Thee PR folks are in the saddle and guide mankind. We have to be careful readers, and don’t get enough support from the press.
The AP report documents a series of health care-related claims, some of which are lies and some of which are, at best, sketchy. But looking over the larger debate, it seems pretty obvious that opponents of reform are making demonstrably, transparently false claims, while proponents of reform are making optimistic predictions that may or may not pan out.
What the article seems reluctant to tell us, however, is that there’s a qualitative difference between the two. One side is lying; one side isn’t. Reality may have a well known liberal bias, but there’s nothing wrong in pointing out when a debate is dominated by those who feel compelled to base their case on falsehoods.