PERSPECTIVE: Those harsh words came from what mouths?

» Obama’s health plan now coming under fire by those who can usually be relied upon to defend the president’s proposals.

Well, there they go again. Purveyors of fear and hate and other really nasty stuff are persisting in clogging the heads of grannies and grandpas with tales of health care reform doom.

Look at this: “Bills now in Congress would squeeze savings out of Medicare, a lifeline for the elderly.” And this: “I am finally scared of a White House administration ... [R]ationing is a basic part of Obama’s eventual master health care plan.” Pass the tea party placard and pack the concealed heat.

But first a bit on sources. Who is responsible for peddling this anti-reform drivel? Well, that would be in case the first, The New York Times, that mother of all liberal bastions, in an Aug. 21 story headlined, “A Basis is Seen for Some Health Plan Fears Among the Elderly.” In case the second, former Village Voice columnist and First Amendment sage Nat Hentoff, an endorser of Obama in last fall’s election.

Notice that enemies of Obamacare are increasing in number and scope to include some of those who once believed in his special, and hollow, brand of hope and change. His contention that opponents have fabricated reform’s hazards has splintered against the rock-hard reality of what proposed legislation actually says and means. Americans, especially the elderly, feel a tightening grip around their throats and are slapping away the choking hand of government. Reform is needed but not this kind.

Obamacare is plunging toward a fiery crash. As this happens, it is steadily more evident that what The Times referred to as “myths and falsehoods” indeed have been spread about the president’s health care revolution. Obama and his pals, not their opponents, have been the tellers of untruths. No longer are they universally believed.

The (Waynesboro) News-Virginian