Lewis M. Simons, whose Pulitzer Prize must have been in the
Snarky Commentary category, writes a USA Today column, Why Americans don't just 'let them die,'" in which he pronounces all Republicans and the pro-life
movement as anti-life--all on the basis of comments out of context and two random
outbursts from audience members at a recent GOP presidential debate.
When CNN antagonist Wolf Blitzer baited GOP presidential
candidate Rep. Ron Paul at the debate by asking if he'd let an uninsured
motorcycle accident patient simply die, two members of the audience yelled,
"Yeah." Rep. Paul began his answer not by advocating letting the
patient die, but first by referring to the freedom principle of not forcing
Americans to buy health insurance and second by calling on churches and others
to help such patients in need.
Yet Simons somehow created an entire malicious column by lifting
those comments out of context, by libelously asserting that Republicans were
"cheering in favor of letting a young man die if he's sick and
uninsured" and by denouncing "right-wing politicians" and
pro-life advocates as having a "meanness of spirit."
Apparently oblivious to his own meanness of spirit, Simons
derides Republicans as "self-proclaimed patriots" and demeans Rep.
Michele Bachman as Sarah Palin's "avatar" and a "scientifically
uneducated mom."
Surely it remains possible in our democratic republic to hold a
civilized, informed debate over health care in this country, debating the
merits of proposals and examining the evidence for and against policy
approaches. But USA Today hardly fulfills its role as a respected forum
for debate when a member of its own Board of Contributors eschews
evidence and reason for raw invective and insults propped up by
misrepresentations and distortions of truth.
