The GOP and a disinformation jihad

[marmar]

from the American Prospect:



JOE KLEIN: GOP ENGAGED IN "DISINFORMATION JIHAD."

Today's must-read: A touching -- but hard-hitting -- column by Joe Klein on health care:

In one of those awful collisions between public policy and real life, I was in the midst of an awkward conversation about end-of-life issues with my father when Sarah Palin raised the remarkable idea that the Obama Administration's attempt to include such issues in its health-care-reform proposal would lead to "death panels." Let me tell you something about my family situation, a common one these days, in order to illuminate the obscenity of Palin's formulation and the cowardice of those, like Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the lead Republican negotiator on the Senate Finance Committee, who have refused to contest her claim.

Both my parents are 89 years old. They have been inseparable, with the exception of my father's service in World War II, since kindergarten. My mother has lost her sight and is quite frail. My father takes care of her and my aunt Rose, lovingly, with some — but not enough — private help at their home in central Pennsylvania. One night in early August, I had a terrible scare. I called home and Aunt Rose was freaking out; she didn't know where my father was. All the worst possibilities crossed my mind — it turned out he was just getting the mail — as well as a very difficult reality: if he'd had a stroke, I would have had no idea about what he'd want me to do. I had lunch with him the next day to discuss this.

Read the whole thing.


--Dana Goldstein


Posted by Dana Goldstein on August 20, 2009 4:00 PM




http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=08&year=2009&base_name=joe_klein_gop_engaged_in_disin

[Chemisse]

1. Too many of us wait 'til the last minute

And age 89 is definitely the last minute! We are all in some degree of denial about the demise of our loved ones. It is a good idea to have these discussions brought up in the health care bill in a structured way. Just as our 50th birthday brings a doctor's suggestion to get a colonoscopy, so should some criteria trigger the planning of our eventual deaths.

I love that: DISINFORMATION JIHAD

[BunkerHill24]

2. Mr. Klein is ignorant to have used the word "Jihad" on his headline

He used the word "Jihad" of no relevance, as one could easily use the word "yirah", of no relevance.

Sorry, all is lost in translation.

[marmar]

3. I think most readers will get the point and not be so obsessed with semantics, n'est-ce pas?

nt

[BunkerHill24]

4. Semantics? What do semantics mean?

really?

[Berry Cool]

5. He is not the only person in the media who has had to deal with end-of-life issues lately

with his parents.

Jonathan Alter and Keith Olbermann, who both lost their mothers within this past year, have brought up on Countdown the fact that this situation is quite relevant to them as they both found themselves having to deal with it recently because of their mothers' situations. They both have agreed that it would be much easier to discuss these issues and decisions about them with a loved one BEFORE one has to, rather than waiting until one is forced to by circumstance. Yet the Republicans would rather make you pay for getting a professional to have this kind of conversation with you and your loved one than have the government subsidize it--and equates it with the government "pulling the plug on Grandma." It's so selfish and cynical, and so untrue, you'd think none of them ever had to deal with these things.

In fact, it's made me decide that what with having only my father left, I really should discuss this whole issue with him and his wife before he gets that far. It would be good to know what his wishes are if he gets into a situation where he cannot tell us himself, and he can still tell us now. Right now I don't know whether his wife would be on the same page with his children--or who would get to make the ultimate decision if such a decision had to be made. Would it be her, or would it be us? I don't even know--and I really should.