Oregon Rep. Fights Palin, Gingrich Attacks

(CBS/ AP)  For more than decade in Congress, Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer has been known for his ever-present bow-tie and tireless advocacy of bikes.

So it is something of a surprise to the Portland Democrat that he has earned a new measure of fame in recent days - as author of a health-care provision that some critics say would set up a "death panel."

In a widely quoted Facebook posting, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin charged that federal bureaucrats would play God, ruling on whether ailing seniors or children with Down syndrome - such as Palin's son Trig - are worthy of health care. Palin called the proposal "downright evil."

Many news organizations - including The Associated Press - debunked Palin's claim. The provision that caused the uproar would authorize Medicare to pay doctors for voluntary counseling about end-of-life care.

"This is probably the most outrageous claim we've heard," Jonathan Cohn, senior editor of the New Republic and author of "Sick," said on CBS' "The Early Show" Thursday.

"There is a provision in the bill that they're moving through that if you want to write a living will, you want to talk to your doctor about it, you want to do it the right way … then Medicare will actually pay your doctor to sit down with you and do it. … That's all."

But Blumenauer says he is astounded that Palin and other critics have not tempered their bleak descriptions of the health care bill.

"It's deliberate at this point," Blumenauer said of Palin's failure to correct her Aug. 7 Facebook posting. "If she wasn't deliberately lying at the beginning, she is deliberately allowing a terrible falsehood to be spread with her name."

Blumenauer singled out another prominent Republican, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, saying he has "linked arms with Sarah Palin and death panels." While Gingrich has not used the term death panel, he has declined several opportunities to denounce Palin's claim.

"You are asking us to trust turning power over to the government, when there are clearly people in America who believe in establishing euthanasia, including selective standards," Gingrich said Sunday on the ABC's "This Week."

Blumenauer called the comments despicable and part of an orchestrated effort by Republicans to discredit the health care overhaul and scare seniors.

In nearly four decades of public life, "this is the starkest example I've ever seen of how, if we're not careful, political discourse dissolves into some type of partisan cage-fighting, where there are no rules and anything goes," said Blumenauer, 60.

A spokeswoman for Palin did not respond to requests for comment.

Rick Tyler, a spokesman for Gingrich, said Blumenauer was following a Democratic tactic of linking all Republicans to Palin.

"Obviously Newt didn't embrace her euphemism of death panels. But he said to the larger point, there is a concern that people have about allowing government to be involved in these decisions," Tyler said. "She's raising a point we should discuss."

Blumenauer said the measure he supports would merely allow Medicare to pay doctors for voluntary counseling sessions that address end-of-life issues. Topics include living wills, designating a close relative or a trusted friend as a health care proxy and information about pain medications for chronic discomfort.

The measure would block funds for counseling that presents suicide or assisted suicide as an option, Blumenauer said, calling references to death panels or euthanasia "mind-numbing."

"It's a blatant lie, and everybody who has checked it agrees," he said.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said this week that Palin and other critics were not helping the GOP by throwing out false claims.

"Quite honestly, I'm so offended at that terminology, because it absolutely isn't" in the bill, Murkowski said. "There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill."

Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Republican who co-sponsored a similar measure in the Senate, said it was "nuts" to claim the bill encourages euthanasia.

"You're putting the authority in the individual rather than the government," Isakson said. "I don't know how that got so mixed up."

Blumenauer said the controversy was helping Democrats in a "perverse way."

By continuing to spread a widely refuted claim, Republican critics are undercutting their own credibility, he said. The controversy has drawn more attention to the original proposal, which passed largely unnoticed when a health overhaul was approved by three House committees.

"This has taken on an outsized significance and so more people are paying attention to it than ever before," Blumenauer said. "I think you will see more people use this to say, 'What will happen to me if I am in an accident? Here's what I want.' More people are going to take matters into their own hands."

[woeisme1]

One problem with the republican extremists is they are stuck in time. We no longer live in the simple world the republicans like. They are like a cranky old man who has to have everything in its place, who is impatient and grumpy, who refuses to try new things like the internet because he's old school and sees danger in the internet and claims he cannot learn that. Ect ect ect ect.

The world is changing. We do not live in the 1800's anymore. Our economy, like it or not, is globally driven. Each nation these days in a very real sense is co-dependent on other nations...that includes the USA.

Our own country has become so fragmented with a host of citizens here that originated from other countries. That's what America is all about. Read the inscription on the Statue of Liberty for crying out loud. But the extremists don't like this. They feel threatened. Threatened that they are losing their country and they are, for as America moves forward into the world, the extremists, like the Taliban, want to keep the world as it was, just like the cranky old man.

The republicans are being stripped from prominence because like a tree limb, they have failed to bend in the breeze and so now they have snapped in the wind.

The republicans insist the world stay the way of antiquity. They want their white race to remain superior and at the head of the pack. This has caused debate even among the republicans. Some of the younger newly elected republicans which I respect (they are not the republican extremists) want America to move forward but the old school republican party says stand firm for what we believe. We will not grow nor change. That's a sign of weakness. Some of the younger republicans want the party to become more inclusive while those with the money and power want to keep the party limited to out-dated ideologies and mentalities.

These older republicans, bought by big corporate insurance and other business entities, are the ones stirring this anger and mis-information campaign against Obama and ANYTHING that he tries to do, including healthcare.

Democrats do not object in the least debating the healthcare issue or any other issue. But you extremists want to hi-jack those meetings with your childish behavior. That is what is objectionable because it robs Americans of the very thing you republicans shout about the most - FREEDOM! People cannot freely exchange ideas while extremists shout and yell and oh yes, threaten....that's right, THREATEN. Seven Senators and Congressman and Obama himself have recieved death threats. That's real democratic now is'nt it? More to come

[cameraphone]

I guess if lying is acceptable regarding Health Care, then here goes -

Once the conservatives defeat the Health Care initiative, they will end the State Socialism Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The only issue is whether to end it immediately or after one month so as to give people who are in a Hospice, Nursing Home or live only off of Social Security time to make other arrangements.

It is very unusual for conservatives to show the compassion of allowing people one month to make other arrangements for care.

[raskal_2]

I have a question? Why would the White house and democrats there of put up a window on the White house website to dispel rumors? Everyone knows that rumors without merit die of their own fruition. If there is reason to dispel a rumor then there is reason for the rumor and therein it is by defacto not a rumor. Who benefits from this bill is my real question.

[kansas1946]

Americans seem to have a lot easier time believing liars that anyone telling the truth, so let them die without insurance or adequate medical care, lose everything they own because of a medical emergency. You can not help people who are bound and determined to destroy themselves, and who would want to.

[speakinup22]

by pontesisto August 13, 2009 8:24 AM EDT
If you would like to help pressure Congress to pass single payer health care please join our voting bloc at:
http://www.votingbloc.org/Health_Bloc.php



pontesisto - I can see where a single payer care system would have advantages. A single EOB form and one customer no-service would be easier to negotiate than multiple for service care providers. I know this as I take care of my wife's EOBs - she's a Nurse Practitioner with her own business.

But I believe it is only part of the solution.

I believe we need to have competition among our health care providers to lower costs. This means the consumer must feel some of the varible costs within their own care, so as to cause demand for a lower cost and the competition it stimulates.

If we get all of these variable costs rolled into one overhead cost - there is no competition. I believe this is the reason for inflated costs. There is no check and balance of the invisible hand thoery involved. The patient doesn't care that their CPAP mask cost 1000 times more than it is to make it. Their perception is they are getting it for free after they have paid their monthly bill.

It is a shame that most people on here are making this a political issue instead of looking for ways to make something positive happen.

[RRBL]

My goodness, Republicans, pull your head out. We are not talking nuclear war or genicide or unjust war or unamerican activity or terrorism or heaven knows what else that could really devastate the country. We are talking about reforming "health care"....good grief...health care!!! Hardly an issue that requires such "drama". You people have gone nuts. Get a grip. Your overreactions are scaring me far more than the government actions. You are taking actions that will threaten our "peaceful" american existance over this. It scares me. Please reconsider your actions.

[pvperson3]

Poor Sarah needs her witch doctor to exorcise her demons again.

[brynaweiss]

Those screaming nuts at the Town Hall Meetings are there to disrupt, as is the usual way for Republicans. That's why we voted them out!! If they were for real, they would have actual questions and be looking for information or even to rationally express their concerns or differences. These are like the anti-abortion crazies who kill to get their way. It's ignorant, irrational and the news media should be making that clear, not acting like the country is angry at Obama. It's making me sick.

[TheMasses2016]

Take your Xanax hack.

[TheMasses2016]

I ponder why chonder turns this into a DC hate-fest.
There's a thread elsewhere for that.

[jschmidt27]

To Paraphrase Pelosi, "It's all the Democrats fault". They thought they could railroad through a bill that no one would pay attention to so they didn't explain it. Obama let Pelosi design it and really doesn't know the details. He's doing a bad job of selling it. But after the no-one-read stimulus bill that was vital to the survival to the economy has done nothing, and after the climate bill was railroaded through the House, even though it will result in an energy tax on people through increased energy costs, the voters have gotten wise to this tactic and are finally questioning. So Dems please don;t listen to the voters- just continue pushing through bills without listening and without explaining. But have your resume ready as you'll need it in 2010. The voters do not trust the govt or the Dems.