White House officials today went on the offensive, trying to discredit the town hall protesters and promising to aggressively fight misinformation campaigns.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters he believes some of the anger at the health care meetings is manufactured by groups that are “very involved in the status quo.”
“You’ve had groups today, the Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, that have bragged about organizing and manufacturing that anger,” Gibbs said today during his press briefing.
“I think what you’ve seen is they’ve bragged about manufacturing, to some degree, that anger. I think you’ve got somebody who’s very involved, a leader of that group that’s very involved in the status quo,” he added, referring to Rick Scott. “That’s a lot of what you need to know about the motives of that group.”
David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, said the administration would “aggressively” respond to misinformation about health care reform.
“Health insurance reform is an issue that lends itself to fear mongering, lends itself to distortion, and lends itself to misinformation. Where we see it, we’re going to respond to it aggressively,” Axelrod said during an interview with MSNBC today. “The American people need to know the facts, and we’re gonna make sure they have the facts. We’re not gonna allow anyone to distort those facts.”
Health care reform, he said, “won’t get done if we’re passive in the face of misinformation campaigns.”
