Sarah Silverman’s Meme Attack on Rand Paul Gets Fact Checked

The meme below, in which Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) can be seen equating the right to healthcare with slavery, has been around for a while. But it achieved renewed prominence last week when comedian Sarah Silverman retweeted it from her boyfriend, actor Michael Sheen’s account:

Oh my god. RT @michaelsheen Rand Paul. Republican. Presidential candidate. Pragmatist. Thinker. Knob. pic.twitter.com/5UmcmjUKCP

— Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) May 22, 2015

This spurred PunditFact, the media arm of the Tampa Bay Times’ PolitiFact, to investigate the claim. Looking back at Paul’s 2011 statements with the original context intact, the site ultimately deemed the sentiment of the meme to be true.

As they reported, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons posted “missing footage” from Paul’s remarks on YouTube that they claimed help clarify the senator’s point. Watch below:

But even with those comments included, in which Paul says that this “obligation” to provide care applies to emergencies, but not primary care, PunditFact concluded that it does not “greatly change” what he had said earlier.

“The meme has been abridged from the full quote, but we see no significant change in his meaning,” the post’s author wrote. “We also found no evidence that Paul had backtracked on the views he expressed. We rate the meme’s claim True.”

[Photo via screengrab]

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