GOP Sen. Isakson: Palin’s ‘Death Panel’ Tale ‘Is Nuts,’ ‘Mixed Up’
August 11, 2009
(ChattahBox)—Last Week ex-Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, joined the disingenuous group of Republican “deathers” by making a false claim on her Facebook page, saying that the proposed health care reform bill under consideration in the House, contains “death panels” that would decide if her elderly parents and her baby with Down Syndrome would receive life-saving health care.
Palin’s shameful fear mongering has now been soundly debunked by the Republican co-sponsor of a similar provision to mandate that Medicare pay for voluntary end-of-life counseling sessions.
Sarah Palin is not alone in spreading misinformation about the House health care reform bill to deceive the public. Republican House Minority Leader, Rep. Boehner, Rep. Eric Cantor, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Newt Gingrich and many others have sought to spread the false meme that health care reform would kill the elderly. Rep. Boehner said, the health care reform bill “may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.”
On Monday, the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein published an interview with Georgia Republican Senator, Johnny Isakson to discuss the recent misinformation about the House bill’s Section 1233, which provides for voluntary end-of-life counseling sessions under Medicare.
Isakson co-sponsored the Medicare End-of-Life Planning Act in 2007 and supported an amendment similar to the provision in the House bill during the health-care debate mark-up. Klein asked Isakson to explain how the provision providing for end-of-life counseling became likened to a “killing granny” law.
Isakson explained that end-of-life directives are designed to do the exact opposite of what the “deathers” are claiming. Directives, such as a durable power of attorney, keep the government out of end-of-life decisions, and ensure that an individual’s wishes are respected. Isakson notes these issues are hardly controversial. “All 50 states now have either durable powers of attorney or end-of-life directives,” said Isakson.
When asked by Klein, “How did this become a question of euthanasia?” Isakson was certainly perplexed by the deathers’ claims and mentioned Sarah Palin’s recent statement about “death panels,” calling it “nuts.”
“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.”
Despite the facts, many Republican deathers continue to advance the notion that health care reform will kill the elderly. Watch below as Sen. Arlen Specter addresses a “deather” question at a recent town hall meeting:
Source: Think Progress
Comments
6 Responses to “GOP Sen. Isakson: Palin’s ‘Death Panel’ Tale ‘Is Nuts,’ ‘Mixed Up’”
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[...] President Obama’s health care proposals. Like the global warming issue, there are so many outlandish statements being made that the truth gets completely obscured and everyone ends up arguing points that have no [...]
[...] same quote used in the video by a different man ( h/t Peter Daou ) only in a separate context. GOP Sen. Isakson: Palin’s ‘Death Panel’ Tale ‘Is Nuts,’ ‘Mixed Up’ – chattahbox.com 08/11/2009 (ChattahBox)—Last Week ex-Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, joined the [...]
Where was all the anger when Bush was illegally wire-tapping Americans and suspending habeus corpus? Bush actually did those things, yet the nutty right wingers were curiously silent on those issues. Yet, the rumors that Obama is going to kill old people and that he wasn’t born in America are “facts.” Amazing.
[...] the Republican who invented the so-called “death panels” basically calls Sarah Palin nuts. And the Moderate Voice flags a Marc Ambinder post about what Republicans may have lost in the [...]
I find it extremely interesting that it was a Republican that originated the Living Wills amendment to the House bill’s Section 1233.
Many thanks to Senator Isakson for clearing the air on this issue.
Best regards,
Kenneth Parker, Seattle, Washington
[...] Originally Posted by mossomo My point Ken & who etcs was: #1 – UHC will be rationed health care. #2 – There will be a panel or doctrine deciding who dies, the death panel is not a myth, in some form or shape it will exist and they will decide if you live, die and if death then you are given an option to choose on your own recognizance gov’t funded assisted suicide. #3 – Choice. I’m not convinced that UHC will allow for a private sector. And if no private sector, #1 and #2 get much more worrisome. GOP Sen. Isakson: Palin