During the Bush years, Republicans displayed a particular fondness for fomenting anxiety over comparisons made between the former president’s administration and the Nazi party.
But now that a Democratic president is in charge, the right-wing media has no qualms about comparing President Obama’s initiatives to Nazism. Witness this morning’s Washington Times editorial, which runs a photo of Hitler alongside a wildly off-base attack on the health information technology (IT) provisions in the stimulus.
The health IT provision in the stimulus sets up a National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, completing a process that began during the Bush administration. Now that Obama is proposing to finish the job, the Times describes it as “chilling” and an invasion of privacy.
The new health IT coordinator would have no ability to facilitate government intrusion into medical records, as the Times claims. Its mandate would be limited to establishing a technological framework for care providers to keep computerized track of patient information. But when Rush Limbaugh is cheering you on, why read the bill before making incorrect judgments?
A Senate Finance Committee fact-check of the Times‘ and Rush’s incorrect claims can be found here, under the second link for February.
