Told you so.

A couple of days ago, I wrote about the latest in Republican scare tactics on health insurance reform - namely a fundraising solicitation by the Republican National Committee. In said fundraising piece, phrased as a survey, the RNC states that under the Democratic plan for health insurance reform:

GOP voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health-care rationing system.

Today, the AP has ahold of it, and the RNC's answers are less than forthcoming. In fact, they're downright shady. Go read it for yourself. I'd quote from it, but the AP hasn't quite adjusted to the world of blogs, and they get grumpy about quoting their content. (I promised JMac I'd try not to get us sued this week.)

Anyway, this is important. The distortions (and that's putting it politely) being spewed out about health insurance reform are well-established (death panels, anyone?), but usually they're limited to random crazies at town halls, or television talking heads like Rush, Hannity, or Glenn Beck.

Now however, you have a lie that can be instantly proven false, being pushed by a much more credible source - the Republican National Committee - i.e. the national Republican Party.

Is this a sign of desperation? Or is Michael Steele truly just that insane? In any event, the RNC has been politicizing this event from day one - it's all they've got. Remember, these are the same guys who brought you a budget with no actual numbers in it.

Now they're bringing you health care pushback with no real truth to it.

Bizarroworld, in which the new guy is pleased with Lynn Westmoreland and peeved at the SEC.

So, as JMac mentioned on Friday, I'm the new guy, picking up some of his slack as he gets the Cover Two rolling. And, in true JMac style, I've got a "couple of things" on my mind. Let's get right to it, kids.

An SEC letdown that doesn't involve Vanderbilt's O-line:

I'm an SEC fan through and through, which is why this gets under my skin. The SEC is expected to release its updated media policy pretty soon, and if they have their way, don't even think about using Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or any other social media outlet to talk about their football games. Earlier this month, the SEC informed its member schools about the policy. Sez the Conference:

“Ticketed fans can’t produce or disseminate (or aid in producing or disseminating) any material or information about the Event, including, but not limited to, any account, description, picture, video, audio, reproduction or other information concerning the Event.”

Hrmph. So, let's break this down briefly. Following the terms of this agreement, if I'm at a Georgia game, I can't take pictures, shoot video, or even change my Facebook status to "Martin Matheny just watched Caleb King make Tennessee's defense look dumb."

You'd think that after so many examples (here's one) of big organizations who think they can control social media, the aforementioned big organizations would learn a thing or two. Apparently, not so much.

SEC FAIL.

(Got this from Mashable)

Signs of the apocalypse, or at least that the health insurance reform debate has jumped the shark:

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland is being rational.

Sorry if you just spit coffee all over your keyboard. I'll wait while you grab a paper towel.

Lynn Westmoreland is being rational. No, seriously. Here's the La Grange News over the weekend:

U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, one of President Obama’s most vocal critics, said he does not believe the health-care bill being debated in Congress includes provisions for a “death panel,” where a group would decide whether the elderly and infirm are worth the cost of medical expenses.

The second-term Republican congressman from Grantville said he is opposed to the plan, but doesn’t believe the nation’s elderly would be in danger.

He also is not, apparently, a birther:

Westmoreland said that unlike the “birther” movement, he’s taking the president’s word that he was born in the United States.

“All I can do is take him at his word,” Westmoreland said. “I think if he wasn’t a U.S. citizen, the McCain campaign would have more than looked into it.”

Congratulations, Lynn Westmoreland, on being noticeably less crazy than most of your colleagues, not to mention your party's most recent Vice-Presidential candidate.

("Westmoreland: No 'death panel' in healthcare bill" La Grange News)