Dear Sarah "failin' Palin'"; take a quick look at WHO WROTE the "death panel" ammendment.

[LynnTheDem]

Oh noes!!1! It was a REPUBLICAN!

Yeppers.

Oh and by the way, your "death panel" is actually an ammendment for Medicare to pay for an individual's costs for a living will...which currently we the people have to pay for ourselves.

Oh noes!!1!


Sarah Palin'; ya just can't get dumber than that. Ya really can't you betcha also too.

[liberal N proud]

1. It was most likely added to allow the GOP to successfully kill reform

[Jennicut]

2. This is what gets me about this whole death panel debate. That should be the only thing said to the

crazies. No need to explain further.

[tanyev]

3. How about in honor of the American soldier, Sarah quits makin' things up?

[Kingofalldems]

4. The whole thing was a trick --repubs are very sneaky

Just like the disruptor(s) here on DU.

[mother earth]

5. I hope Joe Six Pack and his brother, Joe wasn't-a-plumber

can read, but somehow this may be why they don't have too many facts to support much of anything they make claims on. The party of NO is also the party of ignorance.

[global1]

6. Now That Is A Bit Of Info I Didn't Know About - Which Repug Put That Amendment In?......

That should be well publicized that a Repug added the 'living will' amendment that they are now turning into a 'death panel' amendment. We should know which Repug it is. He should be on all the cable news shows being asked to explain why he put that amendment in.

When the question comes up at a Town Hall - the response should be - well it was (insert name) that put this into the mix - and he is a Repug - I think you should talk to him to find out why he/she put it there.

Why don't the Dems point this out? Why are they just sitting back and taking all this crap? Why aren't they fighting back?

Is this a strategy? Get all the vitriol out in the open. Get people to really vent. Then take the wind out of their sails somehow?

I just don't get it.

Or do the Dems want this to fail - so that it can be put on the back burner for another 20 years?

[DrToast]

10. Easy there, turbo.

You're behind a little bit.

Obama DID mention it today. And it is in the news that a Republican wrote it. How do you think we know about it?

Here's an article you can read if you'd like: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/08/is_the_government_going_to_eut.html

Here's some more articles out there about it: http://news.google.com/news/search?um=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=Isakson+death+panel

[Number23]

13. Thanks for the links. This OP is maddeningly uninformative

From your WashPost link:

One of the foremost advocates of expanding Medicare end-of-life planning coverage is Johnny Isakson, a Republican Senator from Georgia. He co-sponsored 2007's Medicare End-of-Life Planning Act and proposed an amendment similar to the House bill's Section 1233 during the Senate HELP Committee's mark-up of its health care bill. I reached Sen. Isakson at his office this afternoon. He was befuddled that this had become a question of euthanasia, termed Palin's interpretation "nuts," and emphasized that all 50 states currently have some legislation allowing end-of-life directives. A transcript of our conversation follows.

:)

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. Ironic, eh?

Although it sounds like even the person who wrote it is a bit flummoxed about how people are trying to read "death panels" into the legislation regarding (voluntary) Medicare-paid counseling about living wills, advance directives- NONE of which has ANYTHING to do with euthanasia, assisted suicide, eugenics, or anything remotely similar.

My mom forwarded me an e-mail that she got about this BS and I sent her back an e-mail doing my best to debunk the whole nonsense and referred her to Fact Check.org's excellent analysis of the legislation, which seemed to help her understand it better. Why anybody would be thinking that the legislation in question has anything to do with the aforementioned practices or "death panels" is totally beyond me.

Do the people pushing these hysterical accusations believe that living wills and advance directives (which, of course, are nothing new and have been around for some time now) are really about some bureaucrat telling them how and when to die? :banghead: Are they really saying that there is something wrong with Medicare paying for people to help them take advantage of these decisions in advance of circumstances that might render them unable to make those decisions themselves about their end-of-life care? :shrug:

[mscuedawg]

8. Blitzer and Cafferty just spoke on this...

Ezra Klein asked Sen. Johnny Isakson (R) of Georgia, a long-time advocate of expanding Medicare end-of-life planning coverage, to help explain why this common-sense idea has suddenly become an attack against reform. Isakson responded:

"I have no idea. I understand -- and you have to check this out -- I just had a phone call where someone said Sarah Palin's web site had talked about the House bill having death panels on it where people would be euthanized. How someone could take an end of life directive or a living will as that is nuts. You're putting the authority in the individual rather than the government. I don't know how that got so mixed up.

"It empowers you to be able to make decisions at a difficult time rather than having the government making them for you.... And it's a voluntary deal."


http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019436.php

[DrToast]

9. You think that if she's willing to distort it that she actually gives a shit who wrote it?

[progressoid]

12. Exactly, she and the other nutters aren't interested in facts or stuff like that.

They need something to scream about. If they have to lie to make that happen, so be it.

[CitizenPatriot]

11. the lady had her own death panel

"In the case of Sarah Palin’s accusation against Obama, I guess I'm gonna have to go with all three (stupid, lying, and lazy), with a strong emphasis on #2, because during her administration, the state so mismanaged Medicaid that over 250 people died waiting for the program. Hundreds more did not receive treatment. Over eight lawsuits were filed against the state division, bringing the attention of the state auditors, who notified Alaskan officials on June 26 that the entire program was being shut down due to mismanagement. In fact, the Supreme court ruled last year that the state had improperly cut off or reduced services to more than 1,000 needy people.

“State programs intended to help disabled and elderly Alaskans with daily life -- taking a bath, eating dinner, getting to the bathroom -- are so poorly managed, the state cannot assure the health and well-being of the people they are supposed to serve, a new federal review found.

The situation is so bad the federal government has forbidden the state to sign up new people until the state makes necessary improvements.

No other state in the nation is under such a moratorium, according to a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

In the meantime, frail and vulnerable Alaskans who desperately need the help are struggling. One elderly woman is stuck in a nursing home, for lack of care at home. Another woman, suffering from chronic pain and fatigue, said she's so weak, she often can't even pop dinner into the microwave.

The moratorium is expected to last four or five months. State officials estimate about 1,000 Alaskans will be affected.

A particularly alarming finding concerns deaths of adults in the programs. In one 2 1/2 year stretch, 227 adults already getting services died while waiting for a nurse to reassess their needs. Another 27 died waiting for their initial assessment, to see if they qualified for help…

The programs cost about $250 million this year, with the federal government currently paying 61 percent of the bill.”

http://www.politicususa.com/en/node/7054

[Cha]

14. palin's dumber than a bag

of shite.