MIRACLE AT YOUR LOCAL CARDIOLOGIST – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  Have you noticed the massive, almost breathtaking rise in the "popularity" of Obamacare?  Why, it's all the rage.  The media tells us it's so.

Uh, not so fast.  Seems the numbers really don't add up, as the American Spectator notes: 

Who says the age of miracles is over? Having endured years of public scorn, Obamacare is reputedly enjoying a sudden and timely increase in popularity. USA Today breathlessly reports a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF): “More people view the health law favorably than at any point in nearly seven years.” The story implies that the threat of repeal has succeeded where years of taxpayer-funded promotional campaigns failed — moving the needle on Obamacare’s favorability ratings. The KFF poll found that the percentage of adults with a positive view of the law has risen to an underwhelming 48 percent.

If that percentage seems lackluster, it is also inconsistent with the survey’s other findings. When asked if our medical delivery system is on the right track, for example, “Six in ten (62 percent) Americans say that when it comes to health care, things in this country have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.” Oddly enough, none of the “news” outlets touting the poll mention this highly inconvenient datum — despite an impossible-to-miss KFF graph pointing it out. The USA Today story neglects to mention it, ABC ignores it, U.S. News & World Report fails to note it, and Time refuses to violate the media code of Omertà.

Nor do any of these paragons of journalistic integrity mention KFF’s finding that the percentage of Americans who favor repeal of Obamacare is statistically identical to the percentage who do not want Congress to deep-six it: “[T]he public remains divided on what they would like lawmakers to do when it comes to the 2010 health care law with 47 percent wanting lawmakers to vote to repeal the law compared to 48 percent who say they should not vote to repeal it.” All of the outlets named above — and countless others — cherry-picked a single positive finding and ignored anything that failed to fit the “increase in popularity” line.

COMMENT:  The heroes of the media do it again!  Getting it wrong has become almost an honor.  Maybe there should be a Pulitzer Prize for "distorted reporting that advances progressive causes."  There'd be no shortage of nominees.  A great moment in journalism.

February 27, 2017