Palin’s “death panels” obsession

09 November 2009 |permalink | email article

On Friday night the resigned Alaska governor rallied thousands of abortion opponents at a fund-raiser in Wisconsin with a stark warning - the same philosophy that allows abortion rights could at some point allow the government to cut off health care for the elderly or children with special needs.

On yet another predictable rant, she suggested that if policy-makers don’t believe a child in the womb is valuable, then perhaps the same mind-set might apply to other persons.

As reported by Politico, Palin asked, “What may they feel about an elderly person who doesn’t have a whole lot of product years left?” She didn’t specially raise the prospect of government-mandated “death panels” – the outrageous charge she made over the summer in attacking Democratic health care plans – but according to the post repeatedly suggested that liberal social policies could lead to de facto euthanasia.

Palin’s concern about the sanctity of all human life is indisputable. But her escalating paranoia about the lack of protection for every citizen reveals a startling ignorance about modern American history. Someone needs to tutor her on what the government she hates has done older citizens, thanks to FDR, in introducing Social Security, and LBJ’s enactment of Medicare. As for death panels they are pure figments of her disordered imagination.

Add: After Saturday night’s House passage of the health care bill Palin doubled down on her Facebook page in warning anew about both the bill and scary death panels.

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