Lying Still

UPDATE: I'm giving this its own post because it's that good. Ezra's got an excellent write up about Betsy McCaughey and her history of disinformation:

McCaughey is simply lying, much as she did in 1990s. And, like in the 1990s, her lies are convenient, and they're being amplified by opportunistic rightwing outlets. But this isn't the 90s. And the thing about nostalgia tours is they never last very long, and they're never as effective as the original.

Read the whole thing. It's genius.

James Fallows is weighing in too:

Seriously, every one of McCaughey's statements about public policy from this day forward should be subjected to the "Oh yes, and how did it turn out last time?" test... Stop this new claim before it gets real traction.

And Jonathan Cohn's got even more:

As far as I'm concerned, McCaughey has forfeited her right to be taken seriously as a public intellectual, particularly on the issue of health care.

By the way, the other definitive demolition of McCaughey's aritcles was written by Mickey Kaus and, as it happens, also appeared in this magazine. You can now read Kaus's article here.

UPDATE II: One more and then I'm done for now. Ezra's put up a second post to explain comparative effectiveness, who's going to oppose it, and why:

Health care, we know, is too expensive, and it's too expensive in part because we pay for lots of treatments that don't work. But every dollar of medical waste if also a dollar of manufacturer profit. And they -- and their allies on the Right -- will work very hard to keep those dollars... [T]he lobbying attack against a higher-value, evidence-based system will come from industry. McCaughey and her anti-government hysteria is a sideshow here. The main opposition to a higher value, higher performing system will be the companies that stand to lose billions if we actually do cut down on waste and improper treatment.