False ‘Death Panel’ Rumor Has Some Familiar Roots

[spanone]

WASHINGTON — The stubborn yet false rumor that President Obama’s health care proposals would create government-sponsored “death panels” to decide which patients were worthy of living seemed to arise from nowhere in recent weeks.

Advanced even this week by Republican stalwarts including the party’s last vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, and Charles E. Grassley, the veteran Iowa senator, the nature of the assertion nonetheless seemed reminiscent of the modern-day viral Internet campaigns that dogged Mr. Obama last year, falsely calling him a Muslim and questioning his nationality.

But the rumor — which has come up at Congressional town-hall-style meetings this week in spite of an avalanche of reports laying out why it was false — was not born of anonymous e-mailers, partisan bloggers or stealthy cyberconspiracy theorists.

Rather, it has a far more mainstream provenance, openly emanating months ago from many of the same pundits and conservative media outlets that were central in defeating President Bill Clinton’s health care proposals 16 years ago, including the editorial board of The Washington Times, the American Spectator magazine and Betsy McCaughey, whose 1994 health care critique made her a star of the conservative movement (and ultimately, New York’s lieutenant governor).

There is nothing in any of the legislative proposals that would call for the creation of death panels or any other governmental body that would cut off care for the critically ill as a cost-cutting measure. But over the course of the past few months, early, stated fears from anti-abortion conservatives that Mr. Obama would pursue a pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia agenda, combined with twisted accounts of actual legislative proposals that would provide financing for optional consultations with doctors about hospice care and other “end of life” services, fed the rumor to the point where it overcame the debate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/health/policy/14panel.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

[IDemo]

1. If any story is deserving of a K&R this morning, this is it

[KittyWampus]

2. It's got "Swift Boat Liars" written all over it.

[drm604]

3. Yes it does.

It very likely is the result of some PR firm's focus groups.

[surrealAmerican]

4. ... and here I thought Palin made it up.

I should have known better; she's just not that creative.

[Sub Atomic]

5. Not only did she not make it up, she supported 'Death Panels' for Alaska.

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:_qjXL_3J08EJ:www.eeo.state.ak.us/archive-50122.html+%22HEALTHCARE+DECISIONS+DAY%22+palin&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a


I can't remember the DUer that found this. But apparently Sarah order 'Death Panels' for the citizens of Alaska last year.

[myrna minx]

6. K&R n/t

[Kingofalldems]

7. The moonies would never lie!

This is outrageous!!

[mnhtnbb]

8. This story was on the front page of our Raleigh News & Observer this a.m.

I was so pissed that there was no discussion of the fact that 'death panels' are already here, courtesy of
insurance companies that deny coverage for life threatening treatments, and the Texas law
that Bush signed giving panels of doctors and hospitals the right to discontinue treatment--in spite
of family requests--when they deem it is futile.

Here's the thread I started with the LTTE I wrote:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6302262&mesg_id=6302262

When are the Repubs going to get called out for their hypocrisy?

[gratuitous]

9. Well, that should cover it

Now the Times can go back to mindlessly repeating whatever drivel and nonsense falls out of the mouths of the opponents of progress. After all, they said the "death panels" was just a rumor. And a false one at that. See? All taken care of. Now, on to how health care reform will force pregnant nuns in convents to have abortions.