"Death Panels" For Dummies

In the world of Palin Wack-a-Mole, you need steroids to win. Facebook press releases seem to come on Fridays. Yesterday was no different. This week's word salad had the crazy dressing on the side; a link to Michele Bachmann's health care rant. The crap croutons had quote marks around them; "death panel," and "level of productivity in society."

If you ever needed proof our current health care is deficient, or for that matter, our education system, try to make sense out of either woman's position. For all the fear mongering and "bearing false witness" as this is:

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."

As weirdly elitist as this:

"I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors."

And as "grab your torches and pitch forks" this is:

"Let's stop and think and make our voices heard before it's too late."

There is a much bigger problem. Sarah Palin has a history of fudging about health care.

While being vetted by the McCain camp:

At one point, trying out a debating point that she believed showed she could empathize with uninsured Americans, Palin told McCain aides that she and Todd in the early years of their marriage had been unable to afford health insurance of any kind, and had gone without it until he got his union card and went to work for British Petroleum on the North Slope of Alaska. Checking with Todd Palin himself revealed that, no, they had had catastrophic coverage all along. She insisted that catastrophic insurance didn't really count and need not be revealed. This sort of slipperiness -- about both what the truth was and whether the truth even mattered -- persisted on questions great and small.

During the vice-presidential debate, Palin stated:

About times and Todd and our marriage in our past where we didn't have health insurance and we know what other Americans are going through as they sit around the kitchen table and try to figure out how are they going to pay out-of-pocket for health care? We've been there also so that connection was important.

WHAT? There are 228 federally recognized tribes in Alaska. According to the Indian Health Services website:

IHS-funded, tribally-managed hospitals are located in Anchorage, Barrow, Bethel, Dillingham, Kotzebue, Nome and Sitka. There are 37 tribal health centers, 166 tribal community health aide clinics and five residential substance abuse treatment centers. The Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage is the state-wide referral center and gatekeeper for specialty care. Other health promotion/disease prevention programs that are state-wide in scope are operated by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), which is managed by representatives of all Alaska tribes.

Todd Palin's heritage as an Alaskan Native was a curiosity to many during the 2008 campaign.

According to public disclosure forms that Sarah Palin filed with the state of Alaska, her husband and their children are BBNC (Bristol Bay Native Corporation) shareholders, meaning they would likely qualify for the health service program.

So between Todd's union job insurance, the governor's state coverage and the FEDERALLY FUNDED health care through Native blood, when did the Palins ever sit around the kitchen table and discuss their "out-of-pocket" health care costs? There are millions of people who don't have ANY options to provide for the health care needs of themselves or their children, let alone THREE!

And that's just the personal hypocrisy.

While under contract to govern the state of Alaska, Palin's administration failed to keep up on the state's Medicaid obligations and was ordered to cease signing up new patients. No other state in the country had been put under such a moratorium, according to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

July 14, 2009 ADN:

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.

Doctors and other health care providers wrote to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid with concerns that the state wasn't responsive. Some alleged that the lack of state controls "has resulted in the death(s) of the active clients," the federal review said.

While the people served are frail and suffer from chronic health issues, the state never investigated to determine if any failure in service contributed to the deaths, the federal review found.

Seriously, when are we going to stop electing people who say "the government is bad"? Once elected, they do everything they can to prove it. It can only be one of two things; incompetency or sabotage. Either way, Alaskans have died due to a lack of health care.

The point of this post is not to point out the never ending hypocrisy of Sarah Palin. Nor is it to point out the blatant lies of one person -- but how the intention, manipulation and lies of one person can affect the lives of ordinary people.

Perhaps Citizen Palin should take her own advice, "honor the American soldier", "Quit makin' things up" and "leave the kids alone."
Alaskan cartoonist Peter Dunlap Shohl.

For the latest "Facebook" release interpretation.

Follow Shannyn Moore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/shannynmoore

Comments

[UKOH]

I believe that it is time to put a new law on the statue books dealing with willfull and deliberate misinformation and lies by political figures intended to cause widespread fear and stress for narrow political purposes. After all we have slander and libel laws to protect the individuals from such actions - why should government officials and ex-govenment officials get away with it?

I believe all statements by political figures should be subject to fact check by neutral parties (such as factcheck.org). If found to be a blatent and deliberate lie or other misprepresentation such person should be expelled immediately from office, and be disbared from ever holding office in the future.

Much as I despise it, it is OK for the Limbough's, O'Reilly's and Beck's of this world to say whatever they like without penalty. Everybody knows they are entertainers being outrageous for profit. Take such people seriously at your peril! It is quite another thing when elected officials or recently serving governers such as Palin spread lies. These people have a veneer of credibility the wackos do not, thus causing serious pain and fear - as we can see from the town hall meetings.

[Akat1973]

UKOH- I feel the same way .......and palin she should be slapped with a slander suit fast

[Jigglypuff]

Under a Palin Health Plan, would all pregnant women be required to
-endure physically punishing excercise that "trashes their guts"?
-keep their pregnancies secret, even from their families, until their 7th month?
-board a flight, of no less than 8 hours long, while leaking amniotic fluid?
-deliver only in the remotest hospital, and bypass at least two other respected hospitals with neonatal intensive care units?

[Kenneth Pearce]

Hyperventilating again Shannyn? Or is that just your normal? Here's what Sarah said:

As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!
The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.
Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.
Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.

- Sarah Palin

(continued)

[Ducksworthy]

Also don't forget the cannibalism. Cannibalism, socialism, communism.

[larry278]

Ms Palin loves America by constantly fisting it without any lubricants. Slow, Sarah, slow-as in stop it bigoted, liar.

[Cahullin]

OOPS!

Of course I wanted to say, "You go girl"

[Cahullin]

You go girt!

[rosiebond007]

This is a quote from Alaska ....

"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.
Doctors and other health care providers wrote to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid with concerns that the state wasn't responsive. Some alleged that the lack of state controls "has resulted in the death(s) of the active clients," the federal review said.
While the people served are frail and suffer from chronic health issues, the state never investigated to determine if any failure in service contributed to the deaths, the federal review found."

Don't you love the Republikan hypocracy ?

[johnashman]

Here is some news for you. If you read the entire article, it doesn't mention Sarah Palin, let alone blame her. Secondly, it is quite an indictment of government run healthcare, including at the federal level. Because even if you can blame Republicans because they aren't good at socialized government, some Republicans will be in charge of your healthcare someday and you might not like it.

[demfriend]

The scary part is that way too many people believe the people the GOP has allowed to speak for them. Rush, Bill, Beck, Palin and those "Congresspeople" called GOP and Blue Dogs who lie paid for and supported by the massive amounts of money the insurance companies have paid or are willing to pay to keep the lies coming. Why is it that it is so difficult for someone to come up with actual money amounts the insurance lobbyists and insurance supported ads as well as those town hall GOP plants to show the public what they are buying hook line and stinker? It frightens me the amount of people who believe the elderly and very ill will be put to death by the medical "panel" when all Obama is asking for is affordable insurance for everyone? Very simple idea, insurance for everyone which most appear to want so badly and yet the lies are all they want to hear? Racist? Some for sure but mostly hatred of Democrats period is what it seems.

[VillageReader]

As usual, nicely done.

[rcwblessed]

Awesome, as usual, Shannyn.

[up2uamerica]

The Republican party has to go!

[RRanch]

Sarah is yelling FIRE! in a theater and should be indicted for inciting to riot.

[Hakim Majeed]

I can't believe people like Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and the Republican leaders aren't interested in an honest debate. They are disrespecting the intelligence of the average American people with the fear tactics as though we stupid enough to accept their garbage Instead of offering any solutions or even engaging in a civil debate over the future of health care, the Party of No is spreading lies in an effort to defeat reform.

Make no mistake, they are not interested in an honest discussion. That is why they are resorting to extreme scare tactics and they get on TV and try and make us believe that these ugly acting mobs who are trying to disrupt the town hall meeting to prevent anything positive from coming out of them are doing this on their own and are not put up to disrupt these civil meetings from people who want to discuss the issues.

For example, Sarah Palin claimed the legislation will create government "death panels". This claim of government sponsored euthanasia has been repeated over and over again in anonymous email chains.

The truth? The amendment Palin is referring to was introduced by Georgia's own Republican Senator Johnny Isakson and it actually allows individuals to control their own health care decisions by covering optional advance care planning. Not a bad amendment, Johnny.

[Cye]

Refusing to engage in honest debate is a tacit acknowledgement that your true arguments and beliefs lack merit.

[kozy]

I blame Senator John McCain for putting Governor Palin out on the political stage just to please some far right and pseudo-religious pressure groups, and to have a women that was supposed to appeal to part of the population where he was weak. Ditto for Joe The Plummer. Joe eventually wised up, I believe, and saw he was being used, as a temporary connection to "main street" by the GOP. Sarah has never wised up and obviously never will. But, I believe she would make an excellent TV commedian. If you had laughter in the backgroud after everything she says in her "serious" speeches, she would be a sensational comedy hit, goofy winks and all.












seen the light