George Will on Sunday accused the media of manufacturing the return of government mandated healthcare to the current reform debate.
Discussing the subject on the recent installment of ABC's "This Week," Will said it was highly unlikely Democrats actually have the votes for what they call a "public option," but the media are assisting them in "cleverly and skillfully manufacturing a sense of inevitability that they hope will be self-fulfilling."
In effect, although it is quite doubtful the votes are currently there for any form of government run healthcare, the press are doing their darnedest to change that (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript):
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST: George, let's zero in on this public option debate right now. It is kind of a remarkable comeback for the idea even though we don't know exactly how it's gonna shake out in the end. What do you attribute that to?
GEORGE WILL, ABC: Arguably to a collaborative media. That is although they cannot identify a single Republican vote as Al [Hunt] demonstrated in his interview with Olympia Snowe, the Democratic leaders have said, "We've got the votes." Now that means they're gonna get the votes of Evan Bayh of Indiana, Ben Nelson of Florida, of Sen. Nelson of Nebraska, which is to say they're not going to lose a single, so-called moderate Democrat. I think there is, they're cleverly and skillfully manufacturing a sense of inevitability that they hope will be self-fulfilling. I'm still dubious.
And the White House thinks Fox isn't a news organization!
Marvelously said, George. Once again, bravo!
Of course, this kind of manufacturing a self-fulfilling prophecy is a regular strategy by the media.
Just ask Barack Obama's challengers during last year's presidential campaign.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.




















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The media mainstream is Democrat Party propaganda machine!
October 25, 2009 - 11:34 ET by jefflebowskiThe MSM doesn't even bother denying it is a propaganda machine for Obama anymore. But they'll cry over opinion shows like Beck and Hannity on Fox! The MSM is going to cover Obama and try to accomplish his socialistic desires for America. He's all they have left.
The Dims will push through the public option one way or another. And they will reap the whirlwind in 2010!
Angry White Dude
www.angrywhitedude.c...
Even if they reap a whirlwind
October 25, 2009 - 12:11 ET by StarAZEven if they reap a whirlwind, if they do--we will all be blown away by the finished bill in 2013. It's a lose-lose.
the media are assisting them
October 26, 2009 - 02:54 ET by notonmywatchthe media are assisting them in "cleverly and skillfully manufacturing a sense of inevitability that they hope will be self-fulfilling."
This is exactly the kind of point we need to get out there MUCH more often.
The associated questions is "where are they getting this common template?"
They all push the same propaganda, emphasizing the point that it is propaganda.
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A whirlwind is not
October 25, 2009 - 12:37 ET by NL207A whirlwind is not enough. It has to be a Tsunami. A Mega Tsunami. Want to know what one of these is like? Watch this.
Conservatives will need 2/3 majorities in both houses to undo Obama's damage. Such majorities will give conservatives the power to scrub the federal courts of leftist judges through impeachment and redrawing of judicial jurisdictions. Defunding certain benches would also be useful. I think it would be really cool to restructure the Uber Liberal Ninth Circuit's jurisdiction to Alcatraz Island. They may hear all cases originating there. Give Second Circuit Central Park.
Use Schumer-like tactics against the libs.
It's a possibility...
October 25, 2009 - 13:32 ET by AgentAmericanThis would take a huge effort on the part of lots of angry conservatives. We can't do this sitting down.
Awake the sleeping giant...and that giant is WE THE PEOPLE!
Then start by helping Doug
October 25, 2009 - 14:35 ET by NL207Then start by helping Doug Hoffman.
I have been campaigning door-to-door for our local cconsrvative candidates.
What have you done this week to bring down Obama and his mob?
This week...
October 25, 2009 - 16:01 ET by heldmyw...I introduced three people to Newsbusters and Hot Air.
The one thing most feared by this White House is an informed electorate.
...And you are NOT going to be informed by the LameStream Media!
"And you are NOT going to
October 25, 2009 - 17:59 ET by NL207"And you are NOT going to be informed by the LameStream Media"
An understatement if there ever was one.
The really pitiful thing is
October 25, 2009 - 14:08 ET by MikeBThe really pitiful thing is that we are getting more information from Fox's opinion shows than we are from the so-called news broadcasts of NBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN. (By the way, is MSNBC supposed to be a news network?)
Rhetorical questions follow: Why weren't the alphabets all over ACORN, why didn't they report factually about the TEA party rally in DC, why didn't they do investigative reporting on the voter registration fraud, the actual voter fraud, the voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party, and so forth?
Why did it take Glen Beck to expose the Communists among Obama's Czars, when the nets should have done that when Obama first chose those people? Those statements were out there for the nets to use; why did it take non-journalist Glen Beck to do what the news media should have been doing all along? You graduates of the Colleges of so-called Journalism have some explaining to do.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
It's actually going to be a PUBLIC MANDATE
October 25, 2009 - 11:49 ET by ekslibfor many Americans, not a PUBLIC OPTION.
Look for a new MSNBC/and
October 25, 2009 - 12:01 ET by BKeyserLook for a new MSNBC/and whomever they poll with Poll out this week suggesting an increase in the support for a public option. My guess is Tuesday and the support will be in the neighborhood of 62%. Of course, we all know the sampling will be suspect.
"God Bless George"
October 25, 2009 - 12:25 ET by mad53PADuring a following segment discussing the feud with Fox News, Will said the following:
Fox has been accused of "Opinions Presented as News" of course unlike the New York Times and MSNBC.
It might not be exact to what he said, but George Will has a gift of making just a couple of sentences "ring true and hit hard".
He states as fact (correctly) what everyone else knows!
And Snowe?
October 25, 2009 - 12:41 ET by slickwillie2001You can also compare the old media's fawning treatment of Olympia Snowe for disloyalty to her party with their disgust with Joe Lieberman on the occasions when he supported President George W. Bush.
A Simple Question
October 25, 2009 - 13:18 ET by 10ksnookerWhy doesn't anyone question the Constitutionality of turning over your healthcare records to the federal government? Anyone heard of the 4th Amendment?
Without which, rationing of health care cannot happen.
Are we to believe if the only food available food was government gruel and you had to buy your gruel coupons from the federal government that that would be Constitutional? Watch the movie Soylent Green and see how that all works out. Soylent Green is the gruel.
"Why doesn't anyone
October 25, 2009 - 14:02 ET by ckc1227"Why doesn't anyone question the Constitutionality of turning over your healthcare records to the federal government?"
Nancy Pelosi has your answer.
Not just the 4th
October 25, 2009 - 14:49 ET by jon_torlinI like to combine that with the 8th Amendment, which deals with cruel and unusual punishment. Their penalties for not towing the line are indeed unusual, and would be considered at least financially cruel.
Just like a dictatorship.
-Jon
They think that ship has sailed
October 25, 2009 - 16:09 ET by KC MulvilleIn the wake of the Depression, the Supreme Court upheld a ridiculous law that regulated how much wheat a man could grow on his own property (without selling it, merely consuming it himself) on the grounds that it would affect "interstate commerce." Once they allowed that distortion, Congress used the loophole to impose itself on every nook and cranny of American life, on the grounds that everything affected interstate commerce.
Now, after the fact that they have taken over so much (Orrin Hatch wants the senate to dictate college football tournaments) they argue that Congress has already asserted control over the country, so that ship has sailed. They stole power, as they say, fair and square.
This is the danger of stare decisis, the obedience to precedent. The argument for stare decisis is the greatest hypocrisy imaginable: it says that we are willing to accept decisions we agree are false ... on the theory that to change the false decisions will upset too many people ... whom are profiting by the false decisions.
It's insanity. All brought to you by liberals, and the theory of the living constitution.
The Public (snicker) "Option"
October 25, 2009 - 18:29 ET by UnsaneWhy not? Simple. Have you forgotten about the Kelo decision, where the Supreme Court overturned the eminent domain portion of the Fifth Amendment?
We cannot afford to let this thing get that far.
And as a poster above said: it is NOT a public "option". I am getting very sick of hearing it called an "option". It WILL be a mandate, a DEMAND, especially coupled with the provision in HB 3200 that kills all private insurance policies after a certain date (in Jan. 2013, IIRC).
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Media Flatheads
October 25, 2009 - 14:49 ET by Jerry MackThe media flatheads must salvage their investment in Obama.
Note: Flipped onto Andersen Cooper the other night and I do believe that his head is getting flatter. Must be from all the head pats coming from the Obama administration.
Yeah, that's my gut feeling
October 25, 2009 - 18:20 ET by TenebrousYeah, that's my gut feeling too. Nothing has changed as far as votes go, and voter opinion has only become more opposed to this, not less. The media is manufacturing support where there is none, and they are doing so even as their influence wanes.
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Random-jumbled-thoughts.blogspot.com
The last thing I heard
October 26, 2009 - 12:12 ET by StarAZEmployers will not be forced to provide it...I heard...but if anyone in the co needs a subsidy, then they pay a fine for everyone in the company....These kloodges are getting more and more out there, aren't they? The Feds will now know where you work, what other people work there, who is getting what, and .... they will be up our butts about everything!
Health insurer profits not so fat
October 25, 2009 - 20:06 ET by MaximusBraveheartThis was actually good: http://news.yahoo.co...
M-B
Rules
October 25, 2009 - 22:19 ET by LindamaeAnother Rules for Radicals example. Ignore the truth and state what you want to be true as if it is true and wait for it to happen. Spinning straw into gold or gold into straw - depending upon your beliefs.
How to reach the young people about obamacare
October 26, 2009 - 10:53 ET by njresidentPublic option, co-op, exchange, trigger... all are government power-grab! The horror of obamacare!
Dick Morris says the best way to now stop ObamaCare is to educate those under 30. This 3-D, anti-Obamacare ad is a great way to do it on their own turf: YouTube. But we need more than the current 12, 500 hits to make it more visible to the youth, so please watch it once or twice a day to drive the numbers up and send it to everyone who can think of, including other message boards.
(And yes, if you have the red-blue 3-D glasses, it really is in amazing 3-D!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpQlTN9kgfo
THIS is how conservatives need to start diversifying their messages to the youth audience so conservative messages all aren’t just scenes of tea parties and paintings of patriotic scenes. Please make this go viral, everyone. We only have one week left before it’s “out of season”. Please hurry! We can make an impact!
Just watch it once or twice and send it along; it doesn’t get any easier than that!
Hits now at 12,826 views.
October 26, 2009 - 13:08 ET by MaximusBraveheartHits now at 12,826 views. M-B
Pelosi, Reid, and Obama are
October 26, 2009 - 16:35 ET by deerjerkydavePelosi, Reid, and Obama are desparate to get some form of a public option in one of these bills. They're trying to water it down to be "optional." If they can't do it then it will highly anger their far left base and will damage them politically. We as conservatives and those who support the principles of freedom and individual sovereignty cannot allow the public option to be included in any health reform bill.
djd... I don't know if we
October 26, 2009 - 16:38 ET by bigtimerdjd...
I don't know if we are going to be able to stop them.
That is what I fear.
Let alone Cap and Trade, illegal immigration, etc.
One toe in the door...we are doomed...it will be very difficult to ever undo the damage.
'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart