Obama goes after media for ‘enemies list’ rumor

President Obama attacked the media today for helping circulate a story that the White House is compiling an “enemies list.”

“This is another example of how the media ends up just completely distorting what’s taking place,” Obama said.

The story started when the White House asked supporters to forward “fishy” claims about Democratic healthcare legislation, the goal being to check and refute those claims.

Critics said that forwarding emails would let the White House compile a list of political opponents.

Obama said today that he just wants to be responsive to concerns about the bill and help correct misinformation:

He continued:

What we’ve said is, if somebody has–if you get an email from somebody that says, for example, ObamaCare is creating a death panel, forward us the email and we will answer the question that’s raised in the email.

Suddenly, on some of these news outlets, this is being portrayed as Obama collecting an enemies list. Now, come on guys…here I am trying to be responsive to questions that are raised out there, and I just want to be clear that all we’re trying to do is answer questions.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) has asked the White House to discontinue the program or clarify what it would do with the information it receives.

Here’s video of Obama’s comments: