User:FoggyNotion/Sandbox

Hong Kong speech

Hong Kong speech

Test1

In August 2009, Palin posted to her Facebook page her August 7, 2009, Statement on the Current Health Care Debate and August 12, 2009, Concerning the "Death Panels". She expressed her opinion of Obama’s plans for health care reform, stating:

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. 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's "death panel" charge was widely disputed by analysts who examined the provision she cited and concluded that it merely authorized Medicare reimbursement for physicians who provide voluntary counseling about such subjects as advance health care directives (including living wills).

Palin explained the reason for her death panel remark as follows:

Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives.

Palin addressed criticisms in a follow-up post on Facebook. She pointed to the opinions of journalists Charles Lane and Eugene Robinson, and Democratic New York State Senator Ruben Diaz, to argue that even some people who are not conservative believe that end of life counseling that is supposed to be voluntary might be seen as coercive. These comments were about Section 1233 of the House version of the health care plan, which is titled Advance Care Planning Consultation Although Palin opposed this advance directive provision, as governor Palin previously encouraged Alaskans use advance directives for end of life care. However, as her August 12 post to facebook reiterated, "Of course, it’s not just this one provision that presents a problem. My original comments concerned statements made by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel."

Palin's August 7 facebook post included a link to a YouTube video of the Michele Bachmann speech about Ezekiel Emanuel, which cited a July 24 opinion article by Betsy McCaughey accusing Emanuel of advocating the rationing of health care by age and disability, and of plans for euthanasia. On September 8, 2009 Palin quoted Congressman Jim Towey as saying that Section 1233 of House Resolution 3200 would put seniors on a "slippery slope" before reiterating her belief that the work of Ezekiel Emanuel is "particularly disturbing" and "shocking". Palin claimed that her death panel claim has been "vindicated". She also said that her death panel claim "rang true with many Americans", and argued in favor of a free market approach to health care including deregulation, tort reform and vouchers.

The Atlantic recognized the political effectiveness of Palin's claims. Politifact and Newsweek say that rationing does exist. Private insurers ration when they deny medical insurance to those with preexisting medical conditions, so rationing will happen regardless of whether the government plays a role. But there is no evidence for rationing in the form of euthanasia based on age or disability. FactCheck.org said, "We agree that Emanuel’s meaning is being twisted. In one article, he was talking about a philosophical trend, and in another, he was writing about how to make the most ethical choices when forced to choose which patients get organ transplants or vaccines when supplies are limited." An article on Time.com said that Emanuel "was only addressing extreme cases like organ donation, where there is an absolute scarcity of resources ... 'My quotes were just being taken out of context.'" A decade ago, when many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it.

However, the argument has been made that Palin wasn't the only person to overstate the facts about rationing.

Test

When describing an alleged death panel Palin said, "our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!

Palin's death panel remarks were related to a speech by Bachmann regarding a New York Post article about Obama health care advisor Ezekiel Emanuel, later confirmed by Palin's spokesperson. In expanding upon her prior "death panel" comments, Palin said, "My original comments concerned statements made by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel...." Palin described Emanuel's idea's as "particularly disturbing" and "shocking".

After her initial August 7 death panel statement, Palin said that even "friendly pundits" claim that voluntary end of life counseling could be seen as coercive and lead to a "slippery slope". Palin's August 12 and September 8 Facebook statements then reiterated her belief that Ezekiel Emanuel wanted to discriminate based on age and disability.

Responding to Palin's representations of Ezekiel Emanuel as attempting to euthanize the disabled and elderly, FactCheck.org said, "We agree that Emanuel’s meaning is being twisted. In one article, he was talking about a philosophical trend, and in another, he was writing about how to make the most ethical choices when forced to choose which patients get organ transplants or vaccines when supplies are limited." A decade ago, when many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it.

Section 1233 of Advance Care Planning Consultation, which Palin criticized, merely requires that health care insurance cover end of life counseling, according to PolitiFact. Palin's accusations were widely reported as being "false", and analysts who examined the provision she cited agreed that it merely authorized Medicare reimbursement for physicians who provide voluntary counseling for advance health care directives (including living wills). Palin responded to President Obama's criticism of her death panel remarks saying in part, "so much for civility", regarding certain words that were used. She said that her death panel remarks were "vindicated" based on several cited examples, and "rang true for many Americans". Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who authored the provision on end-of-life counseling, said the measure would block funds for counseling that presents suicide or assisted suicide as an option, calling references to death panels or euthanasia "mind-numbing." As recently as April 2008 then-governor Palin supported end-of-life counseling.

Test2

Articles that Palin wrote and posted to her Facebook page include Statement on the Current Health Care Debate (August 7, 2009) and Concerning the "Death Panels" (August 12, 2009). She also mentioned death panels in a statement she made to the New York state Senate Aging Committee" and in a Wall Street Journal editorial, both dated September 8, 2009. Palin expressed her opinion of Obama’s plans for health care reform, stating in part in the first article:

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. 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.
...
Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives.

Palin's death panel remarks were related to a speech by Bachmann regarding a New York Post article about Obama health care advisor Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel. Palin's spokesperson later confirmed that her death panel statement referred to Dr. Emanuel's principle of "community standards". In expanding upon her prior "death panel" comments, Palin said, "My original comments concerned statements made by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel..." whose ideas she described as "particularly disturbing" and "shocking".

After her initial August 7 death panel statement, Palin said that even "friendly pundits" claim that voluntary end of life counseling could be seen as coercive and lead to a "slippery slope". Palin's August 12 and September 8 Facebook statements then reiterated her belief that Dr. Emanuel wanted to discriminate based on age and disability.

Responding to Palin's representations of Ezekiel Emanuel as attempting to euthanize the disabled and elderly, FactCheck.org said, "We agree that Emanuel’s meaning is being twisted. In one article, he was talking about a philosophical trend, and in another, he was writing about how to make the most ethical choices when forced to choose which patients get organ transplants or vaccines when supplies are limited." A decade ago, when many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it.

Palin linked her euthanasia claims to the end-of-life counseling provision Advance Care Planning Consultation. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who sponsored this provision, said the measure would block funds for counseling that presents suicide or assisted suicide as an option, and called references to death panels or euthanasia "mind-numbing". Blumenauer said that as recently as April 2008 then-governor Palin supported end-of-life counseling as part of Healthcare Decisions Day. Palin's office called this comparison "hysterically funny" and "desperate". Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, who co-sponsored a 2007 end-of-life counseling provision, called the euthanasia claim "nuts". Analysts who examined the end-of-life provision Palin cited agreed that it merely authorized Medicare reimbursement for physicians who provide voluntary counseling for advance health care directives (including living wills).

Test3

Palin's death panel remarks were related to a speech by Michele Bachmann regarding a New York Post article about Obama health care advisor Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, which TIME and ABC described as false euthanasia claims.

Test4

Death panel

Death panels

Death Panels

Death panels#Health care

Betsy McCaughey

In a New York Post opinion article, Ezekiel Emanuel was described by McCaughey as a "Deadly Doctor." The article, which accused Emanuel of advocating healthcare rationing by age and disability, was quoted from on the floor of the House of Representatives by Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Responding to Bachmann's citation of McCaughey's article, Sarah Palin said that Emanuel's philosophy was "downright evil" and tied it to a health care reform end of life counseling provision she claimed would create a "death panel". The nonpartisan Politifact.com Web site described this claim as a "ridiculous falsehood." FactCheck.org said, "We agree that Emanuel’s meaning is being twisted. In one article, he was talking about a philosophical trend, and in another, he was writing about how to make the most ethical choices when forced to choose which patients get organ transplants or vaccines when supplies are limited." An article on Time.com said that Emanuel "was only addressing extreme cases like organ donation, where there is an absolute scarcity of resources ... 'My quotes were just being taken out of context.'" In the late 1990s, when many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it. He challenged a common stereotype of patients expressing interest in euthanasia. In most cases, he found, the patients were not in excruciating pain. They were depressed and did not want to be a burden to their loved ones.

Betsy McCaughey's statements on H.R. 3200 Advance Care Planning Consultation page 425 and Ezekiel Emanuel led to the death panel controversy.

Global warming

As governor of Alaska Palin described warming as a "global challenge" and sought "opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Alaska sources, including the expanded use of alternative fuels, energy conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, land use management, and transportation planning."

In 2009 she said, "any potential benefits of proposed emissions reduction policies are far outweighed by their economic costs." What she once called "carbon-trading markets" she now denounces as "the Democrats' cap-and-tax proposal."

NPOV

The December 6 edit that mentions Murkowski is a NEW EDIT. It is NOT A REVERT and DOES NOT CHANGE EXISTING EDITS. As such, the editor who deletes it will be the edit warrior, not me. This edit reflects the most widely held point of view about death panels.

Again, Wikipedia policies require that "all significant views" must be represented, with the most weight given to the most widely accepted point of view. Regarding death panels, this would be the point of view that there are no death panels. If one editor calls Wikipedia policies the work of a "sophist", those who don't accept Wikipedia rules should not edit Wikipedia. This applies to editors who wish to vote to replace Wikipedia rules that "cannot be superseded ... by editors consensus."

Wikipedia's WP:NPOV policy states:

Neutral point of view (NPOV) is a fundamental Wikimedia principle and a cornerstone of Wikipedia. All Wikipedia articles and other encyclopedic content must be written from a neutral point of view, representing fairly, and as far as possible without bias, all significant views that have been published by reliable sources. This is non-negotiable and expected of all articles and all editors ... The principles upon which these policies are based cannot be superseded by other policies or guidelines, or by editors' consensus.

Wikipedia's WP:NPOV policy states:

Neutrality requires that the article should fairly represent all significant viewpoints that have been published by a reliable source, and should do so in proportion to the prominence of each.

Murkowski

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said, "It does us no good to incite fear in people by saying that there's these end-of-life provisions, these death panels" and "Quite honestly, I'm so offended at that terminology because it absolutely isn't (in the bill). There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill."

The legislation Palin opposed would block funds for counseling that presents suicide or assisted suicide as an option. The mandate that requires hospitals to help patients with end-of-life decisions was instituted in 1992, when Republican George H.W. Bush was President. Section 1233 merely allows doctors to be paid for their time. The page 425 legislation began as a separate bill that was co-sponsored by Republicans Charles Boustany, Patrick Tiberi and Geoff Davis. Boustany, a heart surgeon, said the end-of-life legislation was a "good medical practice".

The Washington Independent called Betsy McCaughey the "death panel myth creator" since Palin's "death panel" remark was based on McCaughey's ideas.

The page 425 legislation Palin opposed would allow Medicare reimbursements for voluntary end-of-life counseling. It was the Republican Johnny Isakson's original 2007 end-of-life legislation that would have made an advance directive mandatory for receiving Medicare part A and part B benefits.

However, Palin previously encouraged the use of end-of-life directives as governor, and in 2008 she wanted to dispell "considerable confusion in the public about advance directives". As Palin said when she declared Healthcare Decisions Day, the declaration was "designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions."

In August 2009, Palin's spokesperson said that Palin's death panel statements referred to H.R. 3200 Advance Care Planning Consultation page 425. According to PolitiFact, "Palin seems to acknowledge that the counseling isn't explicitly mandatory, but that in practice it would be." PolitiFact concluded that "the end-of-life counseling sessions in the House bill are voluntary." Palin also cited selected quotes from Obama health care advisor Ezekiel Emanuel as an explanation for her views on rationing and euthanasia. According to The Atlantic, "Emanuel opposes euthanasia". The opinions about page 425 legislation and statements about Emanuel were ideas for the death panel meme that began with Betsy McCaughey. In addition, Palin mentioned Sowell's opinions on alleged rationing. ABC News concluded, "Sowell's are more reasonable arguments, though they don't exactly emphasize that health care insurance company bureaucrats already are making such decisions. In any case, nowhere does he raise the specter of an Obama 'death panel.'"

Special

When Palin declared Healthcare Decisions Day she said the declaration was "designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions."

When Palin declared Healthcare Decisions Day she said the desired result would be that "more citizens will execute advance directives to make their wishes known; and fewer families and healthcare providers will have to struggle with making difficult healthcare decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient."

Palin declared Healthcare Decisions Day to address "considerable confusion in the public about advance directives".

This legislation allows reimbursement for advance care planning including "an explanation by the practitioner of advance directives".

Palin told the media through her spokeswoman and three posts to her facebook page that statements about Ezekiel Emanuel were reasons for her death panel statements. These statements were first made by Betsy McCaughey, and were described by TIME, PolitiFact and FactCheck as false euthanasia claims.

Palin also mentioned Sowell's opinions on alleged rationing. ABC News concluded, "Sowell's are more reasonable arguments, though they don't exactly emphasize that health care insurance company bureaucrats already are making such decisions. In any case, nowhere does he raise the specter of an Obama 'death panel.'"

Political positions

In August 2009 Palin's spokesperson said that Palin's death panel statements referred to H.R. 3200 Advance Care Planning Consultation page 425 and her opinions on Obama health care advisor Ezekiel Emanuel. These ideas for the death panel meme began with Betsy McCaughey. According to TIME, Emanuel was falsely accused of wanting to euthanize the elderly and disabled. A decade ago, when many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it. However, in a November interview Palin made no mention of Betsy McCaughey or Ezekiel Emanuel when explaining her death panel statements, and said she was going by her own reading of "that section of the bill" and that the phrase death panel "should not be taken literally". Her November explanation for her death panel remark is that "health care would have to be rationed if it were promised to everyone", which would lead to "death".

Analysts who examined the end-of-life provision in H.R. 3200 section 1233 agree that there is no 'death panel' in the health care bill, and that it merely authorized Medicare reimbursement for physicians who provide voluntary counseling for Advance Directives (including living wills). Although Palin opposed this end-of-life counseling, she encouraged the use of Advance Directives as governor of Alaska. Palin said "the two are like apples and oranges" and that the comparison was "ridiculous" and "desperate". Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, who co-sponsored a 2007 end-of-life counseling provision, called the euthanasia claim "nuts". Isakson said that with an end-of-life directive "You're putting the authority in the individual rather than the government. I don't know how that got so mixed up."

In early November 2009 Palin said, "We had been told there were no 'death panels' in the bill," but that health legislation voted on by the House had a "provision mandating bureaucratic panels that will be calling the shots regarding who will receive government health care". In an interview with Barbara Walters, Palin acknowledged that none of the health care bills included the actual word pair; "No, death panel isn't there." When asked how she came up with the term "death panels," Palin said, "To me, while reading that section of the bill, it became so evident that there would be a panel of bureaucrats who would decide on levels of health care, decide on those who are worthy or not worthy of receiving some government-controlled coverage. Since health care would have to be rationed if it were promised to everyone, it would therefore lead to harm for many individuals not able to receive the government care. That leads, of course, to death."

Palin later said that revisions of medical guidelines for pap smears and mammograms were "rationed care" and a "government-controlled takeover of a health care system". Research for the guideline on pap smears began before Obama was elected. The sixteen members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (appointed when George W. Bush was president) established the mammography guidelines, which do not set government policy according to Kathleen Sebelius. An amendment to health care reform legislation would require health insurance companies to pay for these mammograms.

Test 5

In August 2009 Palin's spokesperson said that Palin's death panel statements referred to H.R. 3200 Advance Care Planning Consultation page 425 and her opinions on Obama health care advisor Ezekiel Emanuel. The ideas for the death panel meme began with Betsy McCaughey. However, in a November interview Palin made no mention of Betsy McCaughey's talking points, and said that the phrase death panel "should not be taken literally". She said the reason for her death panel remarks were that if health care "were promised to everyone" it would be "rationed", which would lead to "death".

Test7

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who sponsored the H.R. 3200 end of life counseling provision, said the measure would block funds for counseling that presents suicide or assisted suicide as an option, and called references to death panels or euthanasia "mind-numbing". Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, who co-sponsored a 2007 end-of-life counseling provision, called the euthanasia claim "nuts". Analysts who examined the end-of-life provision Palin cited agree that Palin's claim is incorrect.

Michele Bachmann

Bachmann contributed to the "death panel" controversy when she read from an article written by Betsy McCaughey from the floor of the House. Sarah Palin then cited her as a source for her views. Palin said that her "death panel" remark was inspired by what she called the "Orwellian" opinions of Ezekiel Emanuel as described by Bachmann. Bachmann cited the July 24 New York Post opinion article in which Emanuel was described by Betsy McCaughey as a "Deadly Doctor" who advocated healthcare rationing by age and disability. FactCheck.org said, "We agree that Emanuel’s meaning is being twisted. In one article, he was talking about a philosophical trend, and in another, he was writing about how to make the most ethical choices when forced to choose which patients get organ transplants or vaccines when supplies are limited." An article on Time.com said that Emanuel "was only addressing extreme cases like organ donation, where there is an absolute scarcity of resources ... 'My quotes were just being taken out of context.'" A decade ago, when many doctors wanted to legalize euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide, Emanuel opposed it.

On September 1, she spoke at an event in Colorado, saying of Democrat health care overhaul proposals that "This cannot pass. What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing. This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn't pass." She outlined ideas for changing the health care system, including: “Erase the boundaries around every single state when it comes to health care,” enabling consumers to purchase insurance across state lines; increase the use of health savings accounts and allow everyone to “take full deductibility of all medical expenses,” including insurance premiums; and tort reform.

Bachmann has denounced a public health option as a "government takeover of health care" and compared it to Cuba. In 2009, she ranked eighth of 435 members of congress in campaign contributions from donors in the insurance industry. She received $50,900, the most she received from any industry.

Bachmann2

According to PolitiFact and TIME, Bachmann made false euthanasia claims.

Branchflower

Palin initially responded, "I'm very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."

Kaelke

Tresa Kaelke, one of the ACORN employees featured on video in San Bernadino, encouraged O'Keefe to disguise the prostitution business as a "massage parlor" and encouraged the pair to "invest in a line of vitamins" to disguise the location's true purpose. Tresa Kaelke stated she "decided to shock them as much as they were shocking me" while also stating she "feared for her safety." Kaelke said, "If I didn't know better, and I don't, but I would think this is a total setup" and "Somewhat entertaining, but they weren't even good actors." She told O'Keefe that she was formerly a paid escort in the Bahamas and that she killed her husband. Kaelke's superviser Spach said Kaelke was not a prostitute and did not shoot her husband. According to CNN, the fimmakers released a transcript of their discussion with Kaelke that included a comment left out of the tape in which Kaelke said that ACORN would have nothing to do with their prostitution business.

Willingham

Jackson, one of the prosecutors, admitted that an "undeniably flawed forensic report" was used to convict Willingham, but claimed that the accused was guilty because he claimed that Willingham’s burns were self-inflicted, and that a blood gas analysis showed that Willingham did not breath much carbon monoxide, and that he refused to take a lie detector test, and that a refrigerator by the back door blocked an escape route. A New Yorker article said that Willingham's lack of blood carbon monoxide could be the result of escaping the fire before it achieved flashover.

The prosecution claimed that Willingham may have been motivated by a desire to rid himself of his unwanted children. The prosecutor claimed that the fire which killed the children was the third attempt by Willingham to do so after attempting to abort each of two pregnancies by kicking his wife in order to cause miscarriages. However, in a follow up article by David Grann, it was noted that "...there is evidence that Willingham hit his wife, even when she was pregnant, but there were no police reports or medical evidence indicating that Willingham had tried to abort or kill his children" and that "Willingham’s wife insisted during the trial and under interrogation that Willingham had not physically abused the children."

The prosecutor also claimed that Willingham was a serial wife abuser, both physically and emotionally. Jackson also claimed Willingham had abused animals and was a sociopath. However, those not associated with the case paint a different picture of Willingham. His former probation officer, Polly Goodin, said he had never demonstrated bizarre or sociopathic behavior and “He was probably one of my favorite kids,” she said. Even a former judge named Bebe Bridges—who had often stood, as she put it, on the “opposite side” of Willingham in the legal system, and who had sent him to jail for stealing—said that she could not imagine him killing his children. “He was polite, and he seemed to care,” she said.

Going rogue

• Via much reported Facebook notes, Palin asserted that Obama’s plans for health care reform include a "downright evil", "Orwellian", "disturbing", "shocking" "death panel" which would threaten handicapped people such as her son Trig. Although Palin's 'death panel' charge was widely discredited as inaccurate, The Atlantic recognized its political effectiveness. In a Barbara Walters interview Palin admitted that "No, death panel isn't there" but said that Obama was "incorrect" and "disingenuous" when he accused her of lying about death panels, and that the tea party movement was "beautiful". Palin repeated her claims of euthanasia when promoting her book Going Rogue and criticizing a November 2009 House vote on health care reform legislation. She said that a mandate requiring people to buy health insurance is "unconstitutional", and warned that "the bill also forces insurance companies to cover everyone, regardless of pre-existing conditions." Palin said that health care reform legislation requires people to pay $15,000 per year for health insurance. According to PolitiFact, only a small number of people would be required to pay $15,000 per year under health care reform rules. Most people would continue to get health insurance from their employers, and of the rest, those making less that 400 percent of the federal poverty level (currently $43,320 for a single person) would get tax credits to reduce the expense.

Palin said recommendations that women wait longer to be screened for breast and cervical cancer indicate "rationed care". The guideline from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists on pap smears was begun before Obama was elected. The change in guidelines for mammograms was suggested by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which, according to Kathleen Sebelius, does not set government policy.

In Going Rogue Palin said that it was Nicolle Wallace who pushed for Palin to be interviewed by Katie Couric. Palin said she would have preferred FOX or the Wall Street Journal.

Operation Coffee Cup

When legislation for a King-Anderson bill that would lead to Medicare as part of the Social Security Act of 1965 was considered by Congress in 1961, Reagan created a recording for the American Medical Association's Operation Coffee Cup warning that such legislation would mean the end of freedom in America. Reagan said that if his listeners did not write letters to prevent it,

we will awake to find that we have so­cialism. And if you don't do this, and if I don't do it, one of these days, you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free.

Palin

• In explaining her prior "death panel" comments, Palin said, "My original comments concerned statements made by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel...." Palin reiterated this explanation in three separate posts to her facebook page and again through her spokeswoman.

• Palin's spokeswoman also said that Palin's death panel statements referred to H.R. 3200 Advance Care Planning Consultation page 425. The page 425 legislation allows reimbursement for voluntary end of life counseling about advance directives.

Palin 2

• The main reasons Palin gave for her death panel remarks, both directly and through her spokeswoman, were statements made by Ezekiel Emanuel and H.R. 3200 Advance Care Planning Consultation page 425. The page 425 legislation would have allowed reimbursement for voluntary end of life counseling about advance directives. As governor Palin wanted to "encourage the specific use of advance directives."

Betsy McCaughey previously made the same objections to health care reform legislation.

Response to an editor

Please leave any remarks in the separate section immediately following this one.

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An editor asked to pre-approve my edits. In order to be polite, I will omit user names, but the message was "Hello Jimmuldrow, whenever you are ready, show me your edit on the political position thing, okay? You can answer on my talk page if you want or the Sarah Palin talk page. We will get it resolved."

This request would be fine except for multiple incorrect corrections and edit wars. Even when all the details of one mistake are pointed out in detail this person ignores what references say and contradicts them when claiming to explain why he keeps deleting edits. A few examples are as follows:

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This editor said that, contrary to TIME,[2] The New York Times,[3] the New York Daily News[4] and other sources, Palin's death panel remarks had nothing to do with Betsy McCaughey. This editor previously repeatedly accused others of violating Wikipedia rules that require editors to follow what sources deemed to be reliable by Wikipedia have to say. Palin herself cited[5] a Michelle Bachmann speech [6] about a Betsy McCaughey editorial[7] which, according to Palin, was given by "Michele Bachmann" in a "floor speech to the House of Representatives" as "a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors." Palin even had a link to a You Tube video of the Bachmann speech in which Bachmann said, "This morning I read a column written by Betsy McCaughey, and I would like to quote from it extensively now."

The editor warrior in question made an incorrect correction based on the above incorrect assumption.

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This editor also said, "These so-called death panels have no relationship to Advance Directives" as a reason for another deletion. Palin had her spokeswoman tell the media[8] that her death panel statement was about page 425 of a health care bill, which reads in part, "(B) An explanation by the practitioner of advance directives, including living wills and durable powers of attorney, and their uses." Page 425 is otherwise known as Advance Care Planning Consultation. A long list of fact-checkers accurately describe the legislation as allowing Medicare reimbursement for voluntary end-of-life counseling about advance directives.

The above describes another incorrect correction by this edit warrior.

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The following edit was deleted because the editor in question said Palin's death panel remarks had nothing, or at least not much, to do with her opinions about Ezekiel Emanuel. The edit read as follows:

In explaining her prior "death panel" comments, Palin said, "My original comments concerned statements made by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel...." Palin reiterated this explanation in three separate posts to her facebook page and again through her spokeswoman.

The editor never read the references, or severely misunderstood them. Palin's own words about this are as follows:

From August 7, 2009 -

Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.

From August 11, 2009 -

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.” [11]

President Obama can try to gloss over the effects of government authorized end-of-life consultations, but the views of one of his top health care advisors are clear enough.

From September 8, 2009

The fact is that any group of government bureaucrats that makes decisions affecting life or death is essentially a “death panel.” The work of Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, President Obama’s health policy advisor and the brother of his chief of staff, is particularly disturbing on this score. Dr. Emanuel has written extensively on the topic of rationed health care, describing a “Complete Lives System” for allotting medical care based on “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.”[12]

He also 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.”[13]

Such ideas are shocking, but they could ultimately be used by government bureacrats to help determine the treatment of our loved ones.

According to The Atlantic,[9] Palin reiterated this point through her spokeswoman. As The Atlantic said, "Reading the post, it's hard to see what Palin actually meant. Her political spokesperson later confirmed that Palin was referring to the principle of 'community standards,' which she linked to a New York Post piece about Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel."

It would appear that Palin made this point more than once, more than twice, and in words that indicate that she attached a great deal of importance to this point. I will mark this as yet another incorrect correction from an edit warrior.

This editor previously said the article should reflect what Palin said, and then kept deleting what Palin said. He later said the edit was deleted because it is large. It's not large. It's tiny. Almost all of the details are through a wikilink to another article.

Pointy

Palin said that Eugene Robinson agreed with her fears of rationing. Robinson also said, "It's irresponsible for politicians, such as Sarah Palin, to claim -- outlandishly and falsely -- that there's going to be some kind of 'death panel' to decide when to pull the plug."

Palin said Obama would be reelected if "he played the war card. Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decided really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do."

According to the department, "advance care planning" includes both "an advance directive and a durable power of attorney." Advance care planning documents" are "in advance directives", which the department claims need to be specific.

The page 425 legislation would have allowed reimbursement for voluntary end of life counseling about advance care planning including "an explanation by the practitioner of advance directives."

The sixteen members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (appointed when George W. Bush was president) established the mammography guidelines. Research for the guideline on pap smears by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists began "before the Obama health plan came into existence."

Palin said that during her speech to the Republican Convention, "The teleprompter got messed up, I couldn’t follow it, and I just decided I’d just talk to the people in front of me." ABC News' Jake Tapper said the journalists at the convention "noted how closely she stuck to the script".

Palin's point (very lengthy) about page 425 legislation can be found Here and Here.

According to ABC News' Jake Tapper - 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'."

Palin's point about Ezekiel Emanuel is as follows:

From August 7, 2009 -

Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.

From August 12, 2009 -

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.” [11]

President Obama can try to gloss over the effects of government authorized end-of-life consultations, but the views of one of his top health care advisors are clear enough.

From September 8, 2009

The fact is that any group of government bureaucrats that makes decisions affecting life or death is essentially a “death panel.” The work of Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, President Obama’s health policy advisor and the brother of his chief of staff, is particularly disturbing on this score. Dr. Emanuel has written extensively on the topic of rationed health care, describing a “Complete Lives System” for allotting medical care based on “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.”[12]

He also 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.”[13]

Such ideas are shocking, but they could ultimately be used by government bureacrats to help determine the treatment of our loved ones.

According to The Atlantic,[10] Palin reiterated this point through her spokeswoman. As The Atlantic said, "Reading the post, it's hard to see what Palin actually meant. Her political spokesperson later confirmed that Palin was referring to the principle of 'community standards,' which she linked to a New York Post piece about Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel."

Again

Palin's remarks about an alleged 'death panel' were based on opinions about Ezekiel Emanuel, previous page 425 legislation (the legislation is similar to end-of-life counseling that became law when George W. Bush was president), one of three possibilities mentioned in a CBO report, a deficit commission report and a Medicare Independent Payments Advisory Board. Palin called a 2012 budget proposal by Republican Paul Ryan "Serious & necessary leadership". Ryan's plan would eventually privatize Medicare and reduce Medicaid to limited block grants to states.