Its Catching On...

Sam Stein of HuffPo has now weighed in with a post about the hypocrisy of many GOP Congressman over the "death panel" cannard as it relates to the Terry Schiavo case.

On a conference call with reporters this week, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas.) repeated what has become the most popular conservative canard about President Obama's health care agenda. The government, Cornyn ominously warned, would end up deciding the "cost and the value of one's life, rather than leaving those decisions in the hands of the family." A "firewall" needed to be put in place to prevent this from happening.

Four and a half years ago, the Texas Republican wasn't heeding any firewalls. He was one of the lead sponsors of unprecedented government intervention to keep the permanently brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive.

"Congress has a right and a responsibility to investigate this case and explore possible means to protect the defenseless such as Terri Schiavo and others, including those in Texas who are in similar situations," Cornyn said at the time.

The Schiavo case became an embarrassment for the Republican Party and a crucial turning point in the 2006 election. Conservative lawmakers later acknowledged mistakes in their handling of the entire episode, but at the time they defended their actions by framing them as a desire to protect both life and due process.

Some of the same conservative figures taking potshots at Democrats for wanting to fund voluntary discussions about end-of-life decisions between doctors and their patients were leading the charge four years ago to contravene the decision by Schiavo's husband and guardian to remove the feeding tubes from his wife after she had spent 15 years in a vegetative state.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who this week declared that Obama was trying to set up a situation where the government would decided whether to pull the plug on grandma, missed the vote to give the government control over Schiavo's fate. But he told reporters that he backed the measure.

"I support the effort to protect Terri Schiavo," he said. "It's the first case of its kind, a chance to choose life over death. I gave the option to life."

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who has also been highly critical of Obama's health care agenda, told constituents in an online forum that he supported the government's intervention into Schiavo's life. "Without knowing Terri Schiavo's wishes," he wrote, "and with so many ambiguities and distortions surrounding the situation, it was right for Congress to err on the side of life."

snip

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has publicly backed claims that Obama is setting up "death panels," predicted that people would ultimately look back at what the government did on the Schiavo matter "and realize that allowing a family to appeal in a situation like this is a totally reasonable part of the American tradition."

Gingrich, of course, was proven wrong. Polling both during and after that episode indicated widespread public distaste with Congress' efforts to keep Schiavo alive. Prominent Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio produced several studies at the time that found 60 to 80 percent of Americans were opposed to the intervention. Republicans were given a preponderance of the blame.

If we could just get a few Democrats in Congress to remind everyone just how craven the Republicans were in the Terry Schiavo case I really believe we can turn public opinion all the way around.

In the meantime what I hope is that a journalist who gets to interview any of the Republicans who are promoting the "death panel" cannard, asks them if they would be willing to intervene again should there be another situation just like the one in the Schiavo case where a person is in a persistent vegetative state and on life support but they didn't have a living will. Time to put them on the spot and watch them go running for the hills!

Great Minds Think Alike

Last night I left two comments on Greg Sargent's The Plum Line blog. First I left this one:

I just want to know how much longer its going to take before the White House and Democrats in Congress decide to go on the offensive and invoke the name Terry Schiavo. It should be a no brainer. Every single time these death panel questions or comments come up they should answer with, “Well as you know we had a situation in florida where a man was trying to make a personal decision about his wife. And Republicans decided to make such a personal decision a political football and stood between this man and his wife and their doctor. Thankfully after much unnecessary grandstanding this man was able to carry out his wife’s last wishes. If they had a living will this never would have happened and what we want to prevent is another family being used by politicians in their local state or national government. Thats why its in the bill and thats why we all support it”

Cmon Dems, get in the frikking game why don’t you!

Then later I followed up with this:

You want to know the quickest way to get a Republican to STFU? Just mention the name Terry Schiavo. And I am talking about a Republican voter, a republican local official all the way up to a Republican Senator. As much as Republicans like to say they lost the country because of Bush and the Iraq War, I can’t tell you how many people I know who said they would never vote Republican again after how they abused government power in the Terry Schiavo case. John Cole over at balloonjuice has said several times that the Schiavo case was the final straw for him

I can promise you that if Dick Durbin or Chuck Schumer or Pat Leahy or any Dem with half a spine gets in front of a microphone and brings Terry Schiavo up, every Republican will go running for the hill and that will be the LAST time you hear anything about any death panels.

One more thing, what would REALLY do the trick is if they asked Terry Schiavo’s husband to come forward and speak to the need for living wills and what can happen if you don’t have one and you need one.

Im just sayin

Now I realize that a lot of people on the left don't believe in playing hardball politics so it might strike them as wrong to invoke Terry Schiavo in this healthcare fight. I, on the other hand, have no such hangups. For one that story is very relevant to this health care reform fight, specifically the whole "death panel" cannard. For two I believe we have a moral imperative to get health care reform passed this year and that means if it requires breaking a few eggs then so be it.

Tonight I was pleasantly surprised to see this clip from The Rachel Maddow Show

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We should be shouting from the hills reminding people of the way Republicans intruded into the Schiavo case and the hypocrisy they are showing now. Better yet we should point out that without the provision for end of life consultations they may well end up being the GOP's next cause celebre.

Its right there in front of us, now its time for somebody to take the ball and run with it!

Republican Endorsed Euthanasia

Well, well, well. Turns out that provision in the health care bill that Republicans are trying to scare seniors into thinking is all about government euthanasia, has actually been proposed before. It was introduced as a bill entitled “Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act,” cosponsored by Republican Senator Susan Collins.

But it turns out a GOP Senator, Susan Collins, sponsored a virtually identical initiative this spring, before this became an anti-reform GOP talking point — and praised it as necessary to improving our health care system’s “care for patients at the end of their lives.”

This sharply undercuts the GOP and conservative claim — unless, of course, you believe Collins backed an initiative she thinks could lead to mass government extermination of the elderly. Though this talking point has been debunked multiple times, conservatives and GOP leaders like John Boehner continue to employ it with abandon.

On May 22nd, Senators Collins and Jay Rockefeller introduced the “Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act,” according to a press release sent over by a source. The measure provides Medicare funding “for advance care planning so that patients can routinely talk to their physicians about their wishes for end-of-life care,” the release says.

Collins praised the measure, which may be included in the Senate health care bill, in the release. “Our legislation will improve the way our health care system care for patients at the end of their lives,” she said, “and it will also facilitate appropriate discussions and individual autonomy in making decisions about end-of-life care.”

Now as I said yesterday, I still think invoking the Terry Schiavo case would be the best line of attack as push back on all this nonesense. However pointing out that it was a Republican who proposed almost an identical measure earlier this year couldn't hurt either.

And I am hoping that at some point during his show today, preferrably at the beginning, that Chris Matthews runs an apology and a correction for the erroneous information he put out yesterday.

Go For The Jugular!

For the last few weeks the GOP echo chamber has been churning out lies a mile a minute about health care reform. One of the lies that has been circulating which is picking up steam on that side of the aisle and is now being used to fearmonger the elderly is that the health care reform bills will institute mandated euthanasia. As ludicrous a that sounds the fact remains that the elderly are easily spooked when it comes to these kinds of rumors and its not just some wacko on a street corner repeating this, members of Congress have taken to saying it over and over again.

This particular lie has its origins with a woman by the name of Betsy McCaughey, who helped kill health care reform back in the early 90s. The thing of it is, she has been making up shit all year fear mongering about health care provisions in the stimulus as well. And each time she comes up with another out and out lie she gets debunked like she was recently but she never admits she made it all up and the lie continues own in both Houses of Congress out of the mouths of Republicans who know they can get on TV and say whatever they damn well please and hardly if ever get push back.

But here is the thing, the Democrats have an OBVIOUS line or attack on this lie. The truth is this provision is all about providing optional consultations to the elderly about how they want to set up their own end of life care. Here is how Politifact characterized it.

For our ruling on this one, there's really no gray area here. McCaughey incorrectly states that the bill would require Medicare patients to have these counseling sessions and she is suggesting that the government is somehow trying to interfere with a very personal decision. And her claim that the sessions would "tell [seniors] how to end their life sooner" is an outright distortion. Rather, the sessions are an option for elderly patients who want to learn more about living wills, health care proxies and other forms of end-of-life planning. McCaughey isn't just wrong, she's spreading a ridiculous falsehood. That's a Pants on Fire.

Now what case in recent years having to do with end of life care might be one that the GOP doesn't want to revisit?

The Terry Schiavo case.

Unless you were on another planet for this debacle the Republican Party showed themselves to be fully prepared to use the government involved in what should be a personal family decision about end of life care. As much as anything else, it exposed their hypocrisy durinig the Bush years with respect to big government versus little government. Not only did this do great damage to their brand when it was all said and done, but it also inspired many people across the political spectrum to start having conversations with their loved ones about the need for living wills and other mechanisms to convey their wishes if something unforseen was to happen to them. For that reason associating the Terry Schiavo case with consultations for the elderly about living wills would not only resonate with most of America, it would also bring back the bad feelings that the GOP inspired from back during that debacle.

I would bet you any amount of money that once a few Democrats used that line of attack to push back on the lie, you wouldn't have to hear about it anymore.

Here is Rachel Maddow doing a segment on this very subject last night.

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