When I picked up my newspaper from the driveway yesterday morning, it felt heavier than usual.
As I generally go directly to the Opinion section, I found the reason almost immediately.
While normally there are less than a dozen Letters to the Editor in my hometown newspaper, yesterday there were a whopping 21 of them, all heavily laden with sarcasm, ridicule, scorn and indignation about and against the governor of the great State of Texas.
You see, on April 2, Rick Perry wrote a column in the Austin American-Statesman claiming that “Obama’s health care plan is a disaster.”
I should warn those readers who click on the link above that they will not be taken to the original April 2 column, but rather to a an April 6 revised commentary. As it turned out, the governor’s column contained not only the by now expected platitudes, exaggerations, mischaracterizations about the health care plan and the usual vitriol against Obama and Democratic leaders, but also an outright falsehood.
The untruth was so blatant that the Statesman felt it had the obligation to its readers to re-post the corrected column along with the following Editor’s Note:
Editor’s note: In a commentary published April 2 on the Opinion page and online, Gov. Rick Perry wrote that mandatory health care insurance did not make a significant difference in the number of uninsured residents in Massachusetts. PolitiFact Texas found that claim to be false, and the governor’s office has since acknowledged that it made an error. The governor revised the commentary, and we are updating this file with the revision.
As I mentioned, every one of the letters was highly critical of the governor’s column, of his misguided opposition to health care reform and, more important, of his general governance and his lack of concern for the “little people.”
Some may suggest that the Statesman—not a fan of Governor Perry—only printed letters critical of the governor.
Well, the Statesman, in anticipation of such skepticism, felt the need to publish another Editor’s note. This time:
This sampling represents the large number of letters we received in response to Perry’s column. We have yet to receive any letters agreeing with his position.
Not to be outdone, or “out-shamed,” the governor may now suggest to his family, his staff, his supporters to bombard the Statesman with letters pointing out the naiveté and ignorance of the first set of letter writers.
I have no idea what the Statesman would do in such a case. It may, as a gesture of evenhandedness, print the couple of letters it receives, or it may invoke the rule many newspapers use: of not publishing letters that respond to organized appeals by interest groups—or personalities.
If it does decide to publish a couple of letters, and if they are signed “Lucy” and “Rory,” beware…
Here are some excerpts from the 21 letters:
— Nowhere in his column is there a hint of what he proposes instead. Apparently he prefers that nearly half of his constituents soldier on in the face of needless illness, death or financial ruin rather than to accede to the will of Congress
— Texas is the uninsured capital of the United States. Is this Perry’s idea of success?
— Perry is on the side of big pharmas, of robber-baron health insurance providers and of the malpractice lobby, not on the side of the people of his state.
— It is a shame that the great state of Texas is a shining example of the “no” party and a laughingstock of the country. Perry and his cronies have ground us into the dust.
— It is unfortunate that we have a leader in this state who seems to feel that we can’t spend money on insuring or educating our youth but we can spend taxpayer money on frivolous lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the health care bill just to make a political point
— Would Perry support any legislation coming out of this administration? No, he’s in the GOP line … hoping to feed from the Tea Party trough by declaring he and cronies are by-Gawd gonna use our taxes to fight health care reform
— It is embarrassing for the people of Texas to read such a substandard message from their governor — free of any factual content. Totally political, written with the hope that his audience will believe what he writes, without question.
— Our governor wants to project his Thomas Jefferson character but comes across more like Chevy Chase.
— Re: April 6 PolitiFact Texas article “Governor’s math doesn’t add up in Massachusetts.”I am shocked — shocked, I tell you — that our governor is a Pants-on-Fire liar. Shocked.
By the way, if you are wondering about Lucy and Rory, they are the Texas First Pets.
Image: Courtesy, Politico.com
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.