GOP Officially Loses Its Mind on Health Care

Rachel Slajda reports on Talking Points Memo that both RNC Chairman Michael Steele and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, are repeating the false charge from Sarah Palin that current Democratic health care reform proposals will entail "death panels" that will require euthanasia of seniors.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) continued the thoroughly debunked right wing euthanasia/death panel meme today, telling a town hall crowd, "You have every right to fear....a government run plan to decide when to pull the plug on Grandma."

Grassley is the latest Republican to jump on the euthanasia bandwagon. Today, Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele said Sarah Palin's "death panel" comment was "perfectly appropriate" given the "life-and-death decisions" the government would make under a health care reform bill.

Grassley, Steele and the rest of the GOP might (or might not) be interested to note that non-partisan website Politifact.com has ruled this charge "Pants on Fire."

We've looked at the inflammatory claims that the health care bill encourages euthanasia. It doesn't. There's certainly no "death board" that determines the worthiness of individuals to receive care...Palin's statement sounds more like a science fiction movie (Soylent Green, anyone?) than part of an actual bill before Congress. We rate her statement Pants on Fire!

FactCheck.org has a similar article debunking this allegation. With the party chairman and a senior Senator repeating this shameless falsehood, the GOP sinks to a new low in its demagoguery on health care reform.

UPDATE: Joe Klein of Time chimes in.

Senator Chuck Grassley has announced his membership in the Limbaugh mainstream of the Republican Party on the non-issue of Death Panels. This is the man who is the lead Republican negotiator in the Senate Finance Committee's effort to create a bipartisan health care bill--and he either (a) hasn't the vaguest notion of what's in the bill or (b) he is so intimidated by the ditto-head-brown-shirts that he is trying to fudge a response to keep them happy. Either way, he should be ashamed. And once has to wonder about the fate of the Senate Finance Committee deliberations if this is what the Administration is dealing with.

--Ballard Burgher