Tweeter's talking points echo nationwide

If the health-care town halls of recent weeks are tinderboxes fueled by mass talking points, then a good portion of the paper kindling was supplied by a guy who has dubbed himself Fleckman.

Peter Fleckenstein, of Arizona, is the Twitter-savvy keyboardist behind sheets of conservative talking points rolled up, waved and jabbed at testy forums across the nation.

Weeks ago, Fleckenstein began combing one of the primary health-care reform bills under his Fleckman persona.

He blogged and tweeted, to more than 6,000 followers, with page references to what he saw as especially egregious liberal ideas in the bill, HR 3200.

"Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed," is one example, or "Page 124 ... put simply, private insurers will be crushed."

Fleckenstein's blunt review struck the right nerves, and speakers against the Obama-sponsored health bills have cribbed his words to attack the plans.

"I don't know the gentleman who put them together, but they're everywhere," said Jeff Crank of the Colorado office of Americans for Prosperity, which is fighting the legislation.

Crank said he has also seen mass e-mails circulating that include some of Fleckman's most pointed lines.

Fleckenstein said by e-mail that he is not affiliated with any group or lobbyists and that he pored over the bill "as a personal project from a regular American citizen."

"The bill was being rushed through Congress, and this bill would affect the lives of every American both now and for entire future generations to come," he said. "I think American citizens are hungry for knowledge."

But even some of his ideological soul mates say Fleckenstein has gone too far.

The Washington, D.C., office of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) decided to do a line-by-line critique of Fleckman's critique, calling him out where the group thinks he has distorted the meaning of the proposed health bills.

"Page 29: This is PARTIALLY TRUE," goes the AFP dressing-down of Fleckman.

AFP's analysis says the bill does not specifically outline rationing but adds, "These government imposed limits on benefits paid are the statutory groundwork for what could become rationing once costs inevitably spiral out of control in a government-run system."

In other places, his interpretation gets hammered with "This is FALSE." Fleckman says on Page 50 that the bill gives free health care to "all non-US citizens, illegal or otherwise." AFP counters that although the page might indicate costly programs, it "does not discuss providing coverage to noncitizens."

"A lot of our people had it, they were passing it around, so we wanted to go through and determine what was accurate," said Phil Kerpen, the group's director of policy.

"There's enough bad in this bill that we don't need to be untruthful or misrepresent it in any way," Crank said.

Fleckenstein said he hasn't read the commentaries on his own commentary but welcomes any critique: "That's the beauty of America, isn't it?"

Michael Huttner, of the pro-reform ProgressNow Colorado, said that whether or not Fleckman acted on his own, big-money interests are exploiting misleading commentaries like his to stir up misguided opposition.

"These are very orchestrated efforts," Huttner said.

Asked whether liberal groups are putting out their own misleading talking points in favor of the Democrats' legislation, Americans for Prosperity had no hesitation:

"I think the president is waving around misinformation," Crank said.