Posted on 12/21/2009 9:19:28 AM PST by pillut48
Of all the falsehoods and distortions in the political discourse this year, one stood out from the rest.
"Death panels."
The claim set political debate afire when it was made in August, raising issues from the role of government in health care to the bounds of acceptable political discussion. In a nod to the way technology has transformed politics, the statement wasn't made in an interview or a television ad. Sarah Palin posted it on her Facebook page.
Her assertion — that the government would set up boards to determine whether seniors and the disabled were worthy of care — spread through newscasts, talk shows, blogs and town hall meetings. Opponents of health care legislation said it revealed the real goals of the Democratic proposals. Advocates for health reform said it showed the depths to which their opponents would sink. Still others scratched their heads and said, "Death panels? Really?"
The editors of PolitiFact.com, the fact-checking Web site of the St. Petersburg Times, have chosen it as our inaugural "Lie of the Year."
(Excerpt) Read more at politifact.org ...
They are SO afraid of Sarah Palin! And starting the 'politics of destruction' so very early into the 2012 Presidential Election campaign, and she hasn't even declared herself a candidate!! LOL!
How do they know death panels aren’t in the bill since Reid has been keeping it hidden while the Senate debates a bill he will swap out?
I wonder what we should call panels that decide who lives and who dies?
Go Palin!!!
I would like to be on one ~ in one of the "citizen" spots.
Fur shur there'd be some political shenanigans on that one and Democrats would die by the tens of thousands due to the absence or presence of a comma in the right spot.
And this guy doesn't think that's not a "death panel".
The death panel is in every line of every page of this bill.
Only the media could proclaim something that was said by a private citizen - Palin had already resigned when she authored the “Death Panels” column - as the “Biggest Lie” of the year. They have no shame and they’re not even trying to project a pretense of impartiality.
pledge=pledged
Well, I guess we can cross the St. Petersburg Times and Angie Drobnic Holan off the list of objective journalists.
It’s not as if Sarah Palin’s assertions about death panels are that hard to confirm, as they are inherent to any body that makes decisions about medical care, health, life, and death.
The benefits the politicians promise on the front end, during their grand standing speeches, will be denied by federal bureaucrats on the back end, in secret, where no one well see except those being denied the promised benefits, threatened and intimidated. Count on it. That’s the secrets that even the Republicans won’t publish because they do the same kind of thing. They all make promises they KNOW will never be fulfilled. And they know they will never be held accountable.
In any case, the “death panel” already exists. We passed it when we passed the stimulus bill. You know, the one nobody read before they voted it in. Its called the “National Coordinator of Health Information Technology”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs
When this pinko rag calls you a liar, you know you’re telling the truth.
I see this site has not way to comment on the author’s article. What are they afraid of...being called on their own dishonesty?
I’m sure if this author looked a little harder she could have found the “real” biggest lie of the year... any number of those spouted by the Anointed One.
Why is it that so many of the claims of “lies” by the left are actually true? I spent months arguing against a liberal friend over Bush’s “16-word lie” in his state of the union speech, when those 16 words were entirely truthful.
And we know the medical bill included language which would lead to death panels as described by Palin, because they took a vote in the Senate to remove them (although they are probably back now since Reid re-wrote the whole bill after it had been voted on again and again).
There will be rationing in the new world order, the democrats have admitted it. They are proud that their rationing will be based on dictates from Washington, rather than who has worked hard and saved money to buy insurance to pay for the procedures.
Those government entities making rationing decisions will work as death panels, because they will cut off insurance care (and in the end, probably forbid doctors from taking money for care, since otherwise people might set up their own insurance companies to share the cost of treatment that the government refuses them).
Of course, there were dozens of lies told by Obama, but maybe so many you couldn’t pick one as the biggest.
The biggest lie of 2009 might well be the term “fact check”
I have heard this term on MSM a lot, yes we even fact checked it by our people, so we know it to be true...roll eyes
Well, now we know the one truth that they are most afraid of the public understanding.
Get out there and talk about it!
I challenged someone the other night that was fully in favor of socialized healthcare.
1) There will be fewer doctors. Many will retire. Most have said they won’t work under this system.
2) There will be more demand. When something is perceived as free or already paid for, demand goes up, EVERY time.
3) Healthcare rationing MUST happen. It will be done by some gov’t board or “panel”. If they decide your lifesaving treatment is too expensive, you won’t get it, and you WILL DIE.
Now, tell me how this problem is solved, and how this is NOT a death panel. Oh, and mentioning “insurance companies” or anything about the present system is NOT ALLOWED.
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