Jail Time for Insurance Evaders? Yes, Said Fox News (nice summary)

[underpants]

A little more than a week ago, Tom Coburn did something fairly courageous by political standards. At a town hall meeting in Oklahoma, the conservative Republican senator referred to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a “nice lady” and criticized Fox News. (He was briefly booed for the Pelosi comment.) After an audience member mentioned “the possibility of imprisonment” for those who don't buy health insurance, Coburn told her, “The intention is not to put anybody in jail. That makes for good TV news on FOX but that isn't the intention.”

(This is true, the reform law expressly prohibits the government from jailing anyone who fails to either obtain health insurance or pay a tax penalty.)

Then, last night Fox News's Bill O'Reilly raked Coburn over the coals for his comment about the network. O'Reilly said no one had ever appeared on Fox News and told viewers they would go to jail if they didn't buy health insurance. “We researched on Fox News if anybody had ever said you're going to jail if you don't buy health insurance. Nobody's ever said it.”



YOUR WORLD WITH NEIL CAVUTO, November 13, 2009
GLENN BECK, November 12, 2009
HANNITY, November 10, 2009
GLENN BECK, November 10, 2009
--JUDGE NAPOLITANO (filling in for Beck)
HANNITY, November 9, 2009
CAVUTO, November 20, 2009

Transcripts at link


http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/04/14/jail-time-for-insurance-evaders-yes-said-fox-news/

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I believe Rachel Maddow did a superb show on this very subject. She showed the

tapes of the FAUX NOISE talkingheads saying exactly what O'LIElly denied they had said, including one talkinghead who spoke untruths on O'LIElly's own show.

[underpants]

3. As did Jon Stewart

[bbinacan]

2. Were not these quotes

from the time when the bill seemed to imply jail time? :shrug:

edit for spelling

[underpants]

4. No

there was never any such thing in any form of the legislation

[bbinacan]

5. I recall an interview

that Obama gave to ABC or CBS where he was asked about jail time. Though he dodged the jail issue, he did talk about penalties.

[seabeyond]

6. dependent on du or stewart to tell me... has oreilly come back and corrected himself, lol. nt

[bbinacan]

7. Here's his response

"Once again NBC News has highlighted dishonest propaganda from the far-left Media Matters outfit. Sadly, Time magazine also participated in the sham. The controversy is about Senator Tom Coburn's assertion that Fox News scared some Americans by saying they could go to prison if they don't buy health insurance under Obama-care. Last fall, when jail time was on the table, Fox News reported it, as we should have. The prison option was taken off the table when the final Obama-care was being debated, and that's what we were talking to Senator Coburn about. Nobody at Fox News reported inaccurately about the Obama-care prison situation. Yet Media Matters distorted the entire situation and, shamelessly, NBC News and Time magazine lapped up the garbage. Americans are being lied to by people working for huge corporations and nothing is being done about it. The bottom line on this story is that Senator Coburn made an honest mistake. That mistake was picked up by NBC News and used to hammer Fox News, which is kicking their butt all over the place in the cable news ratings. The good news is that NBC News will soon be taken over by Comcast, an honest corporation, and perhaps changes will be made. The American people deserve an honest government and an honest media."