Wall Street Journal declares Palin "Death Panel" WINNER, President Obama LOSER...fuck you, WSJ.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Palin Wins
If she's dim and Obama is brilliant, how did he lose the argument to her?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204409904574350400852801602.html

By JAMES TARANTO

The first we heard about Sarah Palin's "death panels" comment was in a conversation last Friday with an acquaintance who was appalled by it. Our interlocutor is not a Democratic partisan but a high-minded centrist who deplores extremist rhetoric whatever the source. We don't even know if he has a position on ObamaCare. From his description, it sounded to us as though Palin really had gone too far.

A week later, it is clear that she has won the debate.

President Obama himself took the comments of the former governor of the 47th-largest state seriously enough to answer them directly in his so-called town-hall meeting Tuesday in Portsmouth, N.H. As we noted Wednesday, he was callous rather than reassuring, speaking glibly--to audience laughter--about "pulling the plug on grandma."

[polichick]

1. Who owns the WSJ again? Oh yeah... nt

[IndianaGreen]

5. Duh?

WSJ, which was a shameless defender of monopoly capitalism, has gotten more tabloid like since Rupert Murdoch bought it. The message is the same, the packaging is pure Murdoch. No self-respected person would read this trash.

[lyonn]

10. We can only hope Murdock loses billion on that rag. nt

sp? looses vs loses

[KakistocracyHater]

24. word wizards, always saying what they WISH to be true, always a LIE

until/unless people actually go along with them.

[madaboutharry]

2. James Tarnato is a stupid man.

The end.

[Avalux]

3. Jesus Christ on a trailer hitch! It's not about dumb vs. smart. It's about lies vs. truth.

So yeah - Palin wins in the lies arena. The WSJ doesn't concern itself with the truth any longer.

[mnhtnbb]

19. The WSJ has never concerned itself with the truth. See my post #18

[Diane R]

4. It's clear the WSJ has truly become Murdock's newspaper.

[depakid]

6. An excellent example of the culture of lies that's become so pervasive in America

[azmouse]

7. If Palin wins, America loses.

How low can these lying fools go???

[chieftain]

8. The WSJ used to have a cable show with their editorial board.

It was even worse than you can imagine. Several pompous,venal ignoramuses sitting around congratulating themselves for their troglodyte views. Paul Gigot hosted what looked like a table at the bar in Star Wars. Taranto was a regular and disturbing participant. This column is par for the course for him and his ilk.

[depakid]

12. It was on PBS if you recall

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/journaleditorialreport/

[pnorman]

9. For ‘Death Panels’ Before She Was Against Them? Palin Endorsed End Of Life Counseling As Governor

In recent weeks, right-wing groups have been pushing the myth that health care reform will somehow kill seniors. One of the most high profile voices pushing this lie has been Sarah Palin, who claimed President Obama will institute bureaucratic “death panels.” Today, again on her Facebook page, she continued the attack. Though some Republicans have rebuffed this absurd, inaccurate notion — like Johnny Isakson (R-GA), who called such talk “nuts” — others, like Newt Gingrich, have piled on to agree with Palin.

However, on April 16th 2008, then Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed some of the same end of life counseling she now decries as a form of euthanasia. In a proclamation announcing “Healthcare Decisions Day,” Palin urged public facilities to provide better information about advance directives, and made it clear that it is critical for seniors to be informed of such options:

WHEREAS, Healthcare Decisions Day is designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions. <...>

WHEREAS, one of the principal goals of Healthcare Decisions Day is to encourage hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, and hospices to participate in a statewide effort to provide clear and consistent information to the public about advance directives, as well as to encourage medical professionals and lawyers to volunteer their time and efforts to improve public knowledge and increase the number of Alaska’s citizens with advance directives.

WHEREAS, the Foundation for End of Life Care in Juneau, Alaska, and other organizations throughout the United States have endorsed this event and are committed to educating the public about the importance of discussing healthcare choices and executing advance directives.
.
.
.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/13/palin-deathpanel-flipflop/

pnorman

[Cha]

11. "So called town meetings"?! That's the clue right there that

he's a fucking mediawhore in the wsj rag..the same rag that john mackey got his rocks off in with his answer to Health Insurance Reform or whatever he was calling it.

[liberalmuse]

13. I don't understand. The WSJ should love President Obama...

Oh, wait. Hahaha! I think he may have pissed off Wall Street and their shills, but to sink so low as to take Sarah Palin's side in this debate is transparent and pathethic. Well, it's unbelievable that a reputable paper would do such a thing, isn't it?

[Cass]

14. The one who lost is the American public. This lying twit has nearly succeeded in depriving

the public of a vital and important part of health care in the form of end of life consultations with their doctors. She disgusts me beyond belief. Maybe if she ever had to face end of life issues with a loved one she would have an iota of understanding of how important this is.

Why any media outlet gives 2 shits what she thinks is a mystery to me - she's a self absorbed, ambitious, cold-hearted woman who couldn't handle the job she was elected to do so she quit. She's no paragon of credibility and wisdom so who cares what this moron thinks.

edit: typos

[babylonsister]

15. The Kind Of 'Win' No One Should Want...

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019497.php

THE KIND OF 'WIN' NO ONE SHOULD WANT.... The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto believes Sarah Palin must be brilliant. In fact, he thinks he has proof -- voluntary Medicare-reimbursed end-of-life counseling is off the table in Senate Finance Committee negotiations, and it wouldn't be if the former governor hadn't launched a baseless attack.

If you believe the media, Sarah Palin is a mediocre intellect, if even that, while President Obama is brilliant. So how did she manage to best him in this debate?

This would be amusing if it weren't so serious. Consider exactly what we've seen over the last seven days: a confused conservative didn't understand a modest, common-sense idea that had already been endorsed, promoted, and approved by other conservatives. This person's ridiculous claim was then embraced by other confused conservatives. Eventually, another conservative decided to drop the modest, common-sense idea because a lot of people, he said, find it confusing.

James Taranto sees all of this and concludes that the confused conservative who helped bring the ridiculous claim to national prominence must be intelligent. Indeed, the sub-head on his piece read, "If she's dim and Obama is brilliant, how did he lose the argument to her?"

In the world of the Wall Street Journal editorial page, if a right-wing voice is wrong, but manages to get others to believe nonsense, that right-wing voice "wins" the argument, and is necessarily clever.

Our mind-numbing political discourse is a constant source of frustration.

-Steve Benen

[depakid]

20. "...if a right-wing voice is wrong, but manages to get others to believe nonsense,

that right-wing voice "wins" the argument and is necessarily clever."

Sums up the pattern that led to the economic meltdown quite well, don't you think?

[Vinca]

16. I guess she won . . . if victory is exposing yourself as a dimwitted idiot.

[CakeGrrl]

17. Aww, don't blame Taranto - he's probably nursing a schoolboy crush

She probably makes him "sit up a little straighter in his chair".

:rofl:

[mnhtnbb]

18. Ever since the WSJ editorialized that Gore was attempting a coup in 2000,

I could give a flyin' fuck what they have to say. They are nothing but a$$holes.

[rocktivity]

21. It was clear she won the debate? Clear as mud.

One DAY later, Palin released a statement calling for civility in the health care reform debate!

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Skidmore]

22. Oh, please, please, please support her for R candidate for prez, Rupert.

Ya'll will deserve what you get.

[Hansel]

23. James Taranto. Isn't he the hobbit on Lou Dobbs' panel?

Edit: Just look it up. Yep, that's him. No bigger moron exists. He's so far right he makes Lou look sane.

[mitchum]

25. Well, some rag HAD to take the place of the now defunct Weekly World News

[Ishoutandscream2]

26. If Palin is declared the "winner" then the American people

are even bigger idiots than I thought they were.

[Becky72]

27. In fairness to the WSJ

James Taranto should be singled out. Newspapers sometimes have good news sections with bad opinion columnists, such as Taranto, who authored the piece in question. We could say, "fuck you, WSJ opinion board," or "fuck you James Taranto."

In the NYT, we have Paul Krugman and David Brooks, who have very different views, for example.

[Alcibiades]

28. The Wall Street Journal is a bad newspaper

Wall Street built a castle in the sky for years, and the WSJ were cheerleaders.

Then, after all the investment houses had been converted into bank holding companies, they came out with a post-mortem called "The Wall Street Journal Guide to the End of Wall Street as We Know It:"

http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Journal-Guide-Time/dp/0061788406

when they had actually helped to cause the entire mess themselves by lazy journalism and excessive editorial advocacy of deregulation.

[ncteechur]

29. WSJ = Fox News = The Globe

yellow journalism at its finest