« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

MEMBER DIARY

“Death Panels” Are History: Sarah Palin Plays Her Detractors Like Fools

By: Swamp_Yankee (Diary)  |  August 13th, 2009 at 06:10 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

If “death panels” are a figment of paranoid and feeble minds, why did the Senate take the language out of their bill?

That’s what they just did. The language in the Senate Bill that correlated to Section 1233 of the House bill was stripped today. Senator Grassley stated that the “death panel” language was stripped because it could “be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly”.

While many opposed Section 1233, it was Sarah Palin who injected the idea of “death panels” into the public discourse. Sarah Palin can read. Not only did she understand the bill, she played the media and her detractors like fiddles.

Palin exploited their zeal to ridicule her. Their rush to ridicule only gave more exposure to the controversial language in Section 1233. When they continued to mock her, she “doubled down”. People began to pay closer attention to the “death panel” language and noticed its flaws. Now, the language is gone. Coincidence? I doubt it. Many criticized the language in Section 1233, but only when “death panels” entered the public discourse did the Senate remove the language from their bill.

Neither the wonkishness of Charles Krauthammer nor the self-absorbed fluff of Peggy Noonan reached Joe’s Tavern or Delia’s Diner. As usual, Sarah Palin did.

This may be a pyrrhic victory. There are provisions that are much more odious. If the Democrats make enough concessions, we may get a Massachusetts style plan that is palatable to Blue Dogs.

But at least for now, the non-reading, ponder free, hillbillies and mobs won day.

This Afternoon

This Morning

Tags: , ,
Get Alerts

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/2009/08/12/seniors-have-defeated-public-optiondeath-panels-next-battle-pre-existing-conditions/

  • Achance

    that could be understood; nobody else had been able to. I’ve never denied that she is a consumate politician of the finger in the wind sort. On this one, she put one in their wheelhouse.

  • aesthete

    That can be both a strength and a weakness (sometimes she oversimplifies, IMO), but in this case, she did a great job of getting to the core of the debate.

    The statement, in and of itself, is inaccurate, that much is true. However, the reality is that, by omission and through the use of “community standards” to judge treatment, the plan put forward by House Democrats will guarantee that rationing of this type occurs. Truth be told, Mrs. Palin’s leap isn’t really a leap at all, if you look at the incentives apart from those in section 1233 of the bill; rather, it’s the logical conclusion of this sort of program.

  • eburke

    be such an asset to the movement.

    I haven’t given 2 seconds thought to the 2012 race and don’t plan on it for about, oh, 2 more years, but whether Sarah’s the real thing or a faux conservative, she knows how to simplify issues, she knows how to relate them to the average Joe, and, most of all, she refuses to play the media’s game. This was a perfect example – they attacked….the lipsticked pit bull didn’t whimper and snivel and backtrack like half the GOP elected officials, she doubled down.

    I’ll take that approach every day for the next 15 months.

    • Swamp_Yankee

      She has theskill and the attitude, but she also has the outreach. Base conservatives might get exicted by an obscure Congressman, but they often dont reach masses.

      Palin Twitters something and a million people read it. She says something offbeat or controversial and it headlines every news station. Having a good product is one thing. Selling it is another. he reaches demographics that others don’t on levels that others can’t. She is an asset.

      • redneck_hippie

        to overturn threatened speciies protection of the polar bear.

        It’s been a year and I haven’t heard anything.

        http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083001538.html

        Yeah, Sarah brings a lot to the table. She’s a “public figure” who has that finger not only in the wind, but on the beating pulse of the Joe the Plumbers of this nation.

      • eburke

        Mike Pence, who I *love* (in a manly sort of way) can make the most cogent points in the world, and about 100,000 die-hard political junkies hear it because the lackeys in the MSM will simply ignore it.

        Sarah says something and the hate-filled misogynists in the media glom all over it in an attempt to destroy her. What they haven’t figured out yet is that while the brie and chablis gliteratti in Georgetown think she’s a hayseed hick cubed, Sarah has a natural ability that you can’t really teach of using political jujitsu to get her point across to Joe & Jane Sixpack…who the Georgetown crowd *also* disdains for the same reason. (this latest ‘death panel’ gig is a perfect example)

        I believe that what’s got a lot of people thinking she’s the next Reagan (anti-palinistas please note that I *didn’t* say she *is* the next Reagan) is that she shares his ability to do that time after time after time, and the media continues time after time after time to scratch their collective…..um…heads and mutter “I coulda *swore* we had her; how’s she do that. Reagan did that for *years* and the media *still* thought he was an idiot even though he handed them their a$$es for about 20 years.

        *That*, IMO, is what is Reaganesque about her and why she can be such an asset to us for at least the next 15 months.

  • RJD

    That is what each of us must continue to do. What Palin and others have shown is that will exposure, these reform bills will crumble. Piece by piece.
    Sect. 1233 is gone. The bill remains. It and the other four still offer an end resulting in government bureaucracy decision-making.
    These bills represent the “death panels” not just one small section.
    This is a great win for those of us that want honest reform. But it is not the carrot.

  • ColdWarrior

    Teleprompter Boy himself is on record, several times, talking about how 80 per cent of future healthcare spending will be spent on the elderly, how it doesn’t “make sense” to spend money on a hip replacement for an elderly patient, how it might “make more sense” to encourage elderly people in pain to just be put pain medication rather than seeking expensive medical treatments, etc.

    So, the single most important “cost saving” mechanism in Teleprompter Boy’s socialized medicine bill (according to him) has now just been gutted from the bill in the Senate.

    Caused by a single analysis on a Facebook page by a woman chastised by many for “giving up” and for not “knowing the issues.”

    I think she just may have redeemed herself in the eyes of many. Especially those in their twilight years.

    For those wondering what she was going to accomplish by “quitting” the governorship, I think we just witnessed her first accomplishment.

    Thank you.

    ColdWarrior

    • azaeroprof

      She caught a lot of ridicule, from both Teleprompter Boy and the media (not to mention some elitist conservatives!) for using inflammatory language. But if that really made her look as bad as some think it did, then why did the administration, and Obama himself, spend so much time *directly* confronting her comment and her language.

      Clearly, her words had an impact beyond what the so-called experts want to admit. The Palin detractors (including some at this site) may be reluctant to give her credit for the smarts to have intended for that impact. But I think she knew exactly what she was doing. Even Art has given her credit for having a pretty keen political instinct. And I think that her personal world view is pretty well aligned with many of the ordinary folk who are opposing Obamacare.

      I wish my facebook posts had one-millionth of the impact that hers do!!

  • Chris Chatham

    So let me get this straight.

    Of all the pundits, bloggers, and politicians that are speaking out against Obamacare the most damage inflicted to it came from the one woman who was considered by the establishment to be as low on the healthcare debate team depth chart as humanly possible.

    So the “intellectually curious” establishment’s campaign to destroy her and her family to the point that she quit actually opened up enough free time in her life to actually READ this 1,000 page pile of garbage and comment on it thus leading us into this point

    Dom’t blame us Washington. Your own ignorance and disconnect with your own constituents is what turn “Palin the Governor” into “Palin the crusader” to begin with. She’s your problem now! The rest of us patriots over here will sit back and watch to see just how deep this rabbit hole goes.

    • Chris Chatham

      Not to compare the two but

      What was the reaction when Ronald Reagan when he referred to the Soviet Union as an “Evil Empire?”