Ezra Klein of the Washington Post interviewed right-wing senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) yesterday, and asked him a few questions about his work on advance planning and end-of-life issues.
Isakson is one of the senators who offered end-of-life provisions for the health care bill that came out of the HELP committee a few weeks back. (Imagine that: At least one senate committee has actually done its job.)
Here's what Isakson had to say about Sarah Palin's laughable claims about "death panels" and her special needs child:
I just had a phone call where someone said Sarah Palin's web site had talked about the House bill having death panels on it where people would be euthanized. How someone could take an end of life directive or a living will as that is nuts. You're putting the authority in the individual rather than the government. I don't know how that got so mixed up.
Apparently, some Republicans were all atwitter yesterday because Nancy Pelosi said it was "un-American" to disrupt town hall meetings. They even charged her with calling the protestors themselves "un-American."
So, by the same logic, it's plain as day that Johnny Isakson, conservative icon of the American South, just called Sarah Palin "nuts." It's right there on paper.
How someone could take an end of life directive or a living will as that is nuts.
Here's another key quote. Says Isakson:
This was thoroughly debated in the Senate committee. It's voluntary. Every state in America has an end of life directive or durable power of attorney provision. For the peace of mind of your children and your spouse as well as the comfort of knowing the government won't make these decisions, it's a very popular thing. Just not everybody's aware of it.
Every state, huh? I suppose that includes Alaska? I didn't check. If so, was Sarah Palin's administration "downright evil," too? What kind of "death panel" did she oversee?
What a nutjob she is. And you can quote me. ;-)
UPDATE 1:
Per BentLiberal in the comments, Alaska does in fact have an end-of-life directive, which apparently Sarah Palin did not overturn during her (very brief) tenure as governor.
How could she subject her children--you know, the ones she never uses as political props--to such hostile treatment? It's downright evil. Also.
UPDATE 2:
In the comments, "CA Berkeley WV" clarifies that Isakson's amendment in the HELP bill markup was actually rejected because it went too far, requiring these consultations instead of merely reimbursing for them.
From columnist Connie Schultz:
The bipartisan effort's relevant section would require Medicare to cover the cost of voluntary end-of-life counseling sessions with a medical professional. The doctor would not be forced to bring it up, nor would the patient. In fact, an earlier version from Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson was rejected because it would have required an end-of-life consultation before a patient qualified for Medicare.
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