Lie Or Opinion? There Is A Big Difference!

So yesterday I was treated to yet another left wing whine about the lies of the right by a liberal blogger on another site I write for.  Here is the meat of it:

"First you have their mouthpieces simply flat out lying in order to scare people off of Barack Obama and all things Democrat. Death panels, communist agendas, references to Hitler, accusations of the indoctrination of schoolchildren and even frog boiling are all being hurled at the millions who listen to or watch these folks on a daily basis. No lie is to big because one of them simply tells it and all the others swear by it, presto, Obama is trying to kill your grandmother. It's a fact. Believe it or risk seeing gramma die a slow and agonizing death at the hands of Barack Obama."


Let's take a look at these "lies" and examine why they are OPINIONS that are formed based on facts.

First, death panels.  Our OPINION is the "death panels" come from two facts.  One is the "end of life counseling" that the government will be facilitating and the other is the inevitable cuts in funding care that will likely result in some people being denied life saving care that they would have gotten before "reform".  Our OPINION of the existence of death panels comes from the FACT of end of life counseling and cuts in funding that will ration care.

Second, communist agendas.  First of all, wrong word.  His agenda is fascist, not communist and we have never said otherwise.  When we look at history, particularly the history of post WWI and pre WWII Germany, we see similarities that are unmistakable and undeniable.  It's almost like we are following thier blueprint.  Interestingly enough, it was economic disaster and the need to recover from it that fueled the fascist fire.  The people of Germany were looking to the government for help and answers and Hitler grasped right onto that and capitalized on it.  It is our OPINION that Obama is doing the same.  This writer fears he will use martial law if he feels he is losing power.  That is my OPINION.

Third, the accusation of the indoctrination of school children.  Again, this is an OPINION and one that is not exclusively on the right.  Many on the left are as shocked as we are.  More than one tape has now surfaced and based on what the children were taught to sing and the lyrics of the song it is our OPINION that the performance was a form of indoctrination from a teacher that was probably well meaning but definitely out of line.

By the way, in my OPINION, the indoctrination of children toward liberal ideals is hardly anything new.  It is why I home school my kids.  I don't want them being taught about "My Two Mommies" or that Evolution is a fact rather than a weak hypothesis.  Am I indoctrinating my kids?  Damn right I am.  That's my job, not the governments.

I can't comment on the frog boiling, I missed that, but I think you get my point.  Their is a big difference between a lie and an opinion.  Unless we get that right, debate is meaningless.