Douglass stands by W.H. effort to gather ‘fishy’ health information

Obama administration official Linda Douglass on Sunday dismissed claims that the White House has tried to compile an “enemies list” and censor debate on healthcare reform legislation.

Last week, the White House made a blog post accusing opponents of spreading “disinformation” on healthcare and encouraged supporters to submit “fishy” information floating around the internet.

“We don’t have a list we’re not keeping any of the sources of information those are all crazy charges,” said Douglass, who is Communications Director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Douglass appeared on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” on Sunday.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) sent the White House a letter at the end of last week expressing concern that the Obama administration may be collecting personal information belonging to their vocal opponents.

Douglass also responded to criticism that the White House has tried to stifle debate. She said people were entitled to their opinion but “there is a lot of misinformation and as I said in the video there is a lot of ‘disinformation,’ that’s information that’s meant to mislead you.”

“There is a lot of effort to scare people,” the former ABC newswoman added.

Additionally, Douglass refuted the YouTube clip that sparked the controversy. The video montage featured Obama speaking favorably about a single-payer healthcare system during his time as a senator.

“He didn’t have a different position when he was a senator,” she said, explaining he was speaking hypothetically at the time.

Here is video of Douglass’ remarks: