What happens when suddenly the Republican party decides it wants to scare the shit out of a bunch of old people by telling them the new health care bill is going to include a provision in which “death panels” ask them “when they want to die”? Now all of the sudden Gingrich is violently against the same programs he was so windily praising earlier this year.
And make no mistake, this is exactly the same thing. The only thing that’s actually in the health care proposals is a provision that would allow Medicare to pay for exactly the kind of programs Gingrich praised, on a voluntary basis. The programs are not government-administered in any way, there’s just government money now to pay for the private programs. And now Gingrich is suddenly aghast at them:
Matt Taibi: Newt Gingrich Changes What’s Left of his Mind on End-of-life Care
August 16, 2009 at 4:39 am
The new progressive counter to that attack is to start asking conservatives why they want to end medicare and take away grandma’s social security. From what I’ve read, anyway. I hope it works.