GOP Rep. Kingston Separates Himself From Palin: There Are ‘No Death Panels’
GOP Rep. Kingston Separates Himself From Palin: There Are ‘No Death Panels’
In recent weeks, conservatives have been attacking a small provision in the House-proposed health care legislation that would allow Medicare to cover advanced care consulting. The Republican National Committee sent out a research document claiming the House legislation is encouraging euthanasia. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said it was placing “seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.” Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin picked up this meme on Friday and took it further in a statement she posted on her Facebook page:
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.
These claims are complete lies. The House bill would simply give seniors the option of speaking with an expert about advanced care issues, such as living wills. As FactCheck.org explains, “[I]t requires Medicare to cover counseling sessions for seniors who want to consider their end-of-life choices — including whether they want to refuse or, conversely, require certain types of care.”
“This measure would not only help people make the best decisions for themselves but also better ensure that their wishes are followed,” responded AARP Executive Vice President John Rother. “To suggest otherwise is a gross, and even cruel, distortion.”
On Friday, HBO host Bill Maher questioned Republican Reps. Darryl Issa (CA) and Jack Kingston (GA) about Palin’s “death panel” statement. “It’s a scare tactic, no question about it,” said Kingston, who added that there are no death panels. Issa ignored the question and tried to change the topic. Watch it (around 20:30):
Guests on today’s Sunday talk shows were also largely incredulous at Palin’s statement. “About euthanasia, they’re just totally erroneous. She just made that up,” said former governor Howard Dean. “Just like the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ that she supposedly didn’t support.” On NBC’s Meet the Press, conservative columnist David Brooks said it was “crazy.” On CNN, reporters said it showed how Palin has trouble discussing substantive issues:
JESSICA YELLIN: No, and that’s a low blow. That’s not an accurate assessment of what this panel is, but it definitely will get her attention.
DAN BALZ: Jessica is right, it does get attention. It’s not the way to debate this bill, and it’s another example of Sarah Palin having difficulty figuring out how to enter into a serious debate about issues.
ED HENRY: Yes, and people are being whipped up on that issue right now and they think that essentially euthanasia is going to be allowed based on this health bill. Obviously it just doesn’t pass the Joe Six-pack test, I think even Sarah Palin would acknowledge.
The one person who did defend Palin today: Newt Gingrich.
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What a waste of time. Instead of debating real issues people are busy denying deliberate distortions.
Sometimes (although I know it’s politically impractical) I wish Dems would just tell everyone to sit down, shut up, and hang on!
August 9th, 2009 at 2:00 pmDeath Panels do in fact Exist.
They Work for the Private Insurance Companies…and decide what and who gets covered.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:02 pmJust one more example of the mental morons that have become the vocal branch of a party that has very little to offer except to a group of wackos I must say desperation among republics isn’t a pretty sight
August 9th, 2009 at 2:03 pmThat’s the exact same thing my wife said when I read her Sarah “cuda’s Facebook screed.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:04 pmThat’s the political strategy, eyeswideopen.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:05 pmDeliberate distortions to divert progress.
On Friday, HBO host Bill Maher questioned Republican Reps. Darryl Issa (CA) and Jack Kingston (GA) about Palin’s “death panel” statement.
Issa ignored the question and tried to change the topic. Watch it (around 20:30):
Don’t give it up Darryl. No matter how stupid or irrational it is, keep it tucked up under your tinfoil hat to pull out at some gathering of the crazies so they can’t say you’re a waffler.
You’re a Death Panel kind of guy Darryl. Just go with it. Don’t straddle that fence for the sake of appearances. Say it loud. Say it proud. They’re coming to take you away ha-ha. They’re coming to take you away hee-hee. To Death Panel Building Number 3 and that’s the last we’ll hear of thee.
If Darryl had any guts he’d be warning his peeps about this with more enthusiasm. Unless of course it’s all B.S.
Speak your mind Darryl. All two struggling cells of it.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:12 pmSomebody better tell Glenda Becky that these Death Panels don’t exist.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:18 pmWhatever Democrat or Republican who inserted “a small provision in the House-proposed health care legislation that would allow Medicare to cover advanced care consulting” is an idiot and a troublemaker. We know that right-wing Republicans and their corporate creep brethern are looking for any opening to attack health care reform. Infinitely better to never have even brought the touchy subject up in the first place (my hindsight is great…). Obviously, any Congress person proposing legislation has to re-read it from the viewpoint of a right-wing troublemaker before submitting to public review.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:19 pmSarahcuda. dumb as a rock. No, that does a disservice to honest rocks, old and young, worldwide.
But, Sarahcuda is really really good at bearing false witness, along with being something of a nasty person.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:20 pm#2. Excellent point, Badger. I concur.
(They probably refer to them as a triage panel, but the effect is there, isn’t it?)
August 9th, 2009 at 2:23 pmSarah Palin? Wasn’t she that small town mayor that spent $60,000 remodeling her office in Bordello while charging rape victims for their exams?
August 9th, 2009 at 2:25 pmScary people, those who don’t know what they don’t know. Sarah Palin is #1 on the list.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pmIt’s looking pretty ugly for the conservatives in 2010. The media would like you to believe that the conservatives will win some seats back, as history shows that is what happens when a party gets the butt kicked. After seeing all of what the conservatives offer in opposition, It doesn’t look like it will be such an easy win for them.
What do they have? Southern racist, conspiracy theorist, the un-educated, and the Reaganites. They surely wont get the black vote, and the hispanic vote is prolly lost. They need to get independents. And psending can be a way to get them to vote republican. Problems with this, not one republican voted for the “omnibus budget reconciliation act of 1993″ which balanced the budget. And another funny thing, the defecit started to go down after 2006, until 2008. Who took control in 2006?
Independents may not be fooled this time though. If they just look at the real numbers and the truth, they will know which party is more fiscally responsible. Even the hero Reagan tripled the debt during his administration, ya tax cuts brought in so much tax revenue, it tripled the debt……… Something Bush couldn’t even do.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Sarah Palin is the poster child for narcissistic personality disorder.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:32 pmFor a pathological liar, there is no truth.
Lies are a much more effective means of manipulation.
Ask any cult leader.
“Such a system is downright evil” – Palin
“Such a woman is downright evil”- dasm
August 9th, 2009 at 2:33 pmMedicare funding for Living Will Counseling was added by REPUBLICANS, including Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia.
It has been part of Medicare for over 20 years so it isn’t anything new and our elderly population have had access to it for all this time.
Now it will be available under the new plan.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:37 pm“Another example of Sarah Palin having difficulty figuring out how to enter into a serious debate about the issues.”
That about describes the entire GOP, the Health Insurance Industry, Big Pharma, and the Birthers and Deathers.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pmWhat I find amusing is the comment Palin made came in complete sentences. I don’t remember ever being able to understand what she was saying before. Does she have a “Ghost Twitterer”?
August 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pmIf anyone believes that Palin is retired from politics, then I submit that there is a Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and Flying Spaghetti Monster.
I believe, I believe!
/snark
August 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pmAll the recent campaigns have taught us is that the GnOP has found out how to turn psychosis into an epidemic, and Sarah is simply their leading “Typhoid Mary.”
August 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pmkesventures says @ 14:
August 9th, 2009 at 2:39 pmAs long as Caribou Barbie insists on injecting herself into the conversation with the drivel that she is spewing, then she’s fair game.
Oval, it was Susan Collins(R). This tells me that the republicans in Congress are in the same condition that they were under Dubya: asleep at the helm of government. If one of their own was responsible for these counseling sessions, and they know it, they are really opposing one of their own and blaming it on Obama and the dems. If they don’t know that Collins added this part to the bill, they are dumber than I previously thought. No, make that stupider than I thought. As for Palin, she’s the same as usual on the issues: she wants to be a major player, doesn’t study any of them, says something stupid, and then is made to look like a fool, but I’m sure the members of SarahPac and Conservatives 4 Palin will help her out by condemning Brooks and Kingston along with Dr. Dean because, after all, according to them, she’s not a beltway insider. Never mind the fact that she keeps making stupid comments and comes across as unlearned. To them she’s definitely WH material.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:40 pmThey’d better distance themselves from Palin. She’s like a disease the moderates don’t want to catch.
Palin’s stupidity must be exposed. She’s adding to the problem of people being misinformed and still has influence on the rightwingnuts. She’s probably influenced some of the crazies seen at these townhalls shouting down Democratic Congressmen.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:40 pm15 kwsventures said,
August 9th, 2009 at 2:43 pmVoted down and reported for abusive spam.
What Palin is doing now is simply an extension of what she said and did during the Campaign last fall. It is just as stupid, just as dangerous, and just as unamerican as it was then.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:44 pmIt’s actually fun to see Palin thrown under the bus this way! HAHAHAHA!
August 9th, 2009 at 2:45 pmI dislike Palin as much as the next guy, but I almost feel sorry for her. She REALLY is Too Stupid To Know Better.
But then so is the entire republican base.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:51 pmDon’t feel sorry for Palin, Rich H.
Feel sorry for her children.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:55 pmokie dokie,
good point.
August 9th, 2009 at 2:59 pmAre you suggesting that the FSM is not real???
Blasphemy!
Ramen.
August 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pmIt is truly breath taking how when you get these kind of folks together and give them a forum to spew all manner of truth, lies and speculation the group IQ seems to get almost to 20 (twenty)..Looks like the republican party believes this is the high bar IQ=20 – of their possible success in education as well..then you throw in Mr. Recall – Darryl Issa – who should be recalled and thrashed, the IQ in the room starts back own…
August 9th, 2009 at 3:11 pmThe one person who did defend Palin today: Newt Gingrich.
– - Of course he did. Newt is always on the lookout for his next future ex-wife.
August 9th, 2009 at 3:30 pmPalin is more interested in keeping her name in the press by spewing her typical fear-inciting hyperbole than she is in contributing any meaningful, substantive input to a serious, rational discussion on health care reform legislation.
August 9th, 2009 at 3:34 pmit’s just for seniors???!!!
way too bad! EVERYONE should have these details spelled out NOW.
i paid a lawyer $150 some years ago to legalize my medical and financial wishes, granting my kids the power of attorney (a will also)…
i just heard a commercial where you can do it online for $35…
… and why is the schiavo carnival not brought up…?
August 9th, 2009 at 3:41 pma living will would’ve prevented all that heartache…
oh, btw!
on maher, rep. issa declared that HE wrote a healthcare bill…
he said HR 3238, i think… couldn’t find it…
anyone know what he did, and when?
August 9th, 2009 at 3:46 pmThe Aussie national news (SBS) showed the teabag town halls
August 9th, 2009 at 3:48 pmthe other night, and they just HAD to throw in Sarahquitta’s
“downright evil” coment. I’m like, WTF ! Do they really think
we aussie’s give a rat’s ass about her opinion ?
Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre says:
Whatever Democrat or Republican who inserted “a small provision in the House-proposed health care legislation that would allow Medicare to cover advanced care consulting” is an idiot and a troublemaker. We know that right-wing Republicans and their corporate creep brethern are looking for any opening to attack health care reform.
you almost got a thumbs down…
then i remembered hearing that it was a repug that wrote it…
good on him, but now ya have to wonder…
and i do…
August 9th, 2009 at 3:52 pmDarrell Issa: annoying as a car alarm
August 9th, 2009 at 4:14 pmIssa’s an ahole. A specific type we get here in CA. Not the usual evangelical you get elsewhere. On Maher he even alluded to there being no racism in the republican party towards hispanics because he’s darker than they are.
Katy, it’s not possible Issa wrote anything even remotely towards what he said. He couldn’t even agree there’s no such thing as a death panel.
Even our senators are jerks or worse (Fienstein).
August 9th, 2009 at 4:27 pmIt’s terrible that they’re scaring the elderly with this garbage. When the DSO sent letters out to clients who had caregivers who had joined the union, notifying them that their caregiver had joined the union, their lines were flooded with panicked calls. Though the purpose of sending the message was unclear, the point was not. Nevertheless, a lot of the clients thought their insurance was being cut off. They fear this in general, because their lives and dignity depend on it.
I have to wonder how many elderly and disabled people who are functionally illiterate enough to fall for this scare actually vote, but it may be a majority of them.
August 9th, 2009 at 4:34 pm25. hormiga brava chavez says: … Palin’s stupidity must be exposed. …
As much as we all aprreciate the sentiment, I think she does pretty well on her own. All she has to do is open her mouth, then it’s a flood of feet in and garbage out.
What’s really needed is an educational program for the electorate so that they can distinguish between the shitbird liars and bearers of false witness, like Palin, Gingrich, and most of the rest of the rePublicrites, and people who are just truthfully trying to sell an honest agenda. We almost had that until the various state rePublicrite parties decided to gut the public school system; can’t have an educated electorate, ya know – it’s bad for dumbarse populism.
August 9th, 2009 at 5:06 pmlesherb says:
What I find amusing is the comment Palin made came in complete sentences. I don’t remember ever being able to understand what she was saying before. Does she have a “Ghost Twitterer”?
Palin’s speeches make it clear that she can’t formulate any substantial thought with 1000 words, never mind 140 characters! (I’m somehow thinking twitter is limited to 140, if I’m wrong then remember, twitter is something other people do, not me.)
August 9th, 2009 at 5:13 pmThe Congressman obviously hasn’t read the bill
August 9th, 2009 at 7:03 pmh/t
Alright Republicans, We Give Up.
by Stroszek
Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 12:48:52 PM PDT
(From the diaries — kos)
August 9th, 2009 at 7:05 pmhttp://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/9/764064/-Alright-Republicans,-We-Give-Up.
This comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Conservativeguy is an idiot.
August 9th, 2009 at 9:01 pmOh, gosh, that mavericky Sarah former-governor-but-didn’t-quit Palin is years before her time: She shouldn’t be using Fox News as her background noise for a couple more decades, but — yep — there she goes, what with the scarin’ and the lyin’ and the new direction.
whoops — must’ve forgotten that whole “new direction” promise. Also too, now that she doesn’t have “people” to put every magazine and newspaper in front of her to read, she’s clearly fallen behind in what’s real and what’s not.
Her shallowness is an embarrassment to herself, to Alaskans and to anyone who tries to pretend she’s anything more than an attractive woman in great shape who relies on scripted sarcasm and scare tactics as her “leadership” foundation.
August 9th, 2009 at 11:01 pmPALIN: 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.
B!TCH.
August 9th, 2009 at 11:38 pm50. zooey sez:…
Both true. She’s a beech and since the vision of America she’s trying to scare people with doesn’t exist and won’t exist (unless that’s what SHE’S working for), she’ll never stand in front of any such panel, nor will her poor witless parents who failed to have her put down or institutionalized before she left their control. The whole buggered lot of them should qualify for a mental health plan and a multi-year course in ethical counseling (they don’t seem to understand the injunction about bearing false witness, i.e. lying.)
And we’re going to have to put up with them from now until she runs out of money.
August 10th, 2009 at 1:33 amI told my grandmother about Palin being in an Alaskan secessionist group, and her church being involved in the Army of Joshua (or some biblical name) with their plans to take over as a militia, and usher in the Second Coming of Christ. She said, “Really.”, and wasn’t as surprised as you might think a 93 year old woman without internet access would be. I’m getting her a ThinkPad in 6-8 weeks. Me and grandma are going to have a real good time talking politics. The decline of the MSM is like the proverbial frog in the boiling water. I don’t think she realizes how worthless the news she’s been getting is.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:13 amYou have to give republicans credit. When they get caught in a lie, they just move on to another lie.
August 10th, 2009 at 8:53 amwhy doesn’t the video link work for me… I get some game web site. Can someone post the URL?
August 10th, 2009 at 2:23 pmSo Sarah Palin makes Rep Kingston appear reasonable?
But that is a republican ploy. That is what Ann Coulter was all about. She would rant bezerkly and republican congressmen were able to not appear so far out there by being on the extreme. Coulter made them look center right.
Now most republicans look like Coulter. If you don’t believe me, check their adam’s apple.
August 11th, 2009 at 3:12 amThe most disturbing thing about Sarah Palin (to me, there are many other options to choose among) is how comfortable she is with lying. I noted on the campaign trail last fall how clearly stiff and uncomfortable McCain was when his talking points veered into terrain he knew were blatant falsehoods. Not so Palin.
She lies breezily, cheerily, effortlessly. That her lies are readily exposed slows her down not a whit perhaps because her audience, like herself, makes no distinction between fact and fiction.
August 11th, 2009 at 11:39 amvery thanks for article
August 11th, 2009 at 1:38 pm