More Republican ad ridiculousness, this time from Rudy Giuliani who crassly uses his latest radio ad, "Chances", to exploit his own diagnosis of (and subsequent recovery from) prostate cancer several years ago for the purposes of attacking his imagined bogeyman version of universal healthcare. And I thought McCain's self-exploitation was creepy.

You can listen to the ad HERE.

It begins:

"I had, uh, prostate cancer, five, six years ago," recalls Giuliani. "My chance of surviving prostate cancer and thank God I was cured of it, in the United States, 82%. My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England, only 44% under socialized medicine."

It should come as no surprise to hear that this is yet another in a long line of baseless exaggerated claims from Giuliani. Good for ABC News's blog Political Radar for doing the digging (h/t TPM):

But the data Giuliani cites comes from a single study published eight years ago by a not-for-profit group, and is contradicted by official data from the British government.

According to the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics, for men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1999 and 2003, the "five-year survival rate" -- a common measurement in cancer statistics -- was 74.4 percent.

I know, Rudy, facts are hard. Ezra Klein schools the serial exaggerator some more.

England and America have vritually the same mortality rates from prostate cancer. In England (as of 1997), 28 males of every 100,000 died from prostate cancer. In America, then number was 26. The difference comes in "incidence" -- there are many more diagnoses of prostate cancer in America, as we have an aggressive screening process.

And as for that one rogue study that is the sole source of the "statistic" i n Rudy's ad? Take a wild guess.

The article, "The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care," was written by David Gratzer, a physician who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and is a healthcare adviser to the Giuliani campaign.

Of course.

In true wingnut fashion, Giuliani closes the ad with this priceless right-wing healthcare talking point:

We have the best healthcare system in the world...

Which recalls Meteor Blades' excellent dailyKos post from earlier today, which eloquently makes the point that quality care is useless without access to it:

You don't have to go far to find someone - George Bush, for instance - who will spout the typical propaganda: America has "the best health care system in the world." True enough if you're a Congressperson or hoi oligoi who can afford to pay for treatment at one of the nation's top medical centers. But, compared with other nations in the developed world, the U.S. does a rotten job of delivering good care... As plenty of us know firsthand, even Americans with fairly decent health coverage often find it hard to get the treatment the "best health care system in the world" should be providing.

Giuliani's demonization of the government's role in expanding that access and his faith-based reliance on the market to work it all out should add yet another nail in the coffin of the myth that Giuliani is anything but a right-wing nut and should make it clear that a Giuliani presidency would be nothing short of Bush's third term.