Earlier today, Arlen Specter tried to call Chuck Grassley and tell him that he was over the line when he spread fear about a provision in the House bill which would allow Medicare patients to be reimbursed for living will consultations. Grassley didn’t pick up the phone, but he did log on to Twitter and spewed forth another classic Grassley Twitter outburst.

Responding to Specter’s claim that Grassley was over the line when he furthered the "death panel" smear spread by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Grassley Twittered:

"Specter got it all wrong that I ever used words "death boards". Even liberal press never accused me of that. So change ur last Tweet Arlen"

Unfortunately, for Senator Grassley, tape doesn’t lie.

For those of you who can’t watch YouTube at work, here is a transcription of what Grassley says in the video:

"There are some people who think it is a terrible problem that Grandma is laying in the hospital bed with tubes in her, and think that there ought to be some government policy that enters into that. I am just on the opposite. I think that’s a family and religious thing that needs to be dealt with. And there is some fear because in the House bill there is end of life counseling, and from that point you have every right to fear. You shouldn’t have counseling at the end of life, you should have it twenty years before you’re going to die. You ought to plan these things out. You know I don’t have any problems with living wills, but they out to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines when we pull the plug on Grandma," Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

Of course, the provision that Senator Grassley is fear-mongering about would actually enable families who currently can’t afford living wills to access living will services under Medicare. Senator Grassley should know that this is a wonderful provision that would help millions of Americans to live the lives they want to live, not the lives Republican Senators like Chuck Grassley want to force them to live.