As AP reports, 17,000 American libraries are being recruited to help patrons access information and computer time related to signing up for Obamacare. But on Fox News, guest Chris Plante (with a little help from host Martha MacCallum), likened this program to help Americans make informed choices and get health insurance to North Korea. Even worse, he called the librarians who are participating, “creepy little East German(s)” propagandizing “our children.” (h/t Media Matters)
On yesterday’s America Live, MacCallum fed Plante the opening she surely knew he’d use to attack the plan by announcing the news and “asking,” “Chris, you got to get the word out. So, you know, what’s wrong with this, right?”
Plante answered, “Yeah, what’s wrong with this? When it was originally implemented in North Korea, I think it was a better idea. Look, the NFL and the NBA, I’ve got some free PR advice for them, do not latch on to unpopular government programs, and put yourself in the middle of this kind of state-versus the people argument. I think it’s a bad PR move on their part. The librarians, creepy little East German, but using the children in a $37 million program in California to propagandize children in our school system with the plan of sending them home to convince their parents to come around to the point of view of the federal government on an unpopular program is sick. It’s crazy. I mean it’s Third World Banana Republic nuttiness.”
Plante’s attack is nutty, itself. But MacCallum gave it legitimacy by saying, “It is, it is very, it’s very weird.”
But here’s more from the AP story that MacCallum should have included:
About 7 million people are expected to sign up for coverage in the new marketplaces next year, but the heavy emphasis on the Web-based portals puts anyone without access to a computer at a disadvantage.
Libraries equipped with public computers and Internet access already serve as a bridge across the digital divide, so it made sense to get them involved, said Julie Bataille, spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Only on Fox News would helping people get access to governmental information be likened to communist propagandizing.
Somehow, I’ve got a feeling that, if the info could get through to the FoxNoise sheeple (because it certainly wouldn’t make it on FoxNoise), there would be such a massive uprising against the right, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the French Revolution.
