Last Call

I seem to recall Republicans spending the last two years saying Obamacare meant rationing of health care, and death panels, and the government deciding who lives and who dies, and other "fascist" nonsense.  So of course when Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels suggests that "we can't always pay for the most expensive technology" in our "aging society" to extend lifespans to "the very very last day", Republicans are going to disown him and shriek DEATH PANELS as loudly as possible, yes?

Democrats continue to be pilloried by the right for even suggesting anything in the ballpark of what Daniels is saying here, attacked by hacks like the WSJ's James Taranto.

"Government takeover," like "death panel," is a true description of ObamaCare's essence. These phrases are "inaccurate" only in that they cut through formal distinctions designed to deceive the public. (We wish we could use a barnyard vulgarity in place of the unwieldy clause "formal distinctions designed to deceive the public," but The Wall Street Journal is a family newspaper.)

"Death panel" was especially effective at cutting through the hockey. Lots of people warned about rationing, but, as PolitiFact grudgingly acknowledged, it was Palin's vivid language that "launched the health care debate into overdrive. The term was mentioned in news reports approximately 6,000 times in August and September, according to the Nexis database. By October, it was still being mentioned 150 to 300 times a week."

Many of these media mentions were disparaging, "raising issues," as PolitiFact prissily puts it, about "the bounds of acceptable political discussion." In other words, Palin's statement was widely propagated by journalists who thought it "unacceptable." Americans recognized the essential truth of Palin's words and strongly opposed ObamaCare.

Palin got the truth out with the help of journalists determined to bolster the deceptions at the heart of ObamaCare. She was instrumental in winning the political argument that looks increasingly likely to render ObamaCare's legislative victory a Pyrrhic one. Sarah Palin outsmarted the formerly mainstream media simply by being blunt and honest. That is why they burn with a mindless rage against her.

Palin's "blunt honesty" of course meant calling what Daniels here calls for -- families to have the option of end-of-life planning -- as "government death panels."

So will Daniels now be attacked by Taranto for agreeing with what President Obama was saying we need to do about health care costs?  Considering half of America thinks the PPACA has been repealed already, of course the Republicans will get away with it.  And they'll get the credit when they suggest "common sense health care solutions"  -- which will of course consist of what's still actually in the bill -- that will go into effect between now and 2014.

And hey, Republicans will have "fixed" Obamacare just like they ended slavery, passed civil rights legislation,

Pay attention to the plan, please.