Throw Grassley from the train!

[babylonsister]

Throw Grassley from the train!
Joan Walsh


I've said this before: It's getting past time for President Obama to spell out specifics about which healthcare reform plan he supports, given the five House and Senate bills and umpteen other proposals circling Washington. And unfortunately for Obama's dreams of bipartisanism, it's way past time for him to give up his hopes that he can bring "sensible" Republicans on board with a smart, fair bill.

I've suspected that was true for a while, but today is the day to, well, pull the plug on that project. Unbelievably, one GOP senator who's been held up as a paragon of reason and bipartisan comity, Iowa's Chuck Grassley -- one of three Republicans negotiating with three Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee -- trashed Obama's plan today in terms that went beyond Sarah Palin's ignorant rant. (I debated Tony Blankley about this on "Hardball"; video at the end of this post.)

"There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life," Grassley told a town hall crowd. "And from that standpoint, you have every right to fear. You shouldn't have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you're going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don't have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."

"You have every right to fear." What a statesman! Where to start? There are at least five different healthcare reform bills vying for support, and their many provisions can be confusing, but there is not one sentence in any of the five that mandates either "death panels" or "pulling the plug on grandma" -- and Chuck Grassley knows that much much better than I do.

Let's try to take Grassley at face value: that he truly believes end-of-life counseling should take place earlier than the end of life (supposed "liberals" like Lee Siegel and Chuck Lane, cosseted Beltway softies like Grassley, say they agree). Perhaps Chuck and Chuck and Lee were prepared to gather with their team of lawyers, doctors, wives, children and accountants in, say, their 50s or even 60s (rich people live longer, surprise!) to decide on end-of-life/living-will questions. But many families don't have those resources, and they understandably don't get to those questions until they're unfortunately all too pressing and relevant.

It's wonderful that Medicare would pay for such consultations for people without the means to do it earlier under most plans Obama supports. And it's beyond cruel and shameful that a service meant to empower a low- to middle-income Grandma or Grandpa who didn't make prior plans is now being depicted as pulling the plug on her, or him. Grassley and his elitist buddies, liberal or conservative, should be deeply ashamed.

more...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/08/13/grassley_grandma/

[saltpoint]

1. Recommended. Grassley is the Ordinary made Lethal,

to steal a quote from Peter Shaffer.

[Wednesdays]

2. K&R

:kick:

[saltpoint]

3. Grassley says no counseling for the end of life.

Seems to me that's as good a time, or better, to have it.

And I don't have a problem having that service provided to people in the president's proposal. More counseling generally, in fact, might be a good idea for any number of folks.

Also I'm having a hard time believeing that sensible Iowa people are taking Grassley's idiocy all that well. I hope they flood his local offices with objections.

[rhett o rick]

4. No compromises. Strong public option or nothing. nm

[Thrill]

5. Obama is the only one who insists on mentioning him as someone

who is serious about health refor,. I don't get it.

[BlueIdaho]

6. Throw him UNDER the train...

His recent comments make clear he is a road block not a serious thoughtful voice. He takes great pride in derailing the process. He is a broken pencil - useless. Let him sit at the table but make sure any and all of his ideas are deleted from any final legislation.

Since he's such a religious man I'm sure he'll be happy to spend his eternal heavenly afterlife apologizing to all the people he helped die.


edit = typo

[TheKentuckian]

7. Obama should be assertively bashing Grassley's head in.

and the Republicans should be slammed with vitriol to boot.