The Radio and Internet as news source have certain faults.  When I read something stupid, offensive,slanderous or all three in print media, I can turn it to good use:  I can use it  to clean windows, or pickup hairballs, or place under  the kitty litter box to catch  the odd bit of  miss-placed  poop. In any of these cases, I can get exercise by rolling it up, throwing it at the wall with all force screaming Tarzan-like at  the top of my lungs. It's a simple matter to unfold it again, use it to pick up something stinky (with the by-line strategically placed),and toss it  into  the refuse.  I  can't  do this with radio or with the  bytes of information on my monitor.

Today I woke to this on The Takeaway   The headlines:

congress and lawmakers healthcare reform

On the Frontlines of Health Care Reform

By John Hockenberry, Amy Holmes

Guest: Dr. Bill Frist

Wednesday, July 29 2009

And here's the Puff Paragraph

Health care has been on the top of Washington's agenda for weeks now. The U.S. Senate is still battling it out and with the August recess looming, it is unlikely that the national health care debate will end any time soon. For a closer look at the way the Senate wages war, The Takeaway talks to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. As the Republican leader from Tennessee, Frist had a front row seat to health care debates. And as a heart surgeon, Frist had first-hand knowledge about the practice of medicine and the intersection of health care, insurance, and medical practice. He also has just written a book called A Heart to Serve: The Passion to Bring Health, Hope, and Healing.

Listen to so  you know "know thine enemy"--but fortify yourself with nerve pill or a shot of  your favorite  liquid alternative first.

My Response in the comments went like this:

So when are you going to bring Howard Dean, MD and HIS speechwriter to the conversation? And when are you going to bring in someone who actually knows something about the National Health Service in England to answer Frist's slanders? Slanders they are. Those of us with friends and relatives in the U.K. know they are slanders. Those of use who have been in the company of travelers needing care know this is a slander. I know it is a slander. I'm one of those travelers. Whatever reputation the Takeaway has for a lack of bias hangs on your response to this issue. I'm not hopeful.

Posted by amike, 7:02 a.m. Wednesday, July 29 2009

I'd love to have a bunch of TPM-ers join this over at the  Takeway.  Find one of Frist's lies, take it apart, and speak truth  to  power.  You might  want  to  investigate the ethics  of having one  of  the a conservative speechwriter applying lips to a guest interviewee's nether  parts.  Some of you are very very good at this sort of thing.

IF  you write over there,  why not paste add your remarks to the  comments here.

Updated: the transcript is now posted at The Takeaway website.  Read and glower.