CNN's Gupta must be sorry he ever messed with Michael Moore

[Guest Harry Hope]

Last week Wolf Blitzer interviewed Michael Moore on my very favorite

television show of all time, The Situation Room.

 

Blitzer introduced Moore by calling his new movie "controversial" and

revealing that it is "being criticized by some who are accusing Moore

of playing loose with the facts."

 

Ah yes, the controversial Michael Moore who (some say) plays loose

with the facts.

 

Roll up, roll up, get yer conventional wisdom right here!

 

Of course, in order to make these claims, CNN had to find that magic

"some" who would be willing to say on camera that Moore plays loose

with the facts in SiCKO.

 

They needed to look no further than celebrity neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay

Gupta, who happily put together a short hit-piece on some perceived

inconsistencies in heath stats used in the movie, accused Moore of

"fudging the facts," and lo, conventional wisdom was satisfied.

 

Unfortunately for CNN, Moore was not going to let them get away with

it this time - his appearance on The Situation Room must have left

Wolf weak at the knees, and with good reason.

 

Gupta's report was pretty incredible - here's are some highlights of

his errors and sleight of hand, the full version of which is available

at Moore's website.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10017

 

 

1.

 

Gupta says, "Moore brings a group of patients, including 9/11 workers,

to Cuba and marvels at their free treatment and quality of care."

 

He switches tone to one of sarcastic surprise:

 

"But hold on - that WHO list puts Cuba's health care system even lower

than the United States, coming in at #39."

 

Gupta is clearly implying that Moore is misleading his audience by

hiding this statistic.

 

In fact the stat appears directly on screen in SiCKO, and even appears

in the movie trailer.

 

Who's fudging the facts now, Sanjay?

 

 

2.

 

Gupta says, "Moore asserts that the American health care system spends

$7,000 per person on health. Cuba spends $25 dollars per person. Not

true. But not too far off. The United States spends $6,096 per person,

versus $229 per person in Cuba."

 

Leaving aside the "$25 per person" claim which is dead wrong and which

Gupta apologized for (the only thing he apologized for, by the way),

his claim of spending just over $6,000 per person is based on

statistics from 2004.

 

Moore's claim is based on Department of Health and Human Services

projections for 2007.

 

Someone call the cops!

 

This movie is not to be trusted!

 

 

3.

 

Gupta takes issue with Moore's claim that on average, Cubans live

slightly longer than Americans.

 

That can't possibly be true, right?

 

But according to the 2006 United Nations Human Development Report, it

is.

 

(Cubans live on average 77.6 years compared to Americans living 77.5

years.)

 

So who do you believe, America?

 

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, with his nice smile and reassuring bedside manner,

or those fact-fudging commies at the U.N.?

 

 

Anyway, there's plenty more where that came from - but as you can see,

SiCKO is clearly full of errors and is therefore not worth wasting

your time on.

 

And if you don't believe Gupta, then surely you can take the word of

Paul Keckley, the "independent expert" that Gupta roped in to make his

report seem more legitimate.

 

Don't doubt his authenticity - Gupta told Moore on CNN that Keckley's

"only affiliation is with Vanderbilt University. We checked it,

Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those

questions."

 

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

 

In fact Paul Keckley is the executive director of the Deloitte Center

for Health Solutions, which boasts Republican presidential candidate

and former Bush-appointed HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson as its

independent chairman.

 

Keckly has also donated large sums of money to Republican candidates

and causes.

 

And funnily enough, Michael Moore also discovered that Keckley used to

be the "CEO and Founder of EBM Solutions Inc., of Nashville,

Tennessee, which counted among its customers Blue Cross of Tennessee,

the drug company Aventis, and others."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10026

 

Dr. Gupta must have missed that when he was checking Keckley's

conflicts of interest.

 

Still, anyone can make mistakes, right?

 

Just don't hold your breath waiting for CNN to refer to their

celebrity neurosurgeon as "the controversial Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who

(some say) plays loose with the facts."

 

 

By EarlG

Democratic Underground

http://www.democraticunderground.com/

 

Harry