Liar!

During President Obama's speech last night, one Republican simply could not contain himself. He called it as he saw it: "You lie!"

Did the President lie? Well he clearly said things that ranged from gross distortions to simply untrue. For the statements to be lies, well, it seems to me that he had to either know they were untrue or he should have known from the available information that they were untrue.
Yes, the president lied. I will show some of the lies here from the text of the prepared speech as published today.

But we did not come here just to clean up crises. We came to build a future. So tonight, I return to speak to all of you about an issue that is central to that future ? and that is the issue of health care.

This isn't a lie; it is just a gross exaggeration. Government involvement in health care is "central" to our future? Really? Isn't being the "land of the free" central? Wasn't the freedom to for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness really the central tenets of our country and should be central to our future? Even if government control of health care were important, it is certainly and most decidedly not central to our future.

One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn't reported gallstones that he didn't even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it. Another woman from Texas was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to declare a case of acne. By the time she had her insurance reinstated, her breast cancer more than doubled in size. That is heart-breaking, it is wrong, and no one should be treated that way in the United States of America.

Even if these are the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (although wholly unverifiable), the notion that bureaucrats making the decision will somehow be more fair is laughable.

We spend one-and-a-half times more per person on health care than any other country?.

Figures don't lie, but liars figure. This figure is doubtful, but note it is not how much is spent per person actually treated. Actually this figure is an indictment of the rest of the world for failing to treat people to the full extent they need it.

Finally, our health care system is placing an unsustainable burden on taxpayers.

But increasing government payments for health care won't further burden taxpayers? Really?

These are the facts. Nobody disputes them.

This is clearly a lie. Mr. Obama would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to hear the disputes.

Since health care represents one-sixth of our economy, I believe it makes more sense to build on what works and fix what doesn't, rather than try to build an entirely new system from scratch. And that is precisely what those of you in Congress have tried to do over the past several months.

The last part is a lie. Congress has indeed been trying to build a new system from scratch. Where has Obama been hiding?

Our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses; hospitals, seniors' groups and even drug companies ? many of whom opposed reform in the past. And there is agreement in this chamber on about eighty percent of what needs to be done, putting us closer to the goal of reform than we have ever been.

This agreement "in this chamber" on 80% is a lie. What he means is that the Democrats have agreed on 80%.

Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics.

And what exactly were those stories above about the mastectomy and the gallstone? Scare tactics. Exactly. Hypocrite.

First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.

Technically true in the legislation won't say that you have to change, but it is a lie in that the changes will inevitably lead to those changes by employers.

Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost.

Lie. Assuming the things he claim are bogus really are (they aren't) they have been spread by Americans genuinely concern about the health care issues. This lie is unworthy of the man who purports to be the president of all of us.

The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.

Obama lies. No one has suggested that the government intends to "kill off" senior citizens. In any government run health care system will necessarily be rationing by government decision. Obama appointees have recommended favoring the young in rationing systems. Government rationing may not be expressly in the bill, but that is exactly what will happen with any government run system. It has to.

There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false ? the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. And one more misunderstanding

Lie. Yes, the bill says that, but the Democrats blocked any effort to enact an enforcement mechanism. So, the bill will say no to illegal aliens, but they will get it anyway on taxpayer dollars.

I want to clear up that under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.

That may be his proposal, but certain Democrats are demanding funding for abortions. As long as publicly funded health care is on the table, funding for abortions is likely to come, if not now, then later. (Note, this is not a problem in Medicare for obvious reasons.)

But an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange.

If this made economic sense, we would have those now. This statement came at the end of a description of problems where some states have very few approved insurance companies. There is simple solution to the described problem, which is repeal the Federal law that caused the problem. Repeal Federal prohibitions on insuring across state lines? The President is being disingenuous.

Despite all this, the insurance companies and their allies don't like this idea. They argue that these private companies can't fairly compete with the government. And they'd be right if taxpayers were subsidizing this public insurance option. But they won't be. I have insisted that like any private insurance company, the public insurance option would have to be self-sufficient and rely on the premiums it collects.

Again, if a non-taxpayer funder nonprofit this made so much sense, we don't need more Federal legislation to cause it to happen.

Here's what you need to know. First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits ? either now or in the future. Period

No one in his right mind believes this statement.

Second, we've estimated that most of this plan can be paid for by finding savings within the existing health care system ? a system that is currently full of waste and abuse.

No one in his right mind thinks that government is good at rooting out waste and abuse. If anything, the opposite is true. A promise to fund anything based upon rooting out waste and abuse is pure fantasyland thinking. I won't bother the cute the other fantasy statement about cutting out fraud and abuse. The truth is that the more government money there is in a program, the more certain people are working hard to get their hands on it and the more bureaucrats will find ways to waste it. It is an unfortunate fact of government.

Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing. Our deficit will grow.

Everyone knows that by enacting the legislation as proposed, the deficit will grow. Having a big spending Congress, no matter who controls it, will cause the deficit to grow. It is completely dishonest to claim that the health care measures are a deficit reduction program. Only a complete liar would say that.