Nearly three days later, Jake Tapper admits CNN "fact check" on Medicare for All was, uh, not factual
After
nearly three days of constant pressure, clear explanations of basic
facts, and bit of healthy shaming, CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday
finally relented to the sheer force of the evidence and admitted that
his Medicare for All "fact check"—which aimed to
discredit Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) claim that a Koch
brothers-funded study showed single-payer would save Americans $2
trillion—was horribly misleading and is in need of a substantial
"redo."
The
central falsehood of Tapper's video segment, which he has now
promised to correct, was his conflation of the American people and
the U.S. government.
Sanders,
New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and
several policy analysts have pointed out that—according to the
Koch-funded Mercatus Center study, authored by Chuck Blahous—the
American public would save $2 trillion on healthcare under Sanders'
Medicare for All plan.
Apparently
confused by the difference, Tapper declared in his segment: "Is
that true? Did a study funded by the Koch brothers indicate that
Medicare for All would actually save the U.S. government
[emphasis added] trillions of dollars? No."
Numerous
commentators proceeded to point out the error: “Jake, you cannot
claim that Bernie said "the government" would save $2
trillion. He did not say that, instead he said americans would over
all save $2 trillion. Look at the video clip of Bernie again. This is
undeniably a false representation of Bernie's claim. Straight up.”
While
Tapper's concession on Sunday that these criticisms of his segment
are "totally valid" was welcomed, several observers noted
that his fundamentally incorrect video has already reached a large
audience and argued that Tapper must issue a full correction and
broadcast an entirely new segment.
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