The political action committee affiliated with former Alaksa governor and GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has launched a new video re-raising the issue of “death panels” associated with U.S. President Barack Obama’s socialized medicine law.
The clip – entitled “Just Sayin” – recaps Palin’s famous 2009 claim that Obamacare would usher in an era of care rationing administered by bureaucratic “death panels.”
“Who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course,” Palin wrote on her Facebook page in 2009. “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.”
Palin’s clam was directly rebuked by Obama, who referred to it as “a lie, plain and simple.”
“Such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible,” Obama said during an address to Congress in December 2009.
Now, Palin’s claim is now gaining traction amongst the far left – which has become an unexpected antagonist of certain components of the new law.
“Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Reps. Ron Barber (D-Ariz.), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) have all signed onto bills repealing the powers of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a panel created by the Affordable Care Act that will make recommendations on how to reduce Medicare spending once Medicare cost growth reaches a certain level,” the liberal website Mother Jones reported last month.
As her political action committee’s video attests, Palin is relishing the recent turn of events.
Take a look …
(Click to play)
The revived debate over death panels comes as Obamacare – which is clearly not ready to be implemented – is less than a month away from a critical deadline, the launching of its statewide insurance “exchanges.”
Numerous fiscal conservatives have pushed to de-fund Obamacare – however the Republican leadership in the U.S. Congress has thus far refused to support such an effort.
That’s a shame … death panels or not, this law will wreak untold havoc on the American economy. Republicans have a chance to stop it, and they should use every tool at their disposal to do just that.
39 comments
Eh. Is that just an extremely bad photo, or is is her hotness really fading that fast? No hotness no media cache for her.
Does look like that she has got a leg up on the aging process or at least a swollen ankle
— “leg up” got my attention……….
Even the gov’t knows it can’t give unlimited health care away…they won’t take about why…but they know it.
It still won’t save them from their own disaster. I say implement Obamacare as fast and as forceful as possible.
Let them gaze on their works like Ozymandias.
edit: take=talk
Mr. Folks;
I wasn’t aware that anyone on your staff was intimately familiar with where Mrs. Palin puts her “…clam…” whether it be near Oshitforbrains or elsewhere.
:)
“Palin’s clam was directly rebuked by Obama…”
What a way to start the day….looking at a picture of the Queen of CRAP.
Independent Payment Advisory Board. A rose by any other name… you betcha!
Interesting to meet people from other countries and find out how much bullshit we are told. Stayed next door to a couple from Germany over vacation and they told me about their healthcare. They have one of those “evil” socialized health care systems. They laughed when I told them what we hear about them, Canada, UK and others. Both said they would not trade their system for ours.
Of course not, people getting free shit never want to give anything up.
All these countries giving away healthcare are deeply in debt, just like us. The only difference is we are also paying for wars all over and they are not:
http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/government-debt_gov-debt-table-en
Everyone thinks the party will go on forever, I don’t. I guess we’ll see who is right over the next 10 years.
None of it is free. People in Canada and various other countries with single payer systems pay considerably more in taxes. Sure, the people who make very little hardly pay much tax to make up for the services they receive, but people in this country who are well off end up paying higher costs due to people flooding the ER.
We pay less taxes but have to pay insurance in order to have affordable access, and even that is little guarantee as there are a good number of bankruptcies filed due to medical debt where the person was insured and their treatment covered. There is also far more overhead when it comes to which doctors are in your network, what prescriptions are covered, disputing rejected claims, etc.
“None of it is free.”
If you don’t pay enough in taxes to cover the insurance subsidy you receive, then you are getting free stuff.
The couple I met paid nearly 50% tax rate. But that covered many things other than “free” medical care. They had some dental coverage and a government retirement system. The healthcare in Germany did not cover cosmetic items. The woman pointed out that getting a blemish removed was not covered. But they confirmed that no one was dying as they wait for care. And they got the same quality of health care we do. Private insurance is available to cover items state care did not. I obviously don’t know enough about their system to declare being an expert on it. My point was that we hear that citizens of universal health care countries are treated poorly and wait long periods for care. And that simply isn’t so. I’ve met enough Canadians, British and now Germans to hear different. And by the way, Germany is not going broke.
“Germany is not going broke”
Oh yea? You don’t consider 88% debt/gdp ratio as “going broke”? Did you even look at the chart I linked?
In 6 years they went from 66% to 88%.
“My point was that we hear that citizens of universal health care countries are treated poorly and wait long periods for care. And that simply isn’t so”
I have a sister that’s a dual Canadian citizen. Her experience has not been good. Six month wait times for a sensitive issue…she finally came back here and pony’d up the dough.
Anecdotal evidence goes both ways.
What I am quite sure of is that on a long enough time line, socialism in different forms, whether it’s fascist oriented or whatever, FAILS.
It fails over and over again…and if you bother to take a look at the chart I linked you can see every major “industrialized” country with substantial socialist mechanisms racking up debt.
You can claim it’s because the global economy/depression, etc. , but it doesn’t account for their inability to balance a budget let alone maintain their promises.
It’s very simple, gov’t distorts the pricing mechanism. There’s plenty of work on this but the most important, that ended up helping to garner him the Nobel Prize in Economics is Hayek in his book, “Prices & Production”.
http://mises.org/books/pricesproduction.pdf
So go ahead, believe in the fairy tale of gov’t run markets. It’ll end the same way all the other socialist fairy tales end.
I did look at your linked chart. And since it shows Japan at worst level of all countries, as if that nation is about to implode, I question the validity of the chart. But the chart does show Australia doing well, and they have “socialized” health care.
Australia has an EXCEPTIONALLY small gov’t relative to it’s population(as NZ), unlike ours.
Japan is amazing in its ability to “hold it together” at over 200% debt/gdp, HOWEVER…the force their populous to “invest” in gov’t/bank bonds to support it all.
The lesson here? If you are a US pol looking to support ever higher debt loads…the American people’s 401K’s are the way to do that.(just like Japan)
edit: “they force”
Death is a high price to pay,and that happens every day.
I agree, but at what point do you decide that taking money from other people to support someone on death’s door has to stop? Further, who decides?
Death is a simple reality of life. If more people simply took that axiom for what it is and had a more realistic outlook towards life maybe they’d have more care for their fellow man and realize the immorality of making other people suffer for your bad hand in life.(that they had nothing to do with)
Bottomline: we will have Universal health care in this country. Not tomorrow. Not next year. Maybe 10 years. But it is coming. That does not mean free. A Medicare type plan maybe with payroll deduction. Healthcare simply cannot continue to be looked upon as a privilege. It should be looked at as necessary. How do we cover all those who can’t donate into the system? good question. But there has to be a way to cover all of us. It may also mean that healthcare may not be able to continue as the “for profit” status it currently has.
“That does not mean free.”
Of course not, you have to take money from one group to pay for the other group that cant’ afford it. Who said it was “free”?
I said it was free for those not having money taken from them. That’s what I thought was an obvious difference.
“Healthcare simply cannot continue to be looked upon as a privilege.”
Great, so why are we denying those in Africa as well? What the limits of wealth confiscation/theft under this proposal?
If there are not any limits, how does it all end? If there are limits, who decides what they are?
“healthcare may not be able to continue as the “for profit” status”
Let me clue you in on something, it was the “for profit” status that drove doctors to study for 8 years and then intern before making any money.
It was “for profit” status that encouraged the development of medical breakthroughs, like MRI’s, drugs, artificial organs/limbs, etc. et al…
The list goes on forever. The moment you take away the “profit” is the moment that medical industry as a whole stagnates and suffers.
You will probably get to see that first hand now. That’s the “bottom line”.
1. I find this website’s admission that Obamacare has not yet been implanted – otherwise, it would not be “not ready to be implemented”, if it were already implemented – amusingly, inadvertently honest given all the GOP ‘stuff’ about how it is causing the end of the nation NOW!.
2. Really, what did of people give money to the super PAC of someone who does not appear to have any intention of ever running for public office again because she is just so high on celebrity? If anything shows that super PACs need to be outlawed, it is craziness like this.
Wonder if she’ll come on down and campaign for Nikki.
Can the Temple borrow another $50,000?
Yet more proof that bat shit crazy republican yahoos all over the country will believe anything they are told. The credibility of Mrs. Palin is widely known. She has demonstrated to the world on serveral occasions that she does not know of which she speaks.
Only four years ago you goobers were posting about how she was going to kick Obama’s ass in 2012. How did that work out for you?
Palin only says what she is told to (and likely paid to) say.
Sir! I assume the identity of a bat after dark and I thoroughly resent your comparing my shit to republican yahoos! Compared to that gigantic, horn-honking clown car full of steaming nitwits my shit has the fragrance of roses, the taste of pheasant, and the texture of silk.
Those blithering numbskulls should be proud to step in it!
That face is the reason McCain lost the election. Picking that obnoxious, whining grifter as VP sealed the deal. And the fact that she wanted to give a VP concession speech shows her level of gravitas.
lol… There are lots of reasons he lost:
*Part of the Party of Bush, who was not popular after the financial meltdown. The entire party took a thrashing as a result.
*Labeled as a flip-flopper, trying to gussy it up by calling himself “Maverick.”
*Touted foreign policy experience in an election where the biggest concern was economy.
*General disadvantage of Obama being the first black candidate.
*Palin’s epic blunders on TV that would make Dubya blush.
*The fact that McCain lost to Bush in a previous primary.
Looking back, McCain had zero chance. Zero. Palin was just the cherry on top.
I have seen few in Mauldin that looked as good as her. Maybe you had rather look at Pelosi. Damn.
Had to go to Canada in summer of ’08 and while there I read the local papers and talked to the local people, this was of course before 0bamaCare was even presented. Just their normal conversation brought stories of how bad their government health care was. There were a number of stories in the local paper, a town outside of Vancouver, of people having difficulty with medical issues and waiting times. Some of the people at the company I was visiting brought up stories about health care issues and the government involvement. I don’t mean to imply that things were so bad everybody everywhere were complaining about it but I was at the company 10 hours a day for 5 days and visiting other people at the hotel and when I was out and about in the evenings. The health care issues came up in normal conversation and though infrequent I was happy that wasn’t what I had to deal with. What is coming won’t be nice. If you are healthy you won’t see much of an inconvenience, if you are not healthy you will be very unhappy and suffer needlessly.
Every health care system has its issues, and single payer systems in different countries have differing issues as well. It isn’t so much as a “one glove fits all” kind of deal. We could do a carbon copy of the NHS and have a completely different outcome than the UK, for better or (more likely) for worse.
Obamacare is not single payer, it will have radically different problems than anything Canada, the UK, etc. would ever have. Even amongst countries that achieve universal health care via tightly regulated private insurance, our system is vastly different and will cater to a vastly different group of people, with different health and economic statuses. Health-wise we are in far worse shape than many other countries, so that’s not good.
Did you ask around to find out if they knew anybody who had to declare bankruptcy as a result of medical expenses?
I was just talking with people about things in general and sometimes people would bring up health issues, just conversation. The candidates (Presidential), as I recall talked about it a little, but it wasn’t a major campaign issue. There was one story in a paper about a pregnant woman that couldn’t get the treatment she required in central Canada and the government flew her to a city in Montana (maybe Wyoming) to get the treatment she needed.
What isn’t a “death panel” to the GOP:
*Voucherizing Medicare and not giving a shit when seniors can not afford health insurance.
*Block granting Medicaid so that corrupt state legislatures and governors have “more control” over it.
*Repealing the ban on discrimination against preexisting conditions.
*Repealing the ban on lifetime maximums.
*Doing nothing to insure the millions of uninsured folks.
*Doing nothing to help people who are refused treatment due to inability to pay.
*Doing nothing to combat the massive number of bankruptcies due to medical debt, which is by far the majority reason for declaring bankruptcy.
The America Palin knows and loves does not teach safe sex or suggest birth control, instead relying on the infallible abstinence education, which never ever fails, ever, especially not for her kid. The America Palin knows and loves attempts to shut down abortion at a time when severe birth defects are often discovered, many which are far, far worse than Downs Syndrome. The America Palin knows and loves lets insurance companies drop the policy on the parents of the baby who will incur high medical costs throughout his/her lifetime, and even if they were not dropped, might get out of it anyways if the child surpasses the lifetime maximum. The America Palin knows and loves claims these children are “special gifts” even when they plunge the parents into bankruptcy, but then refuses to help pay for anything to help the family, including food stamps, housing, medical care via Medicaid, schooling, or anyone else. The America Palin knows and loves would tell them to put their kid up for adoption, flooding the state with thousands upon thousands of babies that could have been prevented through contraceptives or spared from a hellish and short life from congenital birth defects. The America Palin knows and loves would completely screw over Social Security and Medicare, sending millions of old people who have nothing else right to the streets. The America Palin knows and loves would let children of poor families fend for themselves. The America Palin knows and loves would let the disabled and mentally ill rot.
It is laughable to hear Palin label anything a death panel when she and her party so willingly and enthusiastically supports stripping away every bit and piece the government has done to help the disadvantaged and make sure the rest of us don’t get fucked over by a private for-profit market that has situated itself between patient and doctor.
Thanks for reminding me of a handful of reasons why I refuse to vote for Republicans. There are many more reasons surrounding Republican positions on education, infrastructure, and the economy. I’ll save those for another post.
Excellent commentary! Makes me wanna invest in pitch fork and torch futures! The day will come when their dwindling numbers will be reduced to pouring boiling oil from the parapets and insisting that the victims cover the cost.
Palin out in front of Obama’s now lame speech re Syria and turning the political dialog back to defunding ACA …. and with just one tweet, which the lameSM picks up and fires up the low information Palin attack dogs to ensure that this issue is front and center and pressure begins to mount on Boehner, Cantor etc. to propose a continuing resolution WITHOUT ACA. R leadership in the house attempts to give themselves cover with a separate funding bill for ACA that will be shredded in the senate and unsigned by Obama is now exposed for what it is. Time to defund ACA is now and continuing resolution is the only certain route to success.
Sarah Who? Rolling Eyes nailed it.
We think Rolling’s term was “bat shit crazy.”
Why would sic(k) willie post anything from that discredited teabugger unless he was paid to or unless he was just churning to generate hits for this little porn site.