Jon Stewart takes on fear monger Betsy McCaughey who brought her great big prop of a bill with her to appear on the Daily Show. It was more of the same from McCaughey with the government wants to kill grandma type nonsense.
And lookie here: ‘Death Panel’ Myth Creator Betsy McCaughey Resigns From Medical Board:
Betsy McCaughey — an outspoken proponent of the myth that Democrats’ health care reform proposals will lead to the creation of “death panels,” as well as a former lieutenant governor of New York and adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute — has stepped down from her position as a director of Cantel Medical Corp., which bills itself as a “leading provider of infection prevention and control products in the healthcare market.”
Factcheck done by MediaMatters:
After previously backtracking from a claim that Page 425 of the House health care reform bill would provide for "mandatory" end-of-life counseling, former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey -- a serial misinformer about health care reform proposals -- falsely claimed on The Daily Show that another page of the bill -- Page 432 -- would make such counseling "mandatory" and that a provision on that page "penalize" doctors who do not adhere to government standards. In fact, as host Jon Stewart noted, the language McCaughey cited does not make end-of-life counseling mandatory and does not "penalize" doctors, but rather provides incentive payments for doctors who report "data on quality measures" for end-of-life care.
McCaughey falsely claims Page 432 of bill makes end-of-life counseling "mandatory"
McCaughey: "[D]angerous" bill makes end-of-life counseling "mandatory" on Page 432, and doctors will be "penalize[d]" for not following advanced directives.
From the August 21 edition of Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:
STEWART: Now, you have said that the conversation is mandatory.
McCAUGHEY: It is.
[...]
STEWART: Give me the part that says it is mandatory that you must --
McCAUGHEY: It's on Page 432.
[...]
STEWART: You showed me the page the did that.
McCAUGHEY: That's right. There it is.
STEWART: And so let me just read it very quickly. "In general, for purposes of reporting data on quality measures for covered professional services, the secretary shall include quality measures on end-of-life care and advanced care planning that have been adopted or endorsed by a consensus-based organization, if appropriate. Such measures shall measure both the creation of and adherence to orders for life-sustaining treatment."
McCAUGHEY: And what's wrong about this -- it's one thing to pay doctors to spend time with their patients discussing this issue. I am not against this. But, putting pressure on doctors to require patients to go through a consultation that's prescribed by the government and then penalize them --
STEWART: Two -- two -- two things on that.
McCAUGHEY: Wait a second. Wait a second.
STEWART: All right.
McCAUGHEY: Just, just -- and then to penalize them if the patient or their family changes their mind about their living will --
STEWART: Two, two, two things about that --
McCAUGHEY: -- in a moment of crisis. That's really wrong.
STEWART: It would be really wrong if that was in any way what this said.
In fact, the language McCaughey cited provides incentives for doctors to report data
Bill language deals with "reporting data." From Pages 431-432 of the House tri-committee bill, America's Affordable Health Choices Act:
(1) PHYSICIAN'S QUALITY REPORTING INITIATIVE. -- Section 1848(k)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w--4(k)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
''(A) IN GENERAL. -- For purposes of reporting data on quality measures for covered professional services furnished during 2011 and any subsequent year, to the extent that measures are available, the Secretary shall include quality measures on end of life care and advanced care planning that have been adopted or endorsed by a consensus-based organization, if appropriate. Such measures shall measure both the creation of and adherence to orders for life-sustaining treatment.
''(B) PROPOSED SET OF MEASURES. -- The Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register proposed quality measures on end of life care and advanced care planning that the Secretary determines are described in subparagraph (A) and would be appropriate for eligible professionals to use to submit data to the Secretary. The Secretary shall provide for a period of public comment on such set of measures before finalizing such proposed measures.''.
"Physician's Quality Reporting Initiative" provides incentives for satisfactorily reporting data, not for outcomes. The initiative provides that an eligible health care professional can receive "incentive payments" if he or she "satisfactorily submits (as determined under this subsection) to the Secretary [of Health and Human Services] data on such quality measures in accordance with such reporting system for such reporting period." The Department of Health and Human Services' Frequently Asked Questions page describes "satisfactory reporting for Physician Quality Reporting Initiative" as follows:
The statutory description of satisfactory reporting for Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) depends on how many quality measures are applicable to the services furnished by the physician or other eligible professional (EP) during the entire reporting period. If there are no more than three quality measures applicable to the services provided by the EP, then each measure must be reported for at least 80% of the cases in which the measure was reportable. If there are four or more quality measures applicable to the services provided by the EP, then at least three measures, selected by the EP, must be reported for at least 80% of the cases in which each measure was reportable. EPs are encouraged to report on as many quality measures as are applicable to the services provided. Reporting on as many applicable measures as is practical will increase the opportunities to reach the 80% satisfactory reporting level.
Jon Stewart is hands-down the best journalist in the country.
Reminds me of what I said about the jester and the dragon during that whole Kramer thing: The man doing the job best is the one who does it for laughs.
Not an armored Jigglypuff
"I salute your genetic superiority, now Get off my planet!!" -- Adam Stiener, 1st Somerset Strikers
Jon Stewart is now officially a Hero of the Republic(TM).
Although, in all seriousness, I find it revealing how she more often addressed the audience and not Stewart himself. Its obvious she wasn't there to be interviewed by him, but to preach her message to the audience. She thought she could just ignore him and walk all over him, since, after all, he's not a serious journalist or anything, he's just a comedian!
Kaiser Caesar wrote:She thought she could just ignore him and walk all over him, since, after all, he's not a serious journalist or anything, he's just a comedian!
A lot of comedians seem to be smarter than a lot of journalists (especially news anchors). After all, it takes wits to be funny, and political knowledge to make fun about politics.
SoS:NBAGALE Force "Destiny and fate are for those too weak to forge their own futures. Where we are 'supposed' to be is irrelevent." - Sir Nitram
"The world owes you nothing but painful lessons" - CaptainChewbacca
"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." - Wilhelm Stekel
"In 1969 it was easier to send a man to the Moon than to have the public accept a homosexual" - Broomstick Divine Administration - of Gods and Bureaucracy (Worm/Exalted)
"If the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If neither is on your side, pound on the table."
"The captain claimed our people violated a 4,000 year old treaty forbidding us to develop hyperspace technology. Extermination of our planet was the consequence. The subject did not survive interrogation."
How does a company who puts up episodes of a guy's show for free online file copyright claims against someone putting them online for free? That's boggling.
Duckie wrote:How does a company who puts up episodes of a guy's show for free online file copyright claims against someone putting them online for free? That's boggling.
It's all about ad revenue.
"There is no "taboo" on using nuclear weapons." -Julhelm
What is Project Zohar? "On a serious note (well not really) I did sometimes jump in and rate nBSG episodes a '5' before the episode even aired or I saw it."- RogueIce explaining that episode ratings on SDN tv show threads are bunk
Bluewolf wrote:You can still see the interview via the extended interview links, 1 and 2.
I also thought this was great. She totally made a fool of herself. As some said, you'd think with people like him, you'd not undereistmate them.
Could you link them?
Edit: Thanks to Netko for pointing out thee obvious.
Last edited by Serafina on 2009-08-23 01:31pm, edited 1 time in total.
SoS:NBAGALE Force "Destiny and fate are for those too weak to forge their own futures. Where we are 'supposed' to be is irrelevent." - Sir Nitram
"The world owes you nothing but painful lessons" - CaptainChewbacca
"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." - Wilhelm Stekel
"In 1969 it was easier to send a man to the Moon than to have the public accept a homosexual" - Broomstick Divine Administration - of Gods and Bureaucracy (Worm/Exalted)
Kaiser Caesar wrote:She thought she could just ignore him and walk all over him, since, after all, he's not a serious journalist or anything, he's just a comedian!
A lot of comedians seem to be smarter than a lot of journalists (especially news anchors). After all, it takes wits to be funny, and political knowledge to make fun about politics.
Reminds me of this little blurb from "Mike's Rants" on his homepage:
Mike Wong wrote:When I was a kid, people didn't take a news anchor seriously if he was an overly good-looking man, or an attractive woman. Such a person would have been assumed to be mere window dressing rather than a serious journalist.
Oh my, how times have changed. Today, the news channels preferentially hire men and women who are just attractive enough to be obviously chosen for their appearance. Like Sears Catalog models. I'm sure the people running these networks think they're really clever for choosing people who hover just below the "swimsuit model" threshold of attractiveness, as if that will fool anyone.
And why are they paid so much, or taken so seriously? Not only are they paid huge salaries, but they are routinely interviewed on all manner of social and political issues, as if their opinions are any more valuable than those of Ralph the bus driver. However, in case you haven't been paying attention, television news anchors are not experts in such matters. They don't even have to be particularly intelligent or knowledgeable. A typical TV news anchor is nothing but nice hair. Any trained monkey with an expensive toupee and the ability to read a teleprompter could do the job with aplomb.
(Bolding mine)
SancheztheWhaler wrote:
Dominus Atheos wrote:Jon Stewart is hands-down the best journalist in the country.
That any would would say this is sad; that it might actually be true is an appalling indictment of the level of journalism in the US.
Being a comedian, Stewart also can get a way with a lot more than someone like Olbermann or Maddow who while doing a good job, ultimately have to answer to the corporate media overlords who own and run MSNBC, and thus who (potentially at least) are more apt to reign in any kind of serious commentary or discussion they're uncomfortable with.
Although I must say I have been impressed with some of the things Olbermann has gotten away with.
SCRawl wrote:
Yeah, but they're useless outside the US. Well, that might be going too far; they're useless in Canada, and I'm unsure of their usefulness elsewhere.
Thats not true - i can access them without any problems.
But perhaps thats just for Canadians.
SoS:NBAGALE Force "Destiny and fate are for those too weak to forge their own futures. Where we are 'supposed' to be is irrelevent." - Sir Nitram
"The world owes you nothing but painful lessons" - CaptainChewbacca
"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." - Wilhelm Stekel
"In 1969 it was easier to send a man to the Moon than to have the public accept a homosexual" - Broomstick Divine Administration - of Gods and Bureaucracy (Worm/Exalted)
There is a long history of comedians being able to voice truths official speakers can't - think of court jesters. Now we have Al Franken in the US Senate and Jon Stewart dismantling untruths.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
