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Home Front: Politix
Sarah Palin doubles down on 'death panels'
2009-08-14
Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin defended her claim that the Democratic health care proposal would create "death panels" in a statement Wednesday night slamming President Barack Obama.

"Yesterday President Obama responded to my statement that Democratic health care proposals would lead to rationed care; that the sick, the elderly and the disabled would suffer the most under such rationing; and that under such a system, these 'unproductive' members of society could face the prospect of government bureaucrats determining whether they deserve health care," Palin wrote in a note on her Facebook page.

"The provision that President Obama refers to is Section 1233 of HR 3200, entitled 'Advance Care Planning Consultation.' With all due respect, it's misleading for the president to describe this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to Medicare recipients," she continued.

"Section 1233 authorizes advanced care planning consultations for senior citizens on Medicare every five years, and more often 'if there is a significant change in the health condition of the individual ... or upon admission to a skilled nursing facility, a long-term care facility... or a hospice program.'"

The White House and Democratic lawmakers have blasted Palin in recent days for suggesting that her own son, Trig, would have had to face a bureaucratic panel to get access to health care under the provision in the House health care proposal because he was born with Down syndrome.

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil," Palin wrote last week.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs identified Palin on Wednesday as one of the GOP leaders he says is spreading "wrong" information about the health care debate.

Additionally, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is using Palin's "death panels" claim in a fundraising plea to supporters, calling the former governor's statement "disgusting" and "outrageous."

But Palin seemed undeterred in her latest statement, pointing to columns by The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson and others to support her suggestion last week that the Democratic proposal is "Orwellian."

"President Obama can try to gloss over the effects of government-authorized end-of-life consultations, but the views of one of his top health care advisers are clear enough," Palin wrote. "It's all just more evidence that the Democratic legislative proposals will lead to health care rationing and more evidence that the top-down plans of government bureaucrats will never result in real health care reform."
Posted by:Fred

#9  Subtle, like the p in swimming (swimping???).
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2009-08-14 22:39  

#8  She won the debate--the Dems deleted the "snuff granny" clause from the bill.

She's good.
Posted by: Mike   2009-08-14 17:31  

#7  "You just have to wonder if she had this statement waiting for him the whole time."

No, you don't, EU.

At least I sure don't. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2009-08-14 17:14  

#6  You have to wonder if she designed the exchange to play out just this way. She lured him in with what looked like an egregious bit of "death panel" hyperbole, waited for him to take the bait and then clobbered him with this latest statement which is well researched and very detailed. You just have to wonder if she had this statement waiting for him the whole time. Is she really that subtle? I hope so.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2009-08-14 16:32  

#5  Look out, Barry. She's smarter than you are and she's coming after you.

Maybe you shouldn't have sic'ed your media thugs after the cutta's kids eh Barry?

When she gets hit she doesn't whine to the media about being 'victimized' - she hits back.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2009-08-14 13:24  

#4  But Palin seemed undeterred in her latest statement...

Heh. If you haven't managed to slime her into silence by now, you aren't going to.
Posted by: Iblis   2009-08-14 12:12  

#3  This version of her statement includes footnotes with links to other documents that show she's really done her research. Look out, Barry. She's smarter than you are and she's coming after you.

H/T to Drudge.

For those of you who don't check Drudge every day there is also this little nugget from 1961 in which none other than Ronald Reagan warns of the perils of socialized medicine.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2009-08-14 12:03  

#2  As Gateway Pundit says: "SheÂ’s taking Obamacare down like a moose in the Alaskan wilderness.”
Posted by: tipper   2009-08-14 11:35  

#1  As has been said many times before, the litmus test for this Health Care Reform debacle should be ... are ANY members of Congress and this administration willing to subject themselves and their families to this program, or is it just for us peons???
Posted by: WolfDog   2009-08-14 11:07  

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