Monday, July 2, 2012

Does Teaparty.org agree with the New York Times as to why Chief Justice Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare?

The Drudge Report noted on Friday that Michael Savage, the host of a conservative radio program, blames epilepsy medication for Chief Justice Robert's decision to vote to find Obamacare constitutional.  Apparently some epilepsy medications cause "cognitive problems."  Mr. Savage apparently believes that cognitive problems are the most likely explanation for Chief Justice Roberts's decision.

Teaparty.org has a link to Mr. Savage's broadcast where he makes the claim. It also has the text of the full quote:
Let's talk about Roberts. I'm going to tell you something that you're not going to hear anywhere else, that you must pay attention to. It's well known that Roberts, unfortunately for him, has suffered from epileptic seizures. Therefore he has been on medication. Therefore neurologists will tell you that medication used for seizure disorders, such as epilepsy, can introduce mental slowing, forgetfulness and other cognitive problems. And if you look at Roberts' writings you can the cognitive disassociation in what he is saying," Michael Savage said on his radio program this evening.
The site also links to a 2007 article that about Justice Roberts's epilepsy that ran in the New York Times. I was surprised that a conservative new media website was citing to an article by the "lamestream media" and suggesting that the New York Times knows what it is reporting about. Initially, I thought that if the a Tea Party website is linking to a New York Times article, then that article will discuss the cognitive problems caused by the epilepsy medication.

I am disappointed to report that the New York Times article does not mention cognitive problems.  In fact, the article does not report that the Chief Justice is even on epilepsy medication.  Instead, the article speculates that the Chief Justice might be on epilepsy medication because he has a couple seizures and the standard treatment for people who have two seizures is to get on the medication.  No one associated with treating the Chief Justice will talk about his treatment with members of the media. 

So, the answer to the question posed by my post is "no."

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