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In case you haven’t heard, the latest right-wing lie about health care reform is courtesy of that master of the facts, Sarah Palin:
The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. 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.
I sigh every time I have to say this, because really, it should be obvious, but there are no "death panels." If you don’t believe me, maybe PolitiFact’s "pants on fire" rating of this lie will convince you:
We have read all 1,000-plus pages of the Democratic bill and examined versions in various committees. There is no panel in any version of the health care bills in Congress that judges a person’s "level of productivity in society" to determine whether they are "worthy" of health care.
Of course, the inconvenient fact that this smear is untrue is not going to stop the likes of Newt Gingrich or Glenn Beck, both of whom apparently believe this ridiculous attack.
It’s amazing to me that anyone would actually believe this stuff. As Senator Claire McCaskill said at her town hall this morning, which I watched on CNN, "This is America."
We don’t have "death panels" in America, or any of the ridiculous stuff that the right wing thinks is in the health care bill. The right may disagree with health reform, and they may desperately want to keep the status quo, but this is over the top, and it hurts their cause. Nobody believes it.
(also posted at the NOW! blog)
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7 Comments
“The right may disagree with health reform, and they may desperately want to keep the status quo, but this is over the top”
Indeed! The only way I know to keep news outlets from spouting disinformation is to curtail viewing and boycott of sponsors. They don’t understand anything except ratings and money flow. It’s not their concern how this affects America or the safety of its citizens.
right–Republicans understand that they can make any claim, no matter how outlandish, and it will be repeated back by a media that is very, very unlikely to call out even a blatant lie. I hope Jason’s right that this will backfire on the Republicans.
Yeah, they repeat it and make their own alternative reality. Jason is correct. It will rise up and bite them. They still don’t understand that America voted to put an end to the lies and bully behavior. It is the only thing they know to do with themselves because they have no real issue or leadership.
The death panels do exist – they are in the corporate health insurance board rooms.
We did have major corporations (Walmart, etc.) take out so called ‘dead peasant’ life insurance policies on the lives of workers without informing the worker or his family. Phil Gramm tried to something similar for Texas state workers. Maybe, Mother Inferior Palin got confused. Never heard Newt speak out against the secret dead peasant life insurance policies.
Seriously, great point.
While the statements palin makes are over the top
the underlying concerns of many Americans are that
care will be rationed. This could mean hip and knee
replacements not given to someone over 60, cancer treatment
not given when it may only prolong someones life 6 months.
As the population ages and the economy worsens, this could
become a reality.
You need to understand this is a major concern for people
who are middle age and seniors republican and democrat.