By mcjoan, Daily Kos
Posted on August 25, 2009, Printed on August 26, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/http://www.dailykos.com//142201/
Perhaps finally having had enough of the rightwing mainstream Republican lies about government health care, the administration is fighting back with a detailed rebuttal.
The rebuttal includes a detailed fact sheet and a timeline, both of which were sent my way by an administration official and may be sent widely to reporters later this morning....
The claim — the right's latest effort to frighten the vulnerable about Obama's health care intentions — is that the manual steers veterans towards "predetermined conclusions" about "end-of-life choices." It's gotten tons of right wing and eventraditional media play.
The rebuttal points out that the manual, which is called "Your Life, Your Choices," is not an "advance directive" and "does not promote limitation of life-sustaining treatment, assisted suicide, or euthanasia." Rather, its goal is to help veterans "consider the types of health care they would want to receive if they were unable to make decisions for themselves" and to "think about and discuss their preferences" with family, friends, and doctors.
The fact sheet does note that the manual was determined under Bush to be in need of revision, and that it may be "too negative in tone and not sufficiently sensitive" to pro-life or disabled veterans. But the rebuttal strongly contests the core "death book" claim, and notes that the author of the original Op ed has offered a competing book, which is for sale.
You'd think they couldn't get more despicable in their lies than trying to convince old people that Democrats want to kill them, but this did it. And, as usual, it's full of Republican hypocrisy--they didn't particularly care about the sanctity of our troops' lives when they were cheerleading for Bush's Iraq debacle, an unnecessary war of choice that's taken thousands of American lives and left thousands and thousands more horribly damaged. Seems that the right's concern for the troops and our veterans only arises when there's a political gain for using them.
It's worth saying again--the Republicans' only hope for political survival will be killing comprehensive, real, healthcare reform, and they will go to any lengths to do so. There can be no "bipartisan" solution that's worth doing. Hopefully with this latest bogus attack, that reality has dawned on Obama.
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