Well, she managed to convince Sen. Grassley that Obama was going to euthanize Grandpa and Grandma so she probably thnks she's on a roll.

The real issue is why this individual was nominated for VP and why she's still being taken seriously.

This is my only reaction to Sarah Palin's opinions: I don't give a rat's ass what she says or how she says it.

Footnotes are EXCELLENT! And I love this new format! I only spent 4 years at one college, so I don't have the benefit of Sarah's multi-university and elongated approach.

Now that I know I can cite my friend's BS as long as it is posted up on the inter-tubes, research papers will be soooooooooo much easier and irrefutable.

In the last three months, my wife lost both of her parents. They were dyed-in-the-wool hard Republicans (although my f-i-l voted for Al Franken because he hated Norm!). They each had a health care directive in place. While it turned out that they each died without the need to turn to the directive, it was comforting to know that they had planned out what they wanted, should such a situation become necessary.

Up until the very day that each of them died, they had capacity to make the most basic decisions about their own care. It was comforting to know that they were allowed to go through the end-of-life on their own terms. Plus, it was doubly comforting to know that if they got into situations where they couldn't make decisions, they had already made their wishes known and no doctor or anyone else could force anything on them.

This whole "debate" is ridiculous beyond belief. If Ms. Palin was capable of any shame, she would put on the proverbial sackcloth and ashes and repent for being a willful tool.

Sarah Palin - bringing extra crazy in case someone forgot theirs!

At this rate her ghost writer will never finish her book by deadline....

What’s amazing is that every time Palin speaks she becomes even a bigger incoherent imbecile. She makes the birthers seems legitimate. I love that she makes her policy statements on facebook a place people go to get laid and post drunken photos of themselves

My friends, if you think Sarah Palin wrote that Facebook entry, I've got some hot real estate in California's Inland Empire you might be interested in. Go read it. Yeah, it's crap. But it has none of her characteristic incoherence. And footnotes? Are you kidding me?

"Oh the Humanity" Pulleeese it is more than I can take opening the TPM page and being greeted by Sarah's ugly puss...a thummbnail will suffice -I'm trying to keep my breakfast down and all.

What an asshole! GHW Bush signed end-of-life counseling into law in 1992.

What an ass- the only reason to maintain the pulse of a vegetative patient is billing, which drives up the cost of healthcare for people who haven't died yet.

Isn't she married to a professional snowmobile racer? Come on, relegate her to obscurity already!

Don't know who authored "Sarah Palin:Concerning the "Death Panels"" but it wasn't Granny Palin, unless she copied off of someone w/ her crayons

Does TPM have to use Palin's photo on it's home page? I almost upchucked my breakfast.

Flaunt it Baby, flaunt it!

I think Death Panels are bad! Because we shouldn't have Death Panels!

This is not something she just invented. During the campaign, after the point where McCain inked his deal with Faust, everytime he was called on his lying, his answer was always that he had a source.

I even blogged about it.

Coulter's entire career is built on this principle. It's just another permutation of the non-denial denial pioneered in the Nixon years.

MSM and bloggers alike need to demonstrate more judiciousness when it comes to reporting what Sarah Palin posts on a facebook page. her posts are obviously of some value, since she likely will be in the '12 presidential race. but she's a nutjob who has demonstrated time and again that she doesn't understand the basics of american democracy much less the nuances of the debate over health-care reform. worse, she's using social media to blatantly short circuit any scrutiny and accountability, and she's garnering legitimacy in the process. why make it any easier for her?

I would love to have Palin explain how voluntary consultations can be coercive. What mechanism exists to pressure the elderly to Just Choose Death if no mechanism exists to force them to have a discussion they don't want to have.

Palin is stupid. Every time she opens her mouth (or writes something) she simply reinforces that inescapable conclusion. I don't dispute her dishonesty, that too is beyond argument, but it is the pathetic nature of her lies that makes her stupidity undeniable.

Suggestion to any doctor having one of these consultations with a patient -- video tape the whole session. Otherwise, prepare to be accused of trying to coerce granny into moving to Oregon or Washington, contracting a terminal disease, and patiently waiting until she is within six months of death so she can be coerced into opting for physician assisted suicide. Don't record the discussion and you should expect to be sued for trying to badger granny into offing herself.

Palin is just a Tool...

A Tool for the Right to exploit fear of the Government (& Black people)

And a Tool on the Left for pointing out the absurdity of the right.

Lets keep hammering away at the Latter by pointing out the Former.

So, essentially, when she quotes the opinions of others, what she is really doing is coopting their support without actually getting that support. It does sound kind of high school level arguing, though. "Well, she denies it, but everyone says she slept with the quarterback!"

So given her logic, the alternative to talking about death with your doctor is not dying?? Because if we just deny it, it won't happen? How'd that work out with Bristol?

In all reality though, and I hate to say this, she did walk back from the actual death panel to deny her son healthcare claim. Whether you believe it or not, at least she is espousing an actual argument here....she doesn't want to fund talking about death because it may encourage people to die. Not logical, but not made up either and I'll take that as progress.

Eric,

Thanks for the great post, but I wish you would have spent more time demonstrating how ridiculous her statements are, footnoted or not. I know that here we see that woman's name and we know that whatever she's about to say is going to be BS, but unfortunately that's not the case for certain folks. I would have put forth the following points:

1. No matter how hard Republicans try, the fact that the Rahm's brother wrote some stuff that looks scary out of context does not mean that it will be the law for our country. One would hope that Palin recognizes that when a sibling does something, he or she doesn't act for the entire family (ahem, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/04/03/2009-04-03_gov_sarah_palins_sisterinlaw_diana_palin.html).

2. Palin's entire "death panel" idea is based around the assumption that if a senior has this conversation, he or she will immediately volunteer to have the plug pulled. It's too bad she (or her ghostwriter) didn't spend more time examining the bill, because if she did she would have noticed that the bill allows a senior to choose "The level of treatment . . . rang[ing] from an indication for full treatment to an indication to limit some or all or specified interventions." There is literally nothing stopping a senior from coming out of this so-called "death penalty" and demanding that he or she receive any and all health-care at the end of his or her life, regardless of cost.

3. I'm also loving that Palin, and the right, assumes that seniors are just doped up idiots who will do whatever a person in an authority position tells them to. I'd love to ask Palin: have you ever met a senior citizen? Because those I know, such as my grandparents, are irascible and stubborn, and while I love them with all of my heart, let me just say my entire life would be simplified greatly if they were even half as compliant as Palin makes them out to be. If I was a senior I'd be pissed that everyone assumes I just need a stern voice to tell me to die before I go ahead and do it.

Our current health care for profit system already has "death boards" in the form of insurance companies denying people's claims every day. What a shame that Palin's inaccurate assertions get air time, while the faults of the system as it currently operates go unmentioned.

You should read what some of Palin's supporters post on her FB page. Here's some of my favs:

"Sarah, just remember, it is the God inside you is why they are after you."

"Thanks Sarah for guiding us through this confusing bill!!"

"Sarah Palin is proof that God exists and that he answers prayer".

"With Sarah, it is about 'life' and 'living.' With Obama, it is about 'death.'"

"I do not like seeing the country torn apart, but if a revolution is what it takes...so be it."

"Someone said that you are a female Ronald Reagan. I believe that is the truth."

I wish I could find the ones comparing her to Esther and Jesus.

Oh, and now the crazy, crazy people are talking about "NSPD-51," a Bush-created presidential directive Obama will surely enact to give himself total control of the country, or something.