Janice Kennedy:
The gal from Wasilla has ambitions — bold, broad, nationwide ambitions — because big whoppers like that can not possibly be the words of a retired, or retiring, politician.
What is less clear is their psychology. Claims about death panels and disposable people are so breathtakingly, extravagantly, criminally false that the reeling mind can only wonder: does she actually believe this? Or is she spreading such jaw-dropping dishonesty in the full knowledge that it’s wrong and malicious?
Crudely put, the question comes down to this: is Sarah Palin really that dumb, or is she really that Machiavellian?
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/Heading+right+White+House/1894408/story.html
Again, she is ignorant of her own ignorance, but writes with ‘authority’ anyway. Irrespective of whether or not you call them ‘death panels’, the definitive truth is that when your goal is to decrease the amount of money spent on health care at the ‘end of life’, and you set up boards to decide what will be paid for and what won’t, and you emphasize end of life counseling (i.e. “here are your options for ‘death with dignity’”), you are setting up a system that will result in an earlier death for many elderly. These are just the fundamental truths.
The NHS policy guide contains this exact statement:
“New treatments are usually, but not always, more expensive. Within the finite resources of each Trust and of the NHS as a whole adoption of these treatments has to be justified in terms of the improvements they will bring to the quality or cost-effectiveness of care. The priorities for funding new areas of treatment and patient care will be determined at Trust level.”
The reality revealed by this statement is that rationing is a strong and fundamental element of NHS, and that who gets what and when is decided by a government board - plain and simple. Pointing out that this is the inevitable result of the health care bill the democrats are pushing is neither ‘dumb’, nor Machiaellian. It’s just a true statement of fact.
Ms. Kennedy needs to spend more time fact checking before writing.