WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is urging her supporters to oust lawmakers who come from districts she and presidential running mate John McCain won in 2008 and who voted for the health care overhaul.
Palin, the Republicans’ 2008 vice presidential nominee and a potential 2012 White House hopeful, launched a website Thursday to “Take Back the 20.” On a U.S. map, Palin places bull’s-eyes on the districts where, she says, “we’ve diagnosed the problem.”
“Join me in standing against those who stood with Obama and Pelosi in voting for this disastrous bill,” Palin says, referring to President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “The Democrats from 20 districts we carried in 2008 voted for Obamacare. Now we can vote against them.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — An insider‘s view of this year’s elections based on reports from around the nation.
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Palin urges supporters to vote for “good conservatives who will vote to repeal and replace Obamacare with patient-centered, results-driven, free market reform that provides solutions to people of all income levels without bankrupting our country.”
Palin, who resigned her office in 2009 and now contributes to the Fox News Channel, also posted on her Facebook page a claim that the Democrats’ health law includes “death panels,” a notion that is untrue, and funds abortions with tax dollars. The law allows health plans in new insurance markets to cover abortions, but they would have to pay with money collected directly from enrollees. No federal dollars could be used.
“Politicians who have vacillated on this issue need to be fired,” Palin wrote. “Candidates who don‘t support ’repeal and replace‘ don’t deserve your support. No amount of money spent on Washington‘s ’government-wide apolitical public information campaign’ (otherwise known as ‘propaganda’) will convince Americans that this awful legislation is anything other than a debt-driven big government train wreck.”
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman on Thursday came out against a ballot initiative that would indefinitely delay California’s landmark global warming law, saying she supports a more limited suspension.
Whitman has long advocated suspending the 2006 law for a year if she is elected governor, but she has deflected questions about her stance on Proposition 23. Her rival, Jerry Brown, the Democratic state attorney general, challenged her this week to take a position.
In a statement, the former chief executive of eBay said the ballot initiative fails to offer a sensible balance for protecting jobs and the environment.
“It is too simple of a solution for a complex problem,” Whitman said. “I believe that my plan to fix AB32 strikes the right balance for California.”
Proposition 23, which is primarily funded by Texas oil companies Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp., would delay the global warming law, known as AB32, until California’s unemployment falls to 5.5 percent and stays there for a year. That has only happened three times during the last three decades.
California‘s climate change law contains a provision that allows a governor to suspend the law for a year if its implementation would result in harm to California’s economy. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed the law to great fanfare in 2006, has not invoked that trigger.
The law requires the state to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020. The California Air Resources Board is currently developing regulations to implement it, including a cap-and-trade market, an idea that has failed to gain traction in Congress.
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Alabama state Rep. Robert Bentley says he spent his family savings, raided his life insurance and tapped into his retirement funds to finance his successful campaign for the Republican nomination for governor.
Bentley lent $1.9 million to his campaign during the Republican primary and runoff. The retired dermatologist told The Huntsville Times that he would have had to return to work to pay off the debt if he had lost the Republican primary.
Bentley has raised more than $3 million for his general election campaign, but campaign finance reports show he hasn’t started paying back the personal money he put into his campaign.
Bentley is favored in his campaign against Democrat Ron Sparks, the state agriculture and industries commissioner.
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Quick hits:
— Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern is trying to turn his profanity-laced attack on the tea party — caught on camera and circulated among Republicans — into a fundraiser for Democrats. In an e-mail on Thursday, Redfern said he won’t apologize and asked: “Do the Tea Partiers really think that what I said is worse than comparing President Obama to Hitler, or screaming that he’s not an American? Do they think what I said was worse than denying a child health care because of a pre-existing condition?“ Redfern then asked supporters to contribute to his ”swear jar to help us beat our opponents in November.”
— Retiring Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., will campaign with the fellow Democrat who wants to succeed him, Rep. Brad Ellsworth. The pair will make stops together on Friday across the state, hoping to boost Ellsworth’s campaign against former Sen. Dan Coats.
— Kentucky’s Senate candidates, Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Jack Conway, have committed to a fourth political debate, this one on Fox News on Oct. 3. They previously agreed to debate in Covington Oct. 11, in Paducah Oct. 14 and in Lexington at a statewide appearance on Kentucky Educational Television Oct. 25.
— Leaders of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO have decided to throw the labor union’s support behind Gov. Deval Patrick’s re-election bid. Patrick and many union leaders have been at odds over his efforts to curb police details at road construction sites, as well as to trim the state work force and revamp the state pension system. The union acknowledged those differences in its statement but says Patrick “has responsibly navigated budget shortfalls and joblessness without callously leaving citizens and families to fend for themselves.”
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Associated Press writer Samantha Young in Sacramento, Calif., contributed to this report.
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Boldnfresh
Posted on September 27, 2010 at 1:49pmI hope the Koch brothers and Fox are successful in their use of this puppet.
Report Post »Boldnfresh
Posted on September 27, 2010 at 1:34pmhttp://newadventuresofqueenvictoria.com/strips/big/naqv100926.gif
Report Post »Vox Populi
Posted on September 25, 2010 at 8:37pmI was encouraged by this article/blog post – encouraged because I was not fond of Palin stating she wanted to “repeal & REPLACE” obamacare…More to the point, it was the second part of her belief in the stated goal of R’s to “..replace…” obamacare. I do NOT want to offer the progressive R‘s to build upon the work of the progressive D’s – NO STATE HEALTHCARE OPTION!
…being able to hear Sarah finish her thought and that she supports replacing obamacare with a private sector/market based solution is an entirely different REPLACEment…
Report Post »JoeDE
Posted on September 25, 2010 at 8:35pmBesides the bad provisions of the health care bill, lets not forget all the other non-health provisions attached to the bill. Starting in 2010 there is a provision to levee a 3.8% sales tax on all home sales. What will this do to the housing market? This bill needed to be stopped.
Report Post »JoeDE
Posted on September 25, 2010 at 8:44pmI made a mistake on the date. The tax starts in 2013 after the election.
Report Post »neverending
Posted on September 25, 2010 at 1:21pmIs the Pledge to America perfect – far from it but it is a start. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that if the constant bickering, fingerpointing and back stabbing continues on nothing will happen except we‘ll be looking at bastard in chief’s SECOND INAUGURATION!!! Can we just stop trying to see who can make the most outlandish statements, my prediction is right and yours is wrong game and everybody get on board to SAVE OUR BELOVED GOD GIVEN COUNTRY!!!!
Report Post »sacrificeforkids
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 8:59pmAs I am now disabled , on Social Security Disability, Single Father with sole custody of my 12 yr old Son, along with a 27 yr old Daughter and two Grandkids 7, 4,, . I am collecting just under $2000 per month. Although I paid into S.S and Medicade for 35 yrs, I am not qualified for food stamps. You see in 06, it took Medicade over 1 yr to authorize my surgery for a fractured spine. The procedure is called a Lamenectomy, if my spelling is right, along with a Quad Discetomy. During that year long wait, I eventually ended up addicted to Morphine, Oxycotin and 4 other medications. While making provisions for my Child to get to School and back. By the time my case was heard in front of a S,S Judge, 2 years had passed, If not for my Father and Church, my Son and I would have been homeless. Now, Medicare is in controll of my Health Care, I have recieved numerous bills from providers claiming ”Medicare Deemed this procedure unnessassary..The reason I am posting this is I would rather be homeless, then have the Government putting my Children and Grandchildren in debt. And if you don’t think that the Government would ration Health Care, I can assure you not only can they , they will..
Report Post »Hoser
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 7:52pmI find it indeed interesting that a woman — unelected — is FAR more active politically than any other elected republican official in Washington. [With exceptions] The republican party has little in way of leadership, and at any level. The latest The Pledge To America, though a noble effort for the belt-way republican party, still is light on curbing out of control spending. (To 2008 levels, it reads! Oh, wow. Such audacity.) Once again it proves the party has little idea understanding “why” the Tea-Party, 9-12, and the Glenn Beck Movement are so popular.
Report Post »MozarkDawg
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 7:51pm>>Palin, who resigned her office in 2009 and now contributes to the Fox News Channel, also posted on her Facebook page a claim that the Democrats’ health law includes “death panels,” a notion that is untrue, and funds abortions with tax dollars. The law allows health plans in new insurance markets to cover abortions, but they would have to pay with money collected directly from enrollees. No federal dollars could be used.<<
*****
Yep, obviously written by an *insider* because any outside objective person understands that a group of people (panel) endowed with the authority to determine who shall receive care/medicine and who shall not, the latter resulting in death falls under the colloquial euphemism "death panel" — simple as that.
An outside objective person is also aware that money is fungible, and unless SPECIFICALLY denied by the HHS authorization legislation which must be passed and signed EVERY year, federal funding of abortions shall take place — it already does. "Money collected from enrollees" is not, cannot be dedicated or denied to one procedure or another; geez, people who fall for this line are really not exercising the brain cells.
Report Post »NHABE64
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 6:57pmI never thought I would say this but…
PALIN/BECK IN 2012!
After years of corruption and disgusting politics in Washington, maybe just maybe its time to cast out those insider devils and beltway boys and girls who think they are hot stuff. I don’t. I happen absoutely like Sarah Palin and I like the fresh air she brings to Washington and anywhere else she goes. Glen is driven by God and love of country, so what’s wrong with that. Obama has little or no knowledge of how to run a country so why not give a Christian Patriot a chance ? I would just love to see Sarah Palin go to Washington and kick ass with those self-styled elitists who seemt to have forgotten who their bosses are. US! We are their bosses and they must be held accountable to US. I will deliver flyers, I will go door to door, I will do whatever this old vetean can do to support Sarah and Glen win in 2012. Of course we have work to do in November and boy is there going to be some people getting pink slips in Washington. Hooyay! What else to say but GO SARAH, GO GLEN!!
Report Post »a simple patriot who loves this country!
badeye
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 4:23pmIf we don’t take this Country back from the control of the Communist Muslim sitting in the White House, America is Doomed. The Tea Party is America’s last hope.
Report Post »walkwithme1966
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 10:51pmExcuse me Badeye but he is not a communist and he is not a Muslim – you can disagree with his policies but you can’t make up your own facts! You have no proof of either one of those statements Thank you1
Report Post »cbs71
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 2:12pmMore power to her.
Report Post »BRAVEHEART
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 1:48pmThe fundamental transformation of America into a globalist socialist marxist slushfund is nothing less than backstabbing Treason of the highest order. We are rushing headlong into cataclismic tyranny and oppression if this anti-American socialist insanity isn’t stopped now ! Its critical decision time for all real American patriots ! Stand up now and never back down to the leftwing global-elitist Anti-American tyrants!
Report Post »BRAVEHEART
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 1:25pmThe Fundamental Transformation of America into a Global Socialist Marxist Slushfund is nothing less than backstabbing Treason of the highest order. We are rushing headlong into Cataclismic tyranny and oppression if this anti- American Socialist Insanity isn’t stopped NOW ! It’s critical decision time ! for all real American Patriots. Stand up and NEVER back down!
Report Post »conservigal
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 12:34pmGod Bless Sarah Palin and
Report Post »Bless God America.
He wins this war, whether we are on His side or not.
I take great comfort in that.
We give out Bibles and Constitutions at our two retail locations
What are you doing?
Prospero
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 12:08pmThank *God* the rest of the whole nation has finally gotten wise to the drivel of twisted morons like yourself. Soon you will be disempowered politically, and then if all goes well your entire philosophy will be rendered a trivial comedy that nobody ever takes seriously again.
Report Post »Clive
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 11:52am“death panels” are meant to scare the dumbest of the right wing… and it works, you guys a terrified of everything. no one is going to kill your son or grandma for the reason of cost. Do you honestly think that will happen? Has anything that she ever warned of, actually come to pass? No. You don’t have to be SUCH p*ssies guys.
Report Post »Prospero
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 11:59amIdiot writes: “no one is going to kill your son or grandma for the reason of cost. Do you honestly think that will happen?”
What a total rube. Why do we have Obamacare? To bring down the high cost of healthcare, to extend benefits to those who are uninsured because they can’t afford it.
How can anyone fail to believe that what is happening in ever other country with nationalized healthcare will not happen here?
Look, stupid, once the government takes over the only thing that matter is the cost. We no longer have a free-market industry in which the motive is to produce the finest possible life-saving technology regardless of cost.
What we have now is a bureaucracy where cost is the central focus. The most costly part of medicine is *medical treatment* you buffoon. It is also the only area for cost savings at the discretion of the government.
Obama has *already* stated that several types of medical treatments are wasteful luxuries. Are you even paying attention, or do you just run your piehole from a position of total ignorance as a matter of habit?
Report Post »Prospero
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 12:04pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-dQfb8WQvo
Here you are, moron. Here’s a nice video of Obama suggesting old people just be let die…live. Enjoy.
Report Post »guts8904
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 8:30pmmy friend Clive, you must be part of mr. holder’s bunch.the cowards thing. miss sarah is a great lady, probably has much more courage than you could ever imagine. the sleeping giant is starting to awaken.
Report Post »baldwin4freedom
Posted on September 25, 2010 at 1:31amThe difference on this issue and many others is whether the government should dictate how we live or die versus an individual’s right to live or die how they choose.
Why it is important not to accept anything from the government is because you will pay for it down the road when you are not ready or able.
Once private charities and churches regain their standing in society, there will be no need for government entitlements. For our country to go in the right direction the people must look within themselves for the solutions, not to government. The government could screw up walking a person across the street, least wise anything else more complex.
Report Post »Springfield Reformer
Posted on September 25, 2010 at 11:06amClive, You evidently do not work in elder law. As an attorney I can tell you, yes, absolutely, there is a cabal of lawyers, judges, and private citizens who routinely prematurely terminate the lives of healthy elderly people for economic benefit. Your lack of knowledge in this area, and many others with you, is one of the primary forces empowering these vile souls. If everyone who is young, as you doubtless are, could see what their own life would be like when they have become dangerously old or infirm, there would be virtually no support for Obamacare, which, as the other posters have very effectively and correctly pointed out, does indeed enable and institutionalize the “death for dollars” mentality that so degrades the modern practice of elder law.
Report Post »Star Spankled
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 11:47amThe bill does not call them “death panels” but what would you call it when some number cruncher in the government can decide when you’ve had enough health care , or when health care for you is no longer feasible ? They can decide your health care is no longer cost effective and they cut it . What happens to those people ? They will die for lack of health care . That is a death panel .
Report Post »Deutscher
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 10:07amShe is a huge personality who defies the conventional wisdom of politics. I give her full credit for her beliefs and how she (sucessfuly) promotes them. But when she steps out of her role advocating for candidates she is on thin ice. The “Death Panel”assertion is simply a false reading if the end-of-life counseling provision. To repeat it this way is unfortunate because it’s simply not true. If you dint like the bill there is lots to complain about without having to scare people with untruths it brings her status down among independents who see it as an unnecessary exaggeration or lie
Report Post »Okpulot Taha
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 10:29amDEUTSCHER appears to not have read the 2,000 plus page Obama Health Scare Bill, “The ‘Death Panel’ assertion is simply a false reading….”
Section numbers are based upon the original HR3200 version.
Section 1162: Mandates government can disqualify individuals from private health insurance, specifically Medicare Advantage plans. Those elderly currently enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans through private insurers can be kicked out of those plans by government discretion. This is a provision to remove the elderly from health care plans. This is a certain, very certain, “death panel” provision; “drop dead grandma, you are too costly.”
Section 1172: Mandates government deny health insurance to special needs people. Very clearly wording in this section is designed to exclude special needs kids from health care. Sarah Palin’s Trig would be denied health care through this provision. This is a “death panel” provision designed to have special needs people simply die. You have Down’s Syndrome, drop dead you are too costly.
Section 1233: Mandates government urge patients to seek death hospice services rather than treatment. Although allegedly removed from the HR3200 bill, this provision exemplifies the thinking of left liberals. This thinking is old folks should simply drop dead. This thinking is attaching a cheap price tag to the value of life.
Section 1751: Mandates government will decide which illnesses will be treated and which will not. Another very clear “death panel” inclusion. This allows the government to decide which illness will be treated and which will not. This section is the most horrific of all. This is absolutely a “death panel”. This allows for backdoor euthanasia of Americans. You have a disease the government decides not to treat, tough luck, pound sand white eyes.
Bottom line on all of this is Barack Obama intends to create death panels and intends to kill American citizens, especially the disabled and the elderly.
Okpulot Taha
Report Post »Choctaw Nation
Prospero
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 11:53amIdiot writes: “The “Death Panel”assertion is simply a false reading if the end-of-life counseling provision.”
Heh heh heh! What a tool. You have a team of unelected officials, working for the government, who don’t know you and are not your friend or relative, and they decide that it’s time for you to die.
You can apply lots more syllables to that, if you wish, but the reality is unchanged. A death panel.
Report Post »Deutscher
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 12:16pmOk. I will not profess the ability to properly address the above assertions in a legal context as I don’t have a legal degree. And unlike some here I also don’t have the time during the day as I have to work. There is undoubtedly language in the bill that needs to be stripped or replaced.from what I know of it I don’t like it. Most of the issues you raise are current problems with the system. Special needs kids, people with ore-existing conditions etc currently could not ( well this changed today I think with the new law) buy insurance. People who do have insurance are at the whim of the insurance company as to what they will cover anyway and people know that. No one ( even countries with socialized medicine) euthanizes Grandma. To assert such things turns off independents is my point. Argue anginst the many factual failings if the bill.
Report Post »And please don’t obfuscate with quoting various snippits of the bill. She brought up the death panel idea ( honestly or not ) as part if the end if life counseling portion of the bill. Having been through similar situations with my family it is important everyone have thier wishes clearly spelled out, or often family members just beg doctors to go on far longer than they should to ease thier own conscious over thier lovedones eventual death. Regardless of this bill it’s important I think alot of independent minded people know this and see Death Panels as a distraction that bleeds credibility from those who promote it.
wingedwolf
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 9:57amI am disturbed by the assertion that there aren’t death panels in the medical takeover bill. I HAVE READ THE BILL. And no, they certainly are not called death panels. But I don’t know what else you call it when the “health commissioner shall have absolute authority to determine when life-continuing treatment shall be stopped and palliative (pain and comfort) care shall be administered.” For many years, hospitals have been euthanizing patients at the insistence of insurance companies, who refused to pay for care after a certain day for a terminal patient at the end of life. Did everyone not see the specials on the 60 minutes or Primetime or whatever shows, there were several of them several years ago where doctors told nurses to turn up the morphine drip until the respirations stopped? Isn’t that euthanasia? Or murder? Whatever name you give it, someone has taken an action to do something that stops a heart from beating before it would have stopped on it’s own, When the insurance company asks the doctor how long, and the doctor says “4 days” and the insurance company calls back and says “3 days.” Surely I wasn’t the only viewer who saw that. The medical takeover bill makes that legal and seeks to standardize that as a practice. The “counselling” old and dying patients people are to be receiving is to get them to appoint a doctor or other non-family member by signing a pre-directive allowing people with no interest in the patient whatsoever to decide when they no longer have a quality of life worth supporting with medical care. I don’t know what the average American who can read and comprehend the English language calls that, but I certainly call it a death panel. Or a death directive. It certainly is not a directive supporting life. So how about when a baby is born with Downs Syndrome? Or Cerebral Palsy? Or Spina Bifida? How about if your 13 year old is in an accident and unconscious, but known to be paralyzed if he regains consciousness? I could make a longer list, but remember, the health commissioner shall have absolute authority……
Report Post »Grandfather Z
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 9:43amOne must recognize the valiant efforts of the person called Sarah of Alaska, she is hell bound for the truth, even if those who are incurring the efforts of stealing our liberties on at the time fail to recognize the hatred We the People have for them. They too will pass in the night of Americas history. Why, because We the People are hard-wired for freedom and we will tolerate nothing less than to be left alone to our personal demise.
Report Post »If anything she serves a greater purpose in the undertaking in her role. She has left the podium of the Governorship for the National stage to expose the lies of this criminal administration led by one baracq-hussein-obamas Bin Ly’n. Long live and may God bless her and her tribe.
tobywil2
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 8:56amVote for a conservative? Many years ago, Ayn Rand was ask if she were a “Conservative”. Her answer “There is nothing left to conserve, I am a radical for Capitalism!” http://commonsense21c.com/
Report Post »Prospero
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 11:54amAyn Rand was an Objectivist. What would we expect her to say about a competing philosophy?
Report Post »BQI
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 8:17amSarah represents the values and determination that will help to restore what made America great. She is something to behold.
Black Conservative Blog. http://www.blackquillandink.com
Report Post »Marylou7
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 8:12amSarah thank you so much for not letting this admin or anyone else get to you. Hold’em to the fire.
Report Post »megansmom
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 8:05amWanna make a bet on those death panels? Who do you think is going to pay the price when the government can not pay the bills? They are already cutting Medicare and have a full life scale in play.
Report Post »Just plant more trees Arnold. If you plant more trees they’ll breathe in the CO2 and exhale more oxygen for us. Plants are God’s air filters.
Who cares what the unions want.We all know there leadership is as dirty as it gets.
Hey Chris could a republican go a rant against you and the Dems and use it for a fund raiser? But at least you have cajones and aren’t backing down.
tobywil2
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 9:23amOur President has a courageous plan to save both Social Security and Medicare – read on!
The Social Security Trust Fund is almost bankrupt and the Medicare trust fund is bankrupt. The problem has been apparent for years but until now no one has advanced a plan to save these popular programs.
At last, our President has the courage to propose a solution! It is so simple that one wonders why no one thought of it before. The solution?
Enact a “Health Care Reform Bill” the severely rations health care to the elderly. This will save the Medicare Trust Fund and allow it to be used to reward the Presidents political cronies and provide health care for “deserving Illegal Aliens.”
Deprived of medical care, the lifespan of the elderly will be reduced, depleting the number of recipients of the Social Security Trust Fund, saving that popular program.
Both problems solved! Why did it take so long to find such a simple solution?
Of course, the Congress and the President are exempted from the solution so they can perpetuate the problem.
Report Post »http://commonsense21c.com/
txbigfoot
Posted on September 24, 2010 at 10:27amTobywill2
get off the drugs
I know you wont go look so here
It’s now six months since President Obama took control of one-sixth of the private sector economy with his health care “reform,” and the first changes to our health care system come into effect today. Despite overwhelming public dislike of the bill, we were told that D.C. knows best, and there was nothing to worry about, and we’d be better off swallowing the pill called Obamacare; so, in defiance of the will of the people, the President and his party rammed through this mother of all unfunded mandates. Nancy Pelosi said Congress had to pass the bill so that Americans could “find out what is in it.” We found out that it’s even worse than we feared.
Remember when the president said, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor”? Not true. In Texas alone a record number of doctors are leaving the Medicare system because of the cuts in reimbursements forced on them by Obamacare! The president of the Texas Medical Association, Dr. Susan Bailey, warns that “the Medicare system is beginning to implode.”
Remember the Obama administration’s promise that Obamacare would cut a typical family’s premium “by up to $2500 a year”? Not true. In fact, fueled by reports that insurers expect premiums to rise by as much as 25 percent as a result of Obamacare, Senate Democrats are contemplating the introduction of price controls.
Remember when the president said in his address to Congress that “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions”? That turned out to be yet another one of those “You lie!” moments. We found out that Obamacare-mandated high risk insurance pools set up in states like Pennsylvania and New Mexico will fund abortions after all.
Remember the promise that Obamacare would “strengthen small businesses”? Not true either. The net result of Obamacare is that small businesses will face higher health care costs, new Medicare taxes, and higher regulation compliance costs, while the much-hyped health care tax credit for small businesses turns out to be almost impossible to obtain.
Remember the president’s promise that his bill would ensure “everyone [has] some basic security”? False again. Besides the great uncertainty that Obamacare hampers businesses with, companies now find it is actually cheaper to pay the $2000 per employee fine imposed by Obamacare than to keep insuring their workforce. This leaves millions of American workers at risk of losing their employer-provided health insurance.
And remember when the Obama administration said they would not be “rationing care” in the future? That ol’ “death panels” thing I wrote about last year? That was before Obamacare was passed. Once it passed, they admitted there was going to be rationing after all. There has to be. The reality of Obamacare is that it enshrines what the New York Times called “The Power of No” – the government’s power to say no to your request for treatment of the people you love. The fact that the president used a recess appointment to push through the nomination of Dr. Donald Berwick as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells you all you need to know about this administration’s intentions. After all, Berwick is the man who said, “The decision is not whether we will ration care – the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”
By the way, when the administration was talking about that independent board that has the statutory power to decide which categories of treatment are worthy of funding based on efficiency calculations (that, again, sounded to me like a panel of faceless bureaucrats making life and death decisions about your loved ones – which, again, is what I referred to as a “death panel”), it was another opportunity for Americans to hear the truth about Obamacare’s intentions.
So, yes, those rationing “death panels” are there, and so are the tax increases that the president also promised were “absolutely not” in his bill. (Aren’t you tiring of the untruths coming from this White House and the liberals in Congress?) When the state of Florida filed a challenge to Obamacare on the basis that the mandates in the bill are unconstitutional, the Obama Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss the suit by citing the Anti-Injunction Act, which blocks courts from interfering with the federal government’s ability to collect taxes. Yes, taxes! Once the bill was passed it was no longer politically inconvenient for the Obama administration to admit that it makes no difference whether the payment is a tax or a penalty because it’s “assessed and collected in the same manner.” The National Taxpayer Advocate has already warned that “Congress must provide sufficient funding” to allow the IRS to collect this new tax. Pretty soon we’ll be paying taxes just to make it possible for the IRS to collect all the additional taxes under Obamacare! Seems as if this is another surprise that the public found out about after the bill was rammed through.
But perhaps the most ridiculous promise of all was the president’s assurance that Obamacare will lead to “bending the curve” on health care spending. Yes, rationing is a part of the new system, and yes, Obamacare does raise taxes. But because the new government managed system is so incredibly complicated and expensive to run, health care spending will actually rise instead of fall. Don’t believe me? Then take a look at the Congressional Budget Office’s admittance that the CBO’s original estimate of the total costs of the bill were off by around $115 billion. Its new estimate is now above $1 trillion, and even that may be way too low. A more realistic figure calculated by the Pacific Research Institute puts the number at $2.5 to $3 trillion over the next 10 years! This is probably what President Obama was referring to when he admitted recently that he had known all along that “at the margins” his proposals were going to drive up costs. Give us a break! Only in this administration would they refer to a $3 trillion spending increase as “marginal.” Next time he comes to us with another one of his harebrained proposals for a budget-busting federal power grab, let’s make sure we remember the president’s admission that he was lying all along when he told us his health care plan was going to cut costs. He is increasing costs. He admits it now. Period.
Higher costs and worse care – is it any wonder why people are overwhelmingly in favor of repealing and replacing Obamacare? Politicians who have vacillated on this issue need to be fired. Candidates who don’t support “repeal and replace” don’t deserve your support. No amount of money spent on Washington’s “government-wide apolitical public information campaign” (otherwise known as “propaganda”) will convince Americans that this awful legislation is anything other than a debt-driven big government train wreck. We need to repeal and replace it, and that can only happen if we elect a new Congress that will make scrapping Obamacare one of its top priorities. We can replace it with pro-private sector, patient-oriented reform that the GOP has proposed.
On March 23, when Obamacare was signed into law, I launched my “Take back the 20” campaign, focusing on 20 congressional districts that John McCain and I carried in 2008 which are or were represented by members of Congress who voted in favor of Obamacare. They need to be held accountable for those votes. They voted for Obamacare. Now we can vote against them. We need to replace them with representatives who will respect the will of the people.
That’s why today I’m launching a new Take Back the 20 website at http://www.takebackthe20.com!
TakeBackthe20.com provides information about the candidates in these 20 districts who are committed to repealing and replacing Obamacare. It has links to their personal websites and their donation pages. It allows you to read up on them, and then support them in their race to defeat those who gave us this terrible bill.
We have to send Washington a message that it’s not acceptable to disregard the will of the people. We have to tell them enough is enough. No more defying the Constitution. No more driving us off a financial cliff. We must repeal and replace Obamacare with patient-centered, results-driven, free market reform that provides solutions to people of all income levels without bankrupting our country.
It’s time to make a stand! Let’s take back the 20!
- Sarah Palin
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Posted on September 24, 2010 at 11:15amWe are already with her on this…Can you say Tea party???