During Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's town hall meeting... you know, the one where this happened... a doctor stood to voice her support for the proposed health care plan:
When prompted, Dr. Roxana Mayer told the congresswoman she had been practicing medicine for four year and told the Houston Chronicle that she was a "pediatric primary care physician." In their story recapping the meeting, the Chronicle noted:
Some attendees at the meeting spoke in favor of the plan, go so far as to want a system where the government had complete control. [sic]
One supporter, Dr. Roxana Mayer, a physician who does not live in Jackson Lee’s district, praised the reform plan for overhauling a broken system. “I don’t know what there is in the bill that creates such panic,” she said.
A photo of Dr. Mayer hugging the congresswoman also ran with the story:
Turns out, the name "Dr. Roxana Mayer" doesn't appear in the database maintained by the Texas Medical Board, a registry of all licensed doctors in the state. But the name "Roxana Mayer" does show up on Barack Obama's website as a Texas Delegate for Obama--a small bit of information the Chronicle was aware of, but didn't report in its story.
Though the Chronicle didn't bother to check into Ms. Mayer's background, some average citizens did. Unable to find evidence of her medical practice, Patrick Frey of Patterico.com emailed Mayer to get more information on her background. Mayer responded to Frey's email correspondence, saying:
...For what it’s worth, I went to get a question answered for myself and two other people close to me who are doctors. Too bad she didn’t answer it. I also went to lend support to the reform effort. It’s easier to be against something especially since anger is such a great motivator... I do think this is all very funny because I just assume that if my going had been part of a conspiracy, it would have been more seemlessly executed.
But when pressed further by Frey as to whether or not she was actually a doctor, Mayer said she was not and joked: But who knows, that was only my first town hall meeting–even though I was a delegate. If I go to another one, which I seriously doubt because my husband is already extremely annoyed, then maybe I’ll play a plumber.
The Lone Star Times later picked up the story:
Our own David Jennings secured a phone interview, in which Mayer admitted to impersonating a physician, saying — get this — she thought it would help her credibility. (It didn’t.)
The Times also ran a photo, which shed a new, crazier light on the whole situation:
Some people might recognize the face of the woman who sat in the background while Mayer stood to praise ObamaCare. That woman, who accompanied Mayer to the town hall meeting, was Maria Isabel--the Obama devotee who ran a campaign office which proudly displayed the Che Guevara flag. What a circus. Let this meeting be a "teachable moment" for everyone attending town halls: question what you hear and keep your eyes open for loons.
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