(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration denied it is keeping an enemies list although it has asked citizens to report any “disinformation” about health care they come across to the White House.

Last Wednesday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) sent a letter to the White House expressing concern about why the White House would want information on opponents of its health care plan.

“I am not aware of any precedent for a president asking American citizens to report their fellow citizens to the White House for pure political speech that is deemed ‘fishy’ or otherwise inimical to the White House’s political interests,” Cornyn wrote.

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the program was simply about correcting misinformation.

“Nobody is collecting names,” Gibbs said. “A lot of misinformation is out there. Some of it I think has been spread purposely. We have used on many occasions the Web site to debunk things that are simply not true. We ask people that have questions about health care and if what they’re hearing about [seems inaccurate]. And we’ll let them know if that isn’t true.”

When another reporter asked specifically what are the goals of getting information, Gibbs repeated that it was simply a matter of getting the truth out about the health care reform legislation under consideration in Congress and supported by President Barack Obama – a plan that would establish a public health care option to compete with private insurers and mandate that employers provide health care coverage.

“The particular goal is to get misinformation and clarify for everybody what the misinformation is,” Gibbs said. “I hope that isn’t new. It doesn’t seem to be. … The White House seeking to correct misinformation.”
In a blog posting Tuesday, the White House asked citizens to report “fishy” information about opponents of the health care legislation.

“There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care,” wrote Macon Phillips, director of New Media for the White House in a blog posting.

“These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain e-mails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an e-mail or see something on the Web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”

Phillips also wrote, “Scary chain e-mails and videos are starting to percolate on the Internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to ‘uncover’ the truth about the presidents health insurance reform position.”

The White House request for flagging opposition to the health care plan was alarming to Cornyn who wrote to President Obama asking him to “cease this program immediately.”

“By requesting that citizens send ‘fishy’ e-mails to the White House, it is inevitable that the names, e-mail addresses, IP addresses and private speech of U.S. citizens will be reported to the White House,” Cornyn’s letter said. “You should not be surprised that these actions taken by your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program. As Congress debates health care reform and other critical policy matters, citizen engagement must not be chilled by fear of government monitoring the exercise of free speech rights.”

Comments by Obama have circulated through the Internet. In a 2003 speech posted on the Internet, Obama said, “I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care plan.”

“But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately, because first we've got to take back the White House, and we've got take back the Senate, and we've got to take back the House,” Obama said.

Cornyn wanted to know how restating what the president said six years ago, when he was an Illinois state legislator, was disinformation. He also asked the White House to explain how they “intend to use the names, e-mail addresses, IP addresses, and identities of citizens reported to have engaged in ‘fishy’ speech?”

Cornyn also wanted to know if the White House would notify citizens who were reported for “fishy” speech, and, “What action do you intend to take against citizens who have been reported for engaging in ‘fishy’ speech?”

“I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward e-mails critical of his policies to the White House,” Cornyn wrote. “I suspect that you would have been leading the charge in condemning such a program – and I would have been at your side denouncing such heavy-handed government action."