Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Calling Sarah: Newt Supported Death Panels

I often wonder if the whole concept of Newt Gingrich is meant to be a cruel joke poking fun at the Republican base. Jonathan Cohn has found another little priceless gem of Newt supporting one thing and then quickly denouncing it with apocalyptic fury. The year was 2008. The mode was the editorial pages of the New Times. The cohort was John Kerry. If you were to write a novel about this stuff, nobody would believe it. And yet, Newt supported the very kind of institution that Sarah Palin would later dub a "death panel." Now, of course, Gingrich thinks that Obamacare is a poison from the pit of hell. The amusing lesson that we are learning from Republican voters is that the only thing they care about is warrior-like rhetoric. It doesn't really matter to them if the very policies that Gingrich lambastes are the very policies that he supported three years ago with John Kerry on the pages of the New York Times. As long as he gives Obama hell. And, oh, he is just so very smart.

It is the comparative effectiveness studies that Huckabee recently wrote "planted the seeds from which the poisonous tree of death panels will grow." I admit that Huckabee knows practically nothing about health care policy, but that kind of crap is precisely what his fan base in Iowa believes. So I suggest that Romney's attack dogs make mention of this from time to time. If you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Gingrich deserves to be destroyed. He helped to create the partisan environment that has inflicted our nation. It is only fitting that his political career end because of it.

So where are the angry legions protesting against Newt's cold, bureaucratic euthanasia policies? Gingrich wants to kill grandma.

(P.S. The main reason why I included Sarah's name in the title is that I wanted to see if Right Wingnut would read this post)

26 comments:

Ohio JOE said...

So we want to use banana Republic bully tactics against RW? Niiiiiice. I thought you guys did not believe in Death panels. It was all part of the crazy imagination of we capitalists. Now all of a sudden we admit that there is Death panels. Niiiiiiice.

The fact of the matter is that many if not most Palinites do not even care for Mr. Gingrich any more than we care for Mr. Romney. Furthermore, one recent poll illustrates that there is essentially just as many Non-Tea Partiers as Tea Partiers that support Mr. Gingrich. Instead of bothering RW, get your own friends back on the SOG reservation.

Pablo said...

Nice OJ.

1. Referring to Right Wingnut at the end of my post is a "banana republic bully tactic."

2. I do believe in death panels. I just don't equate them with anything that any mainstream American politician has proposed.

3. You are not any more of a capitalist that I am and I resent that you would even imply it.

4. Most polls show that the Tea Party is growing within the GOP and decreasing within the general public. That's bad news.

Lionhead said...

OJ, yep, eugenics, euthanasia programs, compulsory sterilization, 'better baby contests,' 'fitter family for the future' are progressive policies. With the death panels now recycled into obamacare. Does anyone need more proof?

Maybe this will help you:

"The Immigration Restriction League was the first American entity associated officially with eugenics. Founded in 1894 by three recent Harvard University graduates,..."

Harvard University, humm, I think I know a candidate that graduated from that place. Oh, just a coincidence, I'm sure. That was sooo 1894. No, that could just not be happening in 2011. Uh, huh...

Now Pablo admits to believing in death panels. Now, that really sums up his feelings. Another progressive stone cold busted.

Pablo said...

Lionhead,

I can't tell if you are serious or you are joking? Or just attempting some very poor satire?

Right Wingnut said...

I believe Lionhead is serious.

Pablo said...

"I believe Lionhead is serious."

Now that we have answered that, can somebody tell me what he said?

Right Wingnut said...

I understood him perfectly.

Pablo said...

Well I didn't. So why don't you interpret?

Right Wingnut said...

I don't want to speak for Lionhead. I'll let him do it. He'll probably add some good stuff to it anyway.

Anonymous said...

RWN would read the ingredients of dog food if it was named after Sarah. All he needs to see is "Sarah" and he gets his pants in a knot. It's sad and if Sarah knew about his obsession she would be embarrassed.

Ohio JOE said...

Haha, like Ellie and company would buy Romney Chow and Meow Mitt.

Lionhead said...

Pablo, RW, the language is clear & unambiguous. There is no satire in my comment, just fact. The candidate is Romney if you can't figure it out.

I will be posting an additional comment with links & photographs showing what I was writing about. I deal in facts, not hyperbole. Just the facts Ma'am, just the facts...

Lionhead said...

PS. Here's a little tidbit for you gentlemen. I wonder who won the "Governors Trophy" for the "Fittest Family."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eugenics-Fitter-Families-Contest-Winners-Topeka-Kansas.jpg

I'll have to find out who the Governor of Kansas was in that era. While Pablo is diverting attention to Mitt's religious belief, it's distracting you from the bigger picture of his progressiveness. Well done Pablo, but it won't work.

Anonymous said...

hey guys, lets leave sarah palin out of this okay? She is not running and she has her own problems she is dealing with, like trying to secure a network deal for her reality show after getting turned downed by most of them so far.Another palin reality show is just what this country needs right about now.

Anonymous said...

I read today that Sarah has dropped her price to $15,000 per episode....hahahahahahhaah, still no takers.

Terrye said...

When Sarah Palin made an issue of this, she also made it impossible to have a rational discussion about it...you either want to kill Granny or you don't..in fact there are already decisions being made in regards to long term care.

Most of the money spent on people by the government for their health care is spent in the last years of their lives. In fact, in the last months of their lives.

If we are going to get these costs under control people need to come to terms with the fact that sometimes you have to let people go. I know they don't want to hear that, but I have seen people in their 90s on respirators and ventilators with feeding tubes in their stomachs and so drugged to kill their pain that they do not even know who or where they are anymore.

Gingrich is just a hypocrite, about this just like he is so many other things.

Terrye said...

Lionhead...

Romney is not a progressive..in fact this entire discussion is just nonsense spewed by people who are still whining about Theodore Roosevelt and the eugenics societies of the 1930s and all kinds of rubbish that have nothing to do with mainstream politics and how most people actually think today..in fact I am sure that you probably think 89% of the American people are progressive..I prefer the word liberal myself.

Terrye said...

I work in health care..I am one of those people who has to watch these people suffer and die. I take care of them when their families can not stand to do it. I bathe them, I hold their hands, I try to keep away the fear and the pain...most of the people who opine on this with such sanctimony have never had to watch someone beg to die.

Anonymous said...

Terrye, thanks for providing a much needed reality check. Thank you for being there for those who are at the end of their life. You are an angel.

Lionhead said...

@Terrye, I don't work in health care, but I have been the care taker for my Mother & Aunt. I know from where you speak. It's a very tough job & I can appreciate your efforts.

Yes, I believe most of the electorate has been won over to the progressive side. The 'free stuff' goodies is too much to turn down for most, even though they are paying for it with taxes or inflation.

Most Americans have no idea of their history, how & what made the country great. That is their own fault by not being a good citizen of a Republic. Republics don't stand with ill-informed, mis-educated, or dis-interested citizens. Such is our current fate.

For those interested in the eugenics movement, a primer of the history is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States

I believe you will surprised at the people & organizations involved in it's origin & spread. The citations are at the bottom of the page for further research into the original material.

Now, Mitt has admitted in his words that he is a progressive. A republican 'moderate.' One's interpretation may be like yours or like mine. I believe his own words. They were not forced or coerced. I believe we can accept what he has spoken. This would apply to Newt. Both are on the record, in their own words, what they are. If you or others do not believe what they said, that is your own issue or bias.

Pablo has admitted here he condones death panels. Terrye, perhaps you should address him with your comments. I do not condone such panels or any involvement in government in health care other than in public safety & sanitation issues. Period. Let each family & church help elderly people as they age. It's important for younger folks to see what awaits them at the end of their lives. The Nation would be better served if they did.

Pablo said...

1. I do not condone death panels.

2. What Newt proposed in 2008 and what Obama proposed the following year are not death panels.

Right Wingnut said...

The entire bill is one big death panel, because when the government eventually runs out of money, they will have no choice but to ration care. that was the point Palin was making. It had nothing to do with end of life counseling. Go back and read her Facebook posts.

Right Wingnut said...

They're all right here:

http://www.rightspeak.net/2011/04/palin-on-issues-health-care-reform.html#more

Right Wingnut said...

Sarah Palin:

.... My original comments concerned statements made by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a health policy advisor to President Obama and the brother of the President’s chief of staff. Dr. Emanuel has written that some medical services should not be guaranteed to those “who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens....An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.” [10] Dr. Emanuel has also advocated basing medical decisions on a system which “produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated.” ....

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=116471698434

Right Wingnut said...

Palin's writings on the matter are far superior to anything Romney has ever written on the matter.

Anonymous said...

@RWN..Palin's writings? When did Sarah EVER write anything herself? Usually she can't even pronounce or understand the words her writers use.