When Lunatic Thinking Hits the Mainstream
By SusanUnPC on November 7, 2007 at 12:03 PM in Current Affairs, Health Care, Presidential Candidates, Republicans
THURSDAY UPDATE: “Rudy Fibs Off Robertson’s 9/11 Remarks” (Rudy’s a serial liar and fabricator!)
ORIGINAL: It is astonishing to see major industries indulge in far-rightwing smear campaigns, and major presidential candidates like Rudy Giuliani tell the biggest whoppers with a smirky, juvenile grin on his face and then get endorsed by a certified lunatic like Pat Robertson. (As Josh Marshall wryly observed this morning, this is beyond absurd: “It seems we’ve finally come full circle. The pro-choice, gay-rights-backing ‘hero’ of 9/11 (Rudy) endorsed by the TV preacher (Robertson) who said 9/11 was God’s punishment for America’s culture of sin.)” JUST IMAGINE seeing this advertisement about your governor, a governor who — by the way — is widely regarded as one of the brightest and most effective of the 50 nationwide. If this isn’t lunacy, I don’t know what is — I’m sure the coal industry skews far right politically, but to indulge in this kind of wild Free-Republic-ish tripe?
ThinkProgress — one of my must-see daily blog stops — has the story, and, as ThinkProgress always does, checks the facts against the absurd claims and smears:
Coal Industry Inaccurately Attacks Kansas Governor As Ahmadinejad Booster For Denying Air Permit
On Oct. 18, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment denied air quality permits for two 700-megawatt coal-burning power generators near Holcomb, KS, “citing health and environmental concerns associated with carbon dioxide emissions.” The decision was “the first time a coal plant air permit application” had “ever been denied on the basis of CO2 emissions.”This past Monday, newspapers across Kansas ran an ad by Kansans for Affordable Energy attacking the decision. They featured the smiling faces of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asking “why are these men smiling?” The answer, according to the ad, is Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D):
The ad, reports ThinkProgress, says:
Because the recent decision by the Sebelius Administration means Kansas will import more natural gas from countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran.
But, ThinkProgress points out the hard facts:
Unmentioned in the ad, however, is the fact that Kansans for Affordable Energy is partially funded by Sunflower Electric Power Corp. and the Peabody Coal Company. Sunflower Electric is the company whose permits were rejected by Sebelius’s administration.
Also, as the Washington Post notes this morning, the ads are extremely misleading. Not only does “Kansas currently export natural gas to other states,” but the United States doesn’t even “currently import natural gas from Russia, Venezuela or Iran.”
After taking criticism over the ad, Bob Kreutzer, a founder of Kansans for Affordable Energy, admitted that the link between Sebelius and Ahmadinejad, et al. may have been “a little bit extreme.
Then there’s Rudy. His LUNATIC whoppers are so many that bloggers are hard-pressed to keep a full list, but Josh Marshall and some others are doing a pretty damn good job. Here’s just one of many recent reports:
Fact-Checking Rudy’s Latest
Go easy on Kerik’s corruption because he’s the one who ended crime in New York? Greg Sargent fact-checks Rudy’s latest bamboozlement.Late Update: Greg has more on the media largely ignoring Rudy’s claim that he, um, waterboarded mafia suspects.–DK
–Josh Marshall
Why do I combo the lunatic coal industry advertisement and the Rudi whoppers? Because I see a trend developing here: That American voters in ’08 are going to be flooded, non-stop, by the most ludicrous, absurd, exaggerated and wildly untrue claims from the rightwing.
Just countering all of these insane claims is going to take constant work, and — most worrisome — the ability to gain the spotlight to present the truthful retorts to these claims.
Yesterday, CNN’s Situation Room did a superb job of countering Rudy Giuliani’s LIES about statistics of survival for prostate cancer in the U.S. versus the U.K. But, that was on just one show, at an hour when most Americans are still working, and it was viewed by a tiny percentage of viewers.
How else can we spread the word — and get the MSM to tell the truth about these lies? We need to brainstorm on this. We need to use every opportunity to tell our friends, neighbors, and relatives the truth about these lies. We need to finance special interest groups that will counter such lies. We need to support our candidates who will run ads to counter these lies. What else can we do? Your ideas are welcome.
And now here’s how CNN’s Situation Room handled Rudy’s lies:
BLITZER: Rudy Giuliani is trying to show voters he gets their concerns about health care. He highlighted his own fight against prostate cancer in a recent campaign ad. But some are now questioning whether the Republican presidential front-runner got his facts straight.
Let’s turn to our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. She has been looking into this.
First of all, Elizabeth, tell us what Giuliani claimed and what you have learned. Did he get the numbers right?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to a lot of the folks that we talked to — in fact, all the folks we talked to — they said, he did not get his numbers right.
And, Wolf, this has turned into such a brouhaha. I can tell you that much.
Here’s what Rudy Giuliani had to say about what happened to — about the statistics about survivability for prostate cancer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Those figures are absolutely accurate as of the time that I had them. The report indicates that in the United States, back in the year 2000, there was an 82 percent chance of my surviving prostate cancer if it was detected, whereas, in England, there would have been a 43 percent chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: But, according to the American Cancer Society, those numbers aren’t right.
You have got to take a look, Wolf, at the statistics next to me. The ACS says that, in the U.S., Giuliani says survivability in 2000, 82 percent. They say, not right. They say that 92 percent of men who had prostate cancer survived it. So, they said he was off by 10 points.
And, in the U.K., Giuliani said that the number was 43 percent. But the — a group called Cancer Research U.K. says it is 71 percent. They said that number was also wrong. And that group is about the equivalent of the American Cancer Society. Now, there’s one thing that the doctors we talked to said we really have to emphasize. They said these survival numbers are really not the operative numbers here. They said it is actually more accurate to look at the chances that — of men dying from prostate cancer once they are diagnosed.
And what they said is that, when you look at those men who die from prostate cancer, they said it is kind of a wash. There’s no difference between the U.K. and the U.S.
We have this from Dr. Brantley Thrasher. He’s a spokesman for the American Urological Association.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. J. BRANTLEY THRASHER, SPOKESPERSON, AMERICAN UROLOGICAL ASSOCIATION: You are not seeing big differences between the U.K. and the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: Now, it is interesting. Dr. Thrasher is not a political man. But he says he’s so glad that people are talking about prostate cancer. He says men don’t talk about it enough — Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. That’s true. Thanks very much, Elizabeth Cohen, for that fact-check.
by Ronald Scott
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