Palin accuses Obama of pushing Medicare 'death panel'

Gov. Palin blasted Democratic-led health care reform and accused President Obama of backing a "death panel" that would withhold Medicare funds from the elderly and disabled when funding runs short.

From that headline and lead paragraph you'd think Obama was planning on sending everyone over 65 to death camps. At least when we accused Bush of Nazi like tactics he really was doing some of the same things the Nazi's did, like prosecuting an illegal aggressive war which he lied about to sell it to the American Public, torture, and warrantless surveillance, including keeping tabs on antiwar groups composed of Quakers and Vegans, of all people. We had proof for our allegations of wrongdoing but the media still wouldn't cover it half the time, or gave far more coverage to Republican rebuttals devoid of substance than they did to the people coming forward with evidence of crimes. By the way, it isn't just the Anchorage Newspaper that's promoting Palin's lies. Here's the headline ABC News is giving her entry on Facebook:

Palin Says Obama's Health Care Plan Is 'Evil'

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil," Palin wrote.

Hey, big media. If you are going to give free publicity to these loons at least give a response from a Democrat in your story. I don't care much for Jake Tapper, but at least he does the legwork that should have been done to demonstrate that Palin is full of it when she makes such outrageous and frankly fraudulent claims:

One can question whether there will by necessity be any rationing decisions that will need to come as a part of health care reform (and, in fact, we have) but pictures of government bureaucrats forcing euthanasia upon seniors -- and, now, children with Down syndrome -- because they're not productive members of society are not part of any reasonable debate on the facts of the matter. [...]

Asked specifically what the former governor was referring to when painting a picture of an Obama "death panel" giving her parents or son Trig a thumbs up or down based on their productivity, Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton responded in an email: "From HR3200 p. 425 see 'Advance Care Planning Consultation'."

That's a curious reading of page 425 of the House Democrats' bill, which refers to “advance care planning consultation,” defined as a senior and a medical practitioner discussing “advance care planning, if…the individual involved has not had such a consultation within the last 5 years.”

This includes an “explanation by the practitioner of advance care planning, including key questions and considerations, important steps, and suggested people to talk to,” an “explanation by the practitioner of advance directives, including living wills and durable powers of attorney, and their uses,” and an “explanation by the practitioner of the role and responsibilities of a health care proxy.”

As Tapper notes, Factcheck.org has disputed the Palin camp's claim that this provision of the House bill will lead to "death panels deciding whether you get medical treatment or are cut off from care and forced to be euthanized. Still, this is the headline ABC News gave Tapper's story, even though he essentially debunks Palin's entire confabulated death panel fantasy/lie:

Palin Paints Picture of 'Obama Death Panel' Giving Thumbs Down to Trig

How many people are going to read past that headline before forming their opinion? Far too few. There are no "death panels" in the health care reform bills floating around Congress, so why does that phrase appear in almost every headline about this story? Why not just state the obvious: Palin is lying. Or if you don't have the guts for that, at least say that Palin's is making unfounded and outrageous claims about the Democratic bill for health care reform (if you're going to waste time writing about her Facebook entries at all). Of course, that would take something that most of these media corporations don't want to do: real journalism.