In YouTube Special, CNN Favors Videos Calling For Universal Healthcare

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Over the last week CNN has been airing hour-long specials to promote their upcoming YouTube presidential debates. CNN has been asking viewers to submit videos to YouTube.com for a chance to have their questions answered by presidential candidates. Of the videos aired so far, those with a leftist slant have greatly outnumbered those from a conservative viewpoint. Of the videos aired on Monday night MRC concluded that distinctly liberal video submissions outnumbered conservative ones by a margin of 8 to 1 (though a slim majority of total videos shown were neutral or non-partisan).

Video (2:07): Real (1.56 MB) or Windows (1.28 MB), plus MP3 audio (971 kB).

CNN has been particularly adamant in their use of video submissions calling for universal or socialized health care. On Wednesday night CNN recycled a video that had already aired on Monday, despite that fact that some 1,400 videos had been posted on YouTube at that point. The video was submitted by Kim of Long Island, New York who is battling cancer.

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Kim: I’m thirty-six years old and hope to be a future breast cancer survivor...Like millions of Americans, I’ve gone for years without health insurance...What would you, as president, do to make low cost or free preventative medicine available for everybody in this country?

During the video, Kim removes her wig to reveal a bald head, presumably from the effects of chemotherapy. The video, indeed heartbreaking, is one of many submissions aired by CNN promoting universal or government-assisted health care

Jim Pence of Kentucky asks "The place that I worked at for 35 years promised me healthcare insurance as part of my retirement package; they broke their promise...Members of Congress have the best healthcare insurance money can buy, paid for with my tax dollars. Why should I pay for their healthcare insurance when they didn't bother to protect mine?"

CNN also aired a video from little Susie Flynn, who claims to be "running for president." Behind Susie is what appears to be her campaign van complete with a banner that reads, "SUSIE FLYNN FOR PRESIDENT" and ‘9 million uninsured children need a solution now.’

Susie Flynn: Children are the least expensive to insure compared to other costs the government easily funds...Why is it so difficult to find the money to insure them?

Ann Carter of Charleston also weighed in. "My father suffers from diabetes...I want to know what you intend to do to emphasize provision in your healthcare plan so that the cost and burden of common disease is decreased for future generations."

To be perfectly clear, not all of these questioners are explicitly calling for universal healthcare and many of the videos offer valid points. What is most concerning however, is the absence of videos critical of government intervention in healthcare. The questions aired by CNN seem tailor-made for Democratic candidates, in that they all seem to call for some sort of government solution. The videos aired by CNN do not question the dangers of the government taking over the healthcare system.

Maybe CNN is saving the submissions critical of socialism for next month’s Republican debate. Or maybe not.

Updated at 14:26 EDT with video links.


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A margin of 8-1 liberal

A margin of 8-1 liberal video's...CNN.

What a way to improve their viewer ratings...

Good old CNN, never will change a lick or see the light....poor losing leftist fools.

Clueless...just clueless.

To the first video maker, I

To the first video maker, I would respond "what type of preventive medicine would have helped you?  Breast self exams?  How much insurance did you need to have one of those done?  How about a mammography?  Cancer societies, women's groups, churches, insurers, and many other groups sponsor mobile mammography clinics across the country.  All you needed to get that free preventive test was to show up.  But you didn't.  Why?  Because you might have to drive to the other side of town?  Because you were too busy?  Let me ask you, if you knew then what you know now, would that drive across town have been too far, or were you really that busy?"

To the second I would say "I agree that children should be covered, and so do a lot of parents as private insurance covers about 90% of the children in this nation.  Medicaid (and sometimes Medicare) covers an additional four percent.  And, although it's sad to say, some parents are such pathetic losers that they're just too lazy to get their kids signed up for even free insurance, so they make up another three percent.  So we're actually only about three percent of insurable kids away from 100% already.  So, how big a check would you like to write to help cover those last few kids?"

Universal Healthcare

Let me see if I've got this correct; The liberals want the same government that gave them Katrina, to provide them with healthcare !

I pIty anyone waiting on the Gov. to provide Health/Care

I feel Pity for anyone who thinks the Governement is gonna provide better Health Care for them, or provide a "System" of Healthcare....FED govt. or State...

The Track Record on Welfare shows "Outsourcing State Govt." services save $$'s and provides better Response to the Public.  Texas uses Private Industry to Provide for State Govt. services at a Reduced Cost, and MORE ACCOUNTABILITY.

I don't think Most Americans are that DUMB....Socialism is a GREAT "IDEA", but it JUST DOESN"T WORK in Reality.    

What good is a Free Press, if it is a False Press ?   David Foote  GoE

Hey Michael, Didn't we go

Hey Michael,

Didn't we go over this already?

Don't you think there's a chance that liberal videos supporting universal healthcare have been turned in at an 8 - 1 rate?

Without knowing the contents of all of the videos that CNN had to choose from, how can you say that they are selectively showing liberal videos?

Maybe that's all they have.  Maybe there are no videos critical of government intervention.

Ever thought of that?

No, we didn't go over this.

Leon,

If you're pointing out that CNN is probably receiving far more liberal videos than conservative ones then we are in agreement. I do want to point out that nowhere did I claim that there was an 8-1 margin of videos supporting universal healthcare. I only said that on Monday night, of the aired videos with a political slant, 8 to 1 were liberal versus conservative. But to the point at hand, you cannot seriously believe that out of 1,400 videos received (I'm using numbers given by Paula Zahn on Wednesday night) there were no  submissions, not a single one, critical of government involvement in healthcare. So to answer your question, yes, I did think of that. But then I quickly dismissed it as absurd.