House GOP chair: W.H. should clarify or remove controversial blog post

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) wondered aloud yesterday if the White House was attempting to collect the personal information of healthcare reform opponents. Today, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) asked the White House to edit or remove the blog post that started the controversy.

“I would hope that this element of the website was either taken down or they made it clear that this is not an effort to collect information,” Pence said on Fox News on Thursday.

Pence is chairman of the House Republican Conference.

On Tuesday, White House new media director Macon Phillips made a blog post entitled “Facts Are Stubborn Things” that asked healthcare reform supporters to send the White House “[suspicious] email[s] or…something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy.”

“We have laws on the books that prohibit any agency of the federal government from collecting information on Americans in the excercise of their freedom of speech,” Pence added.