000 page piece of double spaced legislation in 6 or 8 months, even if that was my only job! Who could, I mean 200 pages of normal space, regular margin text! That would be impossible! In only 6 months! I side with ailes on this one! There is no way that in only 6 to 8 months that they could report accurately what is in that ten times the size of War and Peace and the Brothers Karamazov novels all put together. And not a single repug senator could possibly read legislation in 6 to 8 months. Who do we think they are? Super-reader-man? Even their staffs couldn't pull off such a feat! I mean, there are only 20 or 30 of those hired for this, that is too much even for the staff! Good thing they were elected? (sorry for the rant....... :)
      Report Abuse
      • Author by News Corpse (January 31, 2010 1:37 pm ET)
        10  
        Actually, Fox News' Neil Cavuto had on the world's fastest speed reader and he read the whole 2,000 page bill in about 45 minutes.

        That completely destroyed Cavuto's argument that the bill was too big to read, but Cavuto didn't notice. He thinks he's a comedian. Cavuto is nothing more than a prop comic: the new Carrot Top.

        [http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2804/4059583956_f9f2effa06.jpg]
        Report Abuse
      • Author by kyle b.c. (February 01, 2010 1:32 am ET)
           
        actually, the sad truth is that most congressman don't read any bills all the way through. they have a basic understanding of what a bill is suppose to do then have their lawyerss scroll through it to make sure it doesn't violate anything important to them. given the sheer multitude of all the legislation passed by congress every year, there is no way they could possibly have time to read through everything before voting on it(and honestly, i wonder how many of them would understand it if they did).
        Report Abuse
      • Author by albertsenj (February 01, 2010 2:43 am ET)
          1
        Well, as it happens, that isn't how this document is formatted. Have YOU read it, or even looked at it? A typical page had about 175 words on it. See the text on the Library of Congress website.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by skatscan5624 (February 01, 2010 7:29 pm ET)
             
          Actually I think he was joking, Or at least I hope he's joking. With right wingers it's hard to tell.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by ReasonAndResolve (January 31, 2010 12:55 pm ET)
      16  
      The average American NEVER reads legislation - and if he/she did, it would not be understood. It was your job, Mr. Ailes, to give them the bulet points, to read it and tell America what it REALLY means.

      You failed to do that. You willfully screwed up, willfully misled, and willfully destroyed the discourse. You are destroying the Fourth Estate with your biased garbage. Please resign while I still have a nation left, you bag of wind.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by temphandle tearfully55timetable (January 31, 2010 1:53 pm ET)
        7  
        Bullet points! Isn't that what Oreilly alwasy asks for? he never follows thru...EVER!
        Report Abuse
      • Author by DellDolly (January 31, 2010 3:00 pm ET)
        7  
        The average American has no idea that even very simple legislation has many pages.

        This has been part of the false framing that the Republicans did, and is part of the nonsense that the Obama White House, MMFA and I have been saying needs to be pointed out, highlighted, and called out so that it either stops or loses credibility. The length of a bill that deals with such a complext subject as the healthcare that people receive here in the USA should ONLY be an issue if the bill was relatively short, and therefore incomplete! The length is actually a sign that they covered all the bases. It's a good thing, but as is SOP for Republicans, they turn an opponent's strength into a weakness.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Unreality (January 31, 2010 4:17 pm ET)
          4  
          DD,
          Regrettably, 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year. That's why Beck is dissing the House Bill.

          * 50 percent of American adults are unable to read an eighth grade level book.
          * 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
          *42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
          * 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
          * There are almost half a million words in our English Language - but a third of all our writing is made up of only twenty-two words.
          source the Literacy Company readfaster.com

          Report Abuse
          • Author by Don Hussein Fabuloso (February 01, 2010 2:27 am ET)
            2  

            * 50 percent of American adults are unable to read an eighth grade level book.


            One of the wingnuts recently linked to a poll indicating that 49% of those surveyed consider Fox the most trusted news channel.

            Coincidence ?
            Report Abuse
            • Author by okiepoli (February 01, 2010 12:46 pm ET)
                 
              I laugh at your humor, Colonel, but you and I are both smart enough to know that correlation does not imply causation.

              Although it would be some interesting research, I don't have the stomach to talk to very many Fox News fans.
              Report Abuse
        • Author by OldHill (February 01, 2010 12:14 pm ET)
             
          what about the fact that most democrats that voted for the bill have never read it?
          Report Abuse
    • Author by AB-001 (January 31, 2010 2:19 pm ET)
      6  
      Ailes doesn't answer the charge; he simply ignores it. When Krugman says Fox cut off Obama's statement before it was over, Ailes goes off on Constitution, et al...without addressing what Krugman says.

      "Some people say" this is obvious avoidance of obvious bias that is unfair and unbalanced. Shine a light on vermin and they run
      Report Abuse
    • Author by mustardman (January 31, 2010 2:38 pm ET)
      1 11
      So it appears Krugman still has a purpose besides fearmongering about the economy and being wrong half the time.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by hurricaneyankee52983 (January 31, 2010 4:00 pm ET)
        6  
        mustardman,KRUGERMANN is right and you are obviously a fool.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by toombsie (January 31, 2010 6:17 pm ET)
        6  
        What has he been wrong about? Everything so far has played out exactly as he expected it too.

        The only thing I think he has been wrong about recently was that he assumed health care reform was a sure thing. He didn't foresee the Scott Brown victory that would derail everything.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Locus (February 01, 2010 12:49 am ET)
             
          In 2002 Krugman supported the idea that the Federal Reserve should create a housing bubble to repair the effects of the recently punctured tech bubble. That's about as wrong as someone can be.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by eb (January 31, 2010 2:43 pm ET)
      7  
      DEATH PANELS!!!!!

      Go over the sad story of how those two words came to summarize the whole debate and I am sure you will understand why so many of our fellow citizens are misinformed and why certain people are more than happy to misinform them.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by El Kabong (January 31, 2010 3:36 pm ET)
         
      Talking about misinformation coming from former ENRON advisor Paul Krugman!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Publius39 (January 31, 2010 4:21 pm ET)
      4  
      I'm glad Krugman called out Ailes for his BS. It really is a shame that Faux Noise deliberately lies and distorts information for viewers that are probably already devoid of intelligence and critical thinking.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by ProgLib (January 31, 2010 7:37 pm ET)
      4  
      Krugman calls Ailes out on his own networks' deception, and Ailes changes the subject to fear monger. How does that man sleep at night? What a shameful jerk.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Locus (February 01, 2010 12:53 am ET)
           
        Maybe if President Obama had kept his campaign promise and made the health care negotiations transparent then the electorate wouldn't be so fearful?
        Report Abuse
    • Author by dandelion (January 31, 2010 10:07 pm ET)
      6  
      If anyone wants to see the face of a "news" organization with an agenda, this is it. Not the phony liberal bias that Ailes is still talking about, but actual misinformation designed to promote and persuade. And if the facts don't support a pet cause, ignore 'em, spin 'em or change 'em. He has no interest in an informed electorate. He's not a journalist, he's a huckster.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Maurice Bretzfield (February 01, 2010 12:03 am ET)
         
      "We are the most trusted name in news". Roger Ailes January 31, 2010.

      Trusted by who Mr Ailes?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by doggeddem (February 01, 2010 1:48 am ET)
      3  
      If his mouth is opened, he is lying. That's what Roger Ailes has always done. He is a mean son of a b.... and no one could keep a straight face calling him a journalist. He is a right-wing fascist.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by ChronicIguana (February 01, 2010 7:01 am ET)
         
      Roger Ailes finally puts himself in front of cameras he doesn't control, and this is the best we can do? The question was a good one, but he squirmed off the hook and didn't answer it. And he was allowed to squirm off the hook.

      At the point Ailes started talking about the length of the bill, cut him off. Ask the question again. Keep asking the question until he answers it, storms from the studio or starts crying.

      Ailes is the man with his hand on the crank of the Fox News propaganda machine. Krugman had a rare opportunity to hold this man accountable, and he whiffed.
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    • Author by Trying to Understand (February 01, 2010 9:43 am ET)
         
      I love how Ailes halts all criticism of Fox by using the Constitution (Oh...Freedom of the Press! The Fourth Estate! How dare you question the civic contribution of Fox News!), but in the same conversation states that his top priority as head of Fox "News" is not to inform the public but to get the best RATINGS.
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