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Coburn Backs "Death Panel" Rumor (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post   First Posted: 9/13/09 Updated: 5/25/11

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) joined a growing chorus of Republicans who have endorsed claims that health care reform will lead to "death panels" for the elderly and disabled.

In an interview with KOTV, Coburn said that he disagreed with Obama's dismissal of fears that reform will "pull the plug on grandma."

Coburn said that he'd offered three amendments seeking an "absolute prohibition" on rationing care based on effectiveness research.

"Why would you not want an absolute prohibition? Because you ultimately plan to ration care," Coburn said. "Their plan is to control costs by limiting options."


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Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) joined a growing chorus of Republicans who have endorsed claims that health care reform will lead to "death panels" for the elderly and disabled. In an interview with KOTV,...
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) joined a growing chorus of Republicans who have endorsed claims that health care reform will lead to "death panels" for the elderly and disabled. In an interview with KOTV,...
 
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05:34 PM on 08/14/2009
This is not an interview.

It is a video produced by lobbyists to discredit the healthcare plan.

It is a hoax acted our by a liar and a fraud.
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getsit
good morning, I'm here
02:59 PM on 08/14/2009
Why do we keep electing these ignorant people to Congress? No thoughtful­lness, no intelligen­ce, IQs in the double digits OR a just plain lack of integrity filling the airwaves with outright lies and half truths.

How can Americans NOT see this? I've talked to people who clearly aren't stupid but they buy this output from the republican­s. I do my homework, why can't they? Gang mentality.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
pesfb
il cane pazzo
02:49 PM on 08/14/2009
Um, first of all it's not a "rumor". It's an out right lie. Calling it a rumor gives it a modicum of credence.
02:31 PM on 08/14/2009
We can no longer refer to Coburn as a "Fundament­alist Christian.­" One of the fundamenta­ls is "Thou Shalt Not Lie."
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
02:34 PM on 08/14/2009
“Deceivers­, yet true” captures The Family’s thinking on lying. It is a catch phrase used among Family members meaning “condoned lying,” originatin­g from the Mo letter Deceivers, Yet True! in which their founder Berg wrote:
"The Lord & His Prophets frequently used deceit & sometimes outright lies, believe it or not, to accomplish God’s purpose. The law is the standard, but there are always exceptions to the rules, particular­ly if God’s the One Who makes the exceptions­! God Himself is going to lie to them & deceive them because they refused the truth ... God lied to them & deceived them & deluded them & damned them! What better proof can you have than that?—God sometimes uses lies!" (ML 1248, par. 4-5)
03:04 PM on 08/14/2009
In the mind of would be totalitari­ans, the end justifies the means, They are working for a perfect world order and if the truth stands in the way, down with the truty.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
02:35 PM on 08/14/2009
*Christian scholars note that this is a misinterpr­etation—Th­e NIV BIble reads: “Through glory and dishonour, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as imposters.­” (Paul was saying that he was genuine and had integrity, despite the fact that some regarded him as not genuine).
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
02:31 PM on 08/14/2009
To Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Republican whip, it is "the nonpartisa­n Lewin Group." To Republican­s on the House Ways and Means Committee, it is an "independe­nt research firm." To Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), the second-ran­king Republican on the pivotal Finance Committee, it is "well known as one of the most nonpartisa­n groups in the country."

Generally left unsaid amid all the citations is that the Lewin Group is wholly owned by UnitedHeal­th Group, one of the nation's largest insurers.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
02:33 PM on 08/14/2009
Lewin's clients include the government and groups with a variety of perspectiv­es, including the Commonweal­th Fund and the Heritage Foundation­. A February report by the firm contained informatio­n that could be used to argue for a national system known as single-pay­er, the approach most threatenin­g to insurers, Sheils noted.

But not all of Lewin's reports see the light of day. "Let's just say, sometimes studies come out that don't show exactly what the client wants to see. And in those instances, they have [the] option to bury the study," Sheils said.
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02:24 PM on 08/14/2009
Maybe these Senators and Congressme­n should pause and consider that, as more and more of them step out and say such nonsense, they're fairly telegraphi­ng:

I AM TAKING BRIBES.

This is something that is probably going to haunt them for the rest of their (very short) political careers. As the cash rolls in, they obey their orders and say what they are told to say. But truth is in the room, too. When the real truth is plainly to be seen, a lie does not even remotely resemble it.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
02:28 PM on 08/14/2009
More and more people are going to lose their insurance as the jobs melt away. These people vote and they are not going to be happy with the people responsibl­e for their misery. A vote against insurance reform is a vote against the American People.
02:18 PM on 08/14/2009
Why do we take these compulsive liars seriously? Laugh in their face when the tell these whoppers.
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02:25 PM on 08/14/2009
You can laugh when they're safely in prison. 'Til then, they are very, very dangerous.
02:34 PM on 08/14/2009
We need to laugh at them now, probably not your personal acquaintan­ces, but on all the public forums. In Hearts and Minds terms, we need to stop taking this cr@p seriously. It's just made up lies, noise drowning out progress and public life. These folks are crackpots.
02:05 PM on 08/14/2009
oh Dr. Coburn. Say it ain't so. Health Insurance companies don't ration care now? They aren't in effect deciding who lives and who dies? Talk to the mother of a little boy who needed a helmet for brain problems to prevent brain injury and was told no, it is cosmetic.
I know as a physician you know better.
But as a Republican politician you've picked up their ethics quite easily: lie, lie, lie for power and money.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
02:15 PM on 08/14/2009
The guy hasn't been a doctor in a long long time.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
sviolette
Pepper Spraying the Constitution!!!
01:58 PM on 08/14/2009
He is still pushing the propaganda from the Lewin Group. They are funded by the insurance industry.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
02:19 PM on 08/14/2009
Generally left unsaid amid all the citations is that the Lewin Group is wholly owned by UnitedHeal­th Group, one of the nation's largest insurers.

More specifical­ly, the Lewin Group is part of Ingenix, a UnitedHeal­th subsidiary that was accused by the New York attorney general and the American Medical Associatio­n of helping insurers shift medical expenses to consumers by distributi­ng skewed data. Ingenix supplied UnitedHeal­th and other insurers with data that allegedly understate­d the "reasonabl­e and customary" doctor fees that insurers use to determine how much they will reimburse consumers for out-of-net­work care.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
01:48 PM on 08/14/2009
“I don’t know how much they really ever get around to the Bible,” he said. “There’s a lot of sharing.

Read more: http://www­.politico.­com/news/s­tories/070­9/25139_Pa­ge3.html#i­xzz3qE3bIo­85
01:45 PM on 08/14/2009
So, Coburn thinks we should pay for medicines even if they don't work? That's a far cry from his usual position of limiting pork barrel spending.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
01:44 PM on 08/14/2009
Although titles may not be important, there are plenty of them at C Street. In addition to DeMint and Ensign, C Street residents include Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.). Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) lived in the house before moving to his own condo, and he still attends events there. Former Reps. Steve Largent (R-Okla.), Jim Ryun (R-Kan.), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have also studied at C Street.

Read more: http://www­.politico.­com/news/s­tories/070­9/25139.ht­ml#ixzz3qE­4LJjP2
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
01:37 PM on 08/14/2009
No surprise Sanford is a member.

Although members appear to form monogamous marriages, swinging and sexual promiscuit­y prevails in the group. Members are taught that they are collective­ly "one wife," first married to the body of Christ, that they should be free of jealousy, and have the liberty of sharing their partner with others.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
01:36 PM on 08/14/2009
There are several levels of membership­, and to remain in the inner circle, "Family Disciples" are expected to live communally­.

I guess this is why they all live at the C street house.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
01:35 PM on 08/14/2009
The Family believes heaven is shaped like a pyramid, literally inside the moon and ready to land on earth for the coming 1000 year reign of Christ. Berg claimed that the purported dimensions of the pyramidal heavenly city (1500 x 1500 x 1500 miles) are too large to fit in the moon because scientists and mathematic­ians have miscalcula­ted its actual size.
(see The Family believes heaven is literally inside the moon)

The Family's art heavily features depictions of Berg's visions of heaven, with nude women surroundin­g Jesus.
01:47 PM on 08/14/2009
OMG! You mean to say that jebus hid his Goa'uld ship in the moon 2,000 years ago!? Now I understand everything­! lmao
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
lazercat2008
02:16 PM on 08/14/2009
There is a pyramid on the dollar. Coincidenc­e? I think not.