Never let the truth get in the way of a good story

Not even if it's seven months old.

So in one of today's posts, JayG spotlights Linoge's detailed visual of how the anti-gun crowd has to lie like a rug store in order to support their positions.  Not that this is going to come as a surprise to anyone, but that's not the only liberal position that relies on untruths.

The "Sarah Palin went to Canada to get some of that socialized medicine she hates" meme from May of this year made a comeback on my Facebook for some inexplicable reason.  Palin Crossed Border For Canadian Health Care is the headline.  Here's what the Left claims happened:

The irony, one guesses, is that Palin now views Canada's health care system as revolting: with its government-run administration and 'death-panel'-like rationing. Clearly, however, she and her family once found it more alluring than, at the very least, the coverage available in rural Alaska. Up to the age of six, Palin lived in a remote town near the closest Canadian city, Whitehorse.

Reading this, one would be forgiven for thinking that Sarah Palin and her family were all over that single-payer health care system.

Only problem?  It ain't so.  With about, oh, 10 seconds' worth of effort, I found this: The Truth Behind Sarah Palin's Canadian Health Care.

And that was it: a simple admission that I didn't think much of then, and still don't think much of now. Whitehorse General Hospital, where my own daughter was born three years ago, remains, to this day, the closest major hospital to Skagway. When Chuck and Sally chose to take their kids there, it would have been a choice dictated strictly by geography, not politics. There are many things one could criticize about Sarah Palin's views of health care in the United States. That she once participated in cross-border medical tourism to Canada is not one of them.

Another few seconds' worth of effort brings up this blog post from a Canadian newspaper.  Reading that, one learns several salient facts, such as:

1. Sarah Palin herself never received Canadian health care
2. Palin's family used the Whitehorse hospital twice, both times for acute treatment needs, and apparently both times when weather precluded them from going to a hospital in the US
3. Palin's father paid out of pocket for the medical care
4. Government-funded health care didn't come to the Yukon Territory until 1972--in other words, after the time frame in which these visits took place.

Basically, the takeaway from this is: what the Left is implying, if not outright saying, happened--didn't.  I shall pause for a moment to allow you to recover from your shock...

...

Better?  Good.  Let's go on.

I post the second link to Facebook.  Point out the lack of truth in the HuffPo article being spread around.  And...I still get a Lefty saying she thinks the whole incident shines a spotlight on Sarah Palin's character.  The facts of the case are dismissed as "nitty gritty details".  Sigh. Well, at least she admitted to having not read the article.

Seriously, though.  Crap like this is why I have such a hard time taking Leftists seriously.  Reposting baseless stuff like this puts you in the same category as the ZOMG OBAMA'S A MUSLIM 'CAUSE HIS DADDY WAS ONE people, mmkay?