Howard Dean The Media's Treatment of Palin's Outrageous "Death Panel" Claims

Former Governor Sarah Palin made some preposterous claims over the weekend which attracted mainstream media attention. She made up the term "death panel" and claimed that part of the health care reform bill now working it's way through Congress required that families with children with disabilities, or elderly people who are infirm, could be judged by one of these death panels, which could control their fate and decide if they would die. GOP leadership repeated this outrageous claim across the airwaves on the Sunday morning talk shows. The mainstream media gave this claim credibility simply by repeating it.
My wife and I have practiced medicine for over forty years combined. There is no truth now, nor has there ever been any truth to the idea that the government encourages euthanasia or infanticide.
Our country is in trouble. Claims like these are routinely refuted by people who know better, but they are recirculated because they are sensational, and the MSM purports to take a balanced position without a thoughtful assessment of the facts. Fox News actually has people on in support of these outrageously false claims.
In fact, these kinds of claims are lies. There is no nice way to say it. This kind of stuff is far beyond the usual politicians' tricks of shading words and imputing meanings that aren't there. To quote a famous American who began the process of ending the McCarthy era in the fifties I address the MSM: "At long last, Have you no sense of decency?" LinkHere

Dobbs Sort Of Sorry For Saying Dean Could Be Stopped With "Stake Through His Heart"

CNN host Lou Dobbs is expressing some regret for referring to former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean as a "bloodsucking leftist" who could only be stopped if one "put a stake through his heart."
In a statement to the Huffington Post on Tuesday, Dobbs made a quasi-apology, wrapped in a dig at his critics.
"I'm sorry if a Bram Stoker allusion is too literary for some, and for those who could not make what was seemingly an obvious connection, my deepest apologies and I'll gladly withdraw the latter part of my remark," Dobbs said.
The partial retreat came a day after Dobbs, appearing not on CNN but his syndicated United Stations Radio show, declared that Dean was hitting the airwaves to advance his cause of "liberal fascism."
"I thought we had gotten rid of this left-wing pest for a while," Dobbs said. "But I guess he is just resurgent. He is a blood-sucking leftist. You have got to put a stake through his heart to stop this guy. So you have to give him credit for resilience even if he is a lefty."
The progressive watchdog group Media Matters jumped all over the comment, and like-minded bloggers followed suit. In private, Dean allies are fuming at Dobbs for a comment that not only equates the former Vermont Governor to a vampire, but raises the specter of violence during an emotionally charged health care debate. LinkHere

After "Death Panel" Claim, Palin Now Calls For Civility

After making an extraordinary, unsupported and incendiary claim that President Obama's health care plan will result in a "death panel" that is fundamentally "evil," Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is now calling for civility in the debate on health care reform.
In a Facebook posting on Friday, Palin lashed out a scenario "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."
Although former House Speaker Newt Gingrich yesterday jumped to Palin's defense, many other conservatives are casting her comments as "crazy". There is nothing in any of the proposed health care legislation that would set up anything remotely like what Palin describes.
Now, in her latest Facebook entry, Palin seems to be wanting to change the subject. She writes:
There are many disturbing details in the current bill that Washington is trying to rush through Congress, but we must stick to a discussion of the issues and not get sidetracked by tactics that can be accused of leading to intimidation or harassment. Such tactics diminish our nation's civil discourse which we need now more than ever because the fine print in this outrageous health care proposal must be understood clearly and not get lost in conscientious voters' passion to want to make elected officials hear what we are saying. Let's not give the proponents of nationalized health care any reason to criticize us. LinkHere