Glenn Beck and dog insurance (Updated)

Ordinarily I put "Grading PolitiFact" in the title when I'm evaluating a PolitiFact entry. But not this time. I don't have enough information to know whether the Truth-O-Meter rating given to Beck fits the facts.

Glenn Beck supposedly claimed that "the health care bill" provides insurance for dogs.

That claim sounds potentially worthy of a fact check--if Beck was not making a joke as he often does. But from PolitiFact we get only very limited context for the remark:

"Do you know in the health care bill, we're now offering insurance for dogs," Beck said. "Do I need to say any more?"

Actually yes. Keep going.

"If you are somebody who is like, 'Well, I just, I'm struggling and we're barely making ends meet,' I'm not paying for your dog cardiologist!" Beck said. "Not gonna do it. I'm sorry, the dog goes nighty night."

(bold emphasis added)

It seems likely that the above was accompanied by related commentary in its original context on the Glenn Beck Radio Program. But I'm not shelling out money just to research one hour's worth of radio.

PolitiFact fails to even source the claim beyond identifying the day the comments supposedly aired on Beck's show. Nor does the list of sources provide any apparent help:

clipped from www.politifact.com

Published: Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 6:08 p.m.

Subjects: Health Care, Pundits

Sources:

U.S. House of Representatives Rules Committee, HR 3962 - the Affordable Health Care For America Act

U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, HR 3962 - Section by Section

GOP.gov, Conference Blog: Fact Check and Details About Pelosi's Government-Run Health Care Bill, Oct. 29, 2009

CQ Transcripts, Discussion of H.R. 3962 in the House Committee on Rules, Nov. 7, 2009

Interview with Brian Cook, press secretary for Pete Stark, D-Calif., chair of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, Nov. 12, 2009

Interview with Vincent Morris, spokesman for House Rules Committee, which is Chaired by Rep. Louise Slaughter, Nov. 12, 2009

Written by: Robert Farley
Researched by: Robert Farley
Edited by: Bill Adair

So there is no real knowing if this is a legitimate fact check, at least for now.

We can delve into PolitiFact's motivations, however.

The story claims that Beck's claim was different from the usual statements made about the health care reform bills.

We're months into this health care debate and frankly a lot of the claims we've been fact-checking from opponents and proponents alike have gotten a little stale. So we were thrilled to hear a new one on the Glenn Beck radio program ...

So this is about PolitiFact employees amusing themselves?

Does anything make this news? I tried searching for any other mention of Glenn Beck and dog insurance. The very few relevant hits all represented the PolitiFact take on the story, indicating that few if any received a false impression from Beck's program.

Minus a memetic wave of disinformation, how did PolitiFact come to learn of Beck's statement about dog insurance? Did an employee listen to the show? What was the genesis of the limited transcript provided in the story?

We make a great deal of the bias we see in writing. Bias in which story to follow in print tends to fly under the radar.

I'd like to know more about how this story came about, and I'd like to know the full context of Beck's comments.

With luck, a reader may offer help.


*****

One little nugget I did find during my research: A story on a new dog insurance initiative in Taipei was published by the Canada Free Press. And the author has a connection to Glenn Beck. More than a coincidence?


Update:

Media Matters posted an audio clip of the relevant radio broadcast. PolitiFact blew another one, as I document at "Grading PolitiFact: Glenn Beck and dog insurance."