Quote:
Vets' group assails Fox, GOP over 'suicide' manual claim
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's claim that a Veterans' Administration handbook urges veterans to "commit suicide" is an "asinine assertion with no basis in fact," says a veterans' group.

The group, Veterans for Common Sense, is demanding an apology from Steele for making the claim, and from Fox News for perpetuating the claim.

Steele made the comments on Fox Tuesday, during a debate about health care reform. Arguing that public health care would lead to people being forced to their deathbeds, Steele used the VA health system as proof this would come to pass.

"Just look at the situation with our veterans, when you have a manual out there telling our veterans stuff like, 'are you really of value to your community,' you know, encouraging them to commit suicide," Steele said.

"Let me be absolutely clear, Steele lied. There is no VA manual encouraging veterans to commit suicide," said Paul Sullivan, the executive director of VCS, in a press release.

The controversy began August 18, when an op-ed appeared in the Wall Street Journal, written by the former head of faith-based initiatives for the Bush administration, Jim Towey, claiming that the VA manual for veterans amounts to a "death book." Since then, the talking point has been picked up by opponents of health care reform.

Towey, as the White House has pointed out, runs an organization that offers a competing handbook to the one provided by the VA.

Veterans for Common Sense is also seeking redressal from Fox News for what it says was an unfair cropping of quotes from a VA document "to falsely suggest that the Obama administration is pressuring veterans to end their lives prematurely," as Media Matters reported.

-- Daniel Tencer

RAW

Fair play!