So, if you’ve been paying attention to the health care debate, you’ve most likely heard the misinformation and lies flying back and forth.

Actually, the debate is more like, “Your plan sucks!” versus “No, yours does! And it isn’t even good for the people! It just lets the insurance companies profit more!” That sounds awfully like a kindergarten tussle on the playground, if you ask me. Three anti-reform items have come to my attention recently and, frankly, I didn’t quite like them.

Within the last few days, I’ve seen an ad paid for by “Conservatives for Patients’ Rights.” It asked viewers to ask Congress three questions about the “government-run public option plan,” including whether people can keep their own doctor and insurance and whether they’ll face health care rationing. Viewers were asked to call Congress and tell them to vote “no” on the bill if the answer to the three questions wasn’t “yes.”

Where do I start here? Rick Scott, the founder of this group, was a health care insurance executive before he left to lead this group. Hrm … a former health care industry exec is championing for more for the health care industry companies? No, that doesn’t sound fishy at all! And the answer to all three of those questions is most definitely “yes.” People can keep their own doctors and their own insurance and there will be no health care rationing.

You hear that? No death panels for Granny!

On Thursday, I saw footage of Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann at a rally in D.C. that she helped organize and later claimed she had nothing to do with. At the rally, she was quoted as saying, “The American people overwhelmingly reject government takeover of our health care.” … Umm, Michele? It’s called the public option for a reason. The public is in support of it. You and your cronies are taking cash from the health care industry and your supporters aren’t. It’s as simple as that.

On Saturday, John Shadegg, a Republican representative from Phoenix, Ariz., held up a baby named Maddie (not his granddaughter, mind you) during a health care discussion on the floor of the House and proceeded to put words in Maddie’s mouth. What he was putting in her mouth were things like, “Maddie believes in freedom,” and “[Maddie] asked to come here today to say she doesn’t want the government to take over health care,” and “You see, Maddie knows that if this bill passes it says that her mom’s health care goes away and won’t be around in five years.” Seriously, Representative? How in the WORLD do you know what SHE wants? She can’t even speak, for crying out loud!

Trying to woo the crowd over with adorable children won’t do you any good, especially when you’re in favor of higher health care insurance payments that could burden little Maddie’s family more than a public option would.

I started writing this on Saturday evening. A few hours in, I checked Facebook to see what was going on and I saw a friend’s status update about the health care bill that was being voted on. I went to the C-SPAN site, which trumpeted the headline “House votes 220-215 for health reform legislation.” The first thought that ran through my head was, “Is this column dead in the water? Not by far! There’s still life in this thing!”

That can’t be truer, folks.