Pawlenty Warning Against Threat of Death Panels -- Ten Years From Now

[RedEarth]

Just because President Obama set out to fully debunk the "death panel" smear in his speech to Congress last night, it doesn't mean for a moment that Republicans are actually going to stop playing that card, as Greg Sargent has noticed.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), a potential presidential candidate, appeared today on Morning Joe, and admitted that the health care bill does not create death panels -- but warned that people should be worried about it happening ten years from now, in order to lower costs:

"Joe, there is nothing int he legislation that directly says that," Pawlenty admitted. "It's the indirect concerns that I'm trying to articulate, that I think are at least worth raising."

Pawlenty need not worry about death panels hurting Minnesota, though. If it ever gets to that point, he could always run for governor again and then nullify them.

Mike Barnicle, describing himself as being in a "benevolent mood this morning," explicitly gave Pawlenty a chance to back away from this, and Pawlenty stuck to his Deatherist guns -- and also called for civility in this discussion.

"Now does the bill say there's death panels? No. Does the bill say that somebody's actually going to, you know, say you have to live or die? No," said Pawlenty. "But the indirect concerns that I'm raising, and others have raised, are not irrational. So we can have an informed, reasonable debate about that without one side or the other just calling each other names."


......video here.........

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/pawlenty-warning-against-threat-of-death-panels----ten-years-from-now.php

[MineralMan]

1. Thin Polenta is a moron of the first water.

I have no doubt that he will be out of state on Saturday when President Obama appears here. Rather than introducing the President of the United State, our erstwhile Governor will be maligning him somewhere in his own public appearance.

We in Minnesota have had enough of Republican Governors. We will elect a Democrat in 2010, and give Bachmann her walking papers, too.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Allll riiiiiiiiight, I've had enough. If anyone set anyone else up to "die", it was the estate tax

rollback.

Did you know that if anyone dies during the year 2010 (less than three months from now), zero (00.00%) of his/her/their estate is taxed for federal taxes? Nada. Free. No matter how much money is in the estate. Gazillions of dollars not taxed.

Who did that handywork? The * Administration and the republican House and Senate. It's been going down since he changed the tax law.

Now here's the catch: On January 1, 2011, the federal taxes are reinstated, at a good percentage, for an amount I honestly can't remember, say $250,000 per dead taxpayer's estate is "tax free" and the rest is taxed at 30%. (Again, I'm guessing, but you get the idea.)

That means unless the tax breaks on estate taxes are EXTENDED, there will be some sudden, unexplained deaths during next year as this is THE YEAR that heirs and beneficiaries will profit the most from "untimely" deaths. Yes, even George H. W. Bush better watch his back.

This is more concrete and threatening than imagined death panels for healthcare reform.

[jwirr]

3. The apparatus is already in place if this is going to happen in the future.

The insurance companies, nursing homes and drug stores, etc. could all implement these policies any time they want. This danger is always present in any era.

In fact it has already happened more or less in the past. Read Edwin Black's book " War Against the Weak" and talk to older doctors and nurses about what happened in many delivery rooms when the baby was obviously disabled (usually downs). Many a baby was laid aside while the delivery team did everything but mop the floor. Only then if the baby was still alive did it receive attention.

Mr Plenty is using fear tactics to play his non-Minnesota games.