Jon Stewart absolutely hammers Betsy McCaughey, the originator of the “death panel” controversy — which equates end-of-life planning with government-ordered euthanasia — on The Daily Show.
Jon Stewart grills “death panel” activist
Jon Stewart absolutely hammers Betsy McCaughey, the originator of the "death panel" controversy -- which equates end-of-life planning with government-ordered euthanasia -- on The Daily Show.
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Betsy exhibits the classic “wingnut” mentality of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is an irrational tendency to search for, interpret or remember information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions or working hypotheses.
For Betsy, the starting point is that healthcare reform by a liberal government is evil. She then combs through legislation to find a passage that appears to confirm her worst fears, and rather than seeking clarification from her peers or the authors of said legislation, begins to proclaim loudly, hysterically (and incorrectly) that the sky is in fact, falling.
The health care reform bill “would make it mandatory — absolutely require — that every five years people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner.”
– Betsy McCaughey on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 in on the Fred Thompson radio show.
In 1994, she wrote a scathing review of the Clinton administration’s health care plan in the New Republic, a left-leaning magazine, arguing that the proposal would lead to rationing of treatment and would prevent patients from choosing health insurance.
Sadly, it seems that Jon Stewart is one of the few voices in the American media who has the guts and intelligence to call wingnuts to account. Had the rest of their media taken a more skeptical approach to Betsy’s claims from the beginning, “death panels” and town hall hysteria might have been averted.
I really worry that the rabidly partisan and reactionary tone of America’s television media will gradually leak into Australia to infect ours.
Never fear Jeebus. ‘Red Kerry’ will keep them honest… i a supposedly left leaning kind of way 🙂
There were surveys conducted during the last USA election indicating that more people got their political information from Jon Stewart and the Daily Show than most other sources.
They are in good hands. I would be much more concerned about USA if not for people like Jon Stewart. Sharp as a tack, with a BS detector that any Australian would be proud to claim, and he’s funny.