LOTUS

I've added a link in the right column under "Topics" called "LOTUS." Click on it and it will take you directly to Sarah Palin's Notes on her Facebook page.

Random Thoughts on Health Care - Pt. 3: Palin Responds and Scores

Obama, you're lyin'.

On Palin's Facebook response and media "fact-checking":

I have to say it's a risky move to pin your argument down to one section of the bill. That was the media's initial opportunity to take her statement, "fact-check" it, and say, "See! There's no mention of death panels!"

I kind of hope she broadens the argument into other arenas or other sections just so that the media will have a harder time pinning her down. Having said that, it's brilliant. She once again managed to instantly galvanize the whole discussion by going right for the throat and effectively accusing the bill of being a form of government murder.

Instant galvanization. Just like the David Letterman thing. Like Beck pointed out, she didn't just come out and say, "Leave my kids alone." She effectively said, "You're a dirty old man and your mindset contributes to the objectification of women in America. Apologize to all women." Like Joseph Livestro pointed out on C4P, she is framing the debate. Now, we need to be careful of the media's blinders when it comes to "fact-checking" her arguments.

Wisetrog on C4P said this: "The Dems tried to sidestep her argument by confining it to end of life arguments. She has responded to the end of life questions, she should move on and bring the debate to her turf which is rationing. She should expand on her last point and make it a debate about rationing."

I agree. Sarah started with the end result. Now it's time to unravel the rest of the thread. And I suggest doing it before the media has a chance to pick apart this latest post. Death panels are a result of rationing, rationing comes because there's too much demand and not enough supply, which will result because of these provisions in the bill, the cost, etc... and look at what's happened in other countries...

It's time to take the whole thing apart and kill it dead. Broaden the argument. She's gotta dance around. If she stays on the one point, they'll focus all their energy on discrediting or "fixing" that one point in the bill and then claiming it's all better.

All I'm saying is that the media was able to try and discredit her statements originally because she handed them just one section of the bill, which they then "fact-checked" and took her statement out of context (removed it from the rationing scenario) to say it just simply wasn't true and she's making stuff up. Perhaps a slight tactical error, but it doesn't really matter now:

She shoots. She scores!

On Sarah's Victory in the Senate Version of the Bill:

One down, about 28 million to go. In an obvious win for Sarah Palin the Senate struck out the end of life counseling provision. Yay.

Forgive me for not celebrating too loudly, but this is nowhere near over. Broaden, broaden, broaden. Go read her latest Facebook post and you'll see that she's doing just that.

Sarah got at least one section fixed. My fear with this approach was that if they did strike it (which they did) they could then claim, "Look, we fixed it! Are you happy now?" Which is why even though Palin could keep on pressing that one section, she really needs to not make that her only topic of conversation (which she isn't) and she must now broaden quickly (which she is). She already set the stage for this in her reaction to it being struck, saying that it was just one part out of many that causes concern and focusing more on rationing. Good, good, good!

Remember a couple of other things too. First off, this isn't even the final version of the bill. The House passed theirs. The Senate struck this one provision. Later they'll go into committee and hammer out a whole new bill reconciling the differences of the House and Senate. Do you get my drift? We don't even have the final version of the bill yet, let alone a guarantee that anything struck out won't just be slipped back in.

Secondly, this one section doesn't really solve the problem of death panels. This one section was only a piece of that, and Palin's already brought that up. She's also now hammering on the rationing point now quite nicely. Good, good, good. The spending and the framework of a committee like Britain's NICE are just a few other pieces of the bill that will lead to rationing and therefore government bureaucrats handing out care selectively, i.e., death panels.

Whether the section that was struck out is in the final version of the bill or not doesn't really matter. The bill itself as a whole will cause a shortage, and then the American version of Britain's NICE committee will start the rationing, whether we try and convince old people to end of their lives or not.

I hate to be a gloomy Gus, but we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. If this thing passes, that's it. The intrusion of government into our lives will be practically irreversible. Once we become dependent on the government for not only our financial well-being but for our very lives, we are in their hip pocket for good.

So now I say, Sarah, broaden the debate, and in her latest Facebook post she already is. Good. This was not the end of the battle, it was merely the first shot. This was a demonstration of Palin's power to shape the debate and shake up Obama. She won the first advance. Now, on to the war.

P.S. I also want to see Sarah say something about the new FCC guy and his regulations that will destroy talk radio.

I Don't Think She Gives a Rip

Sarah Palin's recent Facebook statement about Obama Deathcare has many wringing their hands saying that she's being too divisive. They say that she shouldn't have gone so overboard in using terms like "death panel." They claim this type of red meat is great for the conservative base, but just simply won't fly if she wants to run for President.

And that's where they miss the point entirely.

I don't think Sarah Palin gives a rip about being President in 2012. I really don't. If that's where this road leads, than that's where it leads. If not, that's even better.

Think about it. This woman was unknown to the world a year ago. On August 29th she did something that to her was probably very simple and logical: she accepted her country's call to run for Vice-President, arguably the most boring job on the planet.

A bit of a political earthquake has followed Sarah Palin wherever she's gone, but I don't think even she had any clue of how the Left was going to lose its head completely. With that speech in Ohio accepting the Vice-Presidential nomination, a chain of inevitable events was set into motion.

That chain ultimately shut down her ability to do her job as Governor and led her to where she is today, where a simple note on her Facebook page can send the entire media into a babbling conniption fit.

She hasn't been storming the country just yet. If you think about it the woman hasn't really had a day off since she signed up to run with McCain. And if she takes Obama on it's going to be a fight to the finish, so she better get some rest now while she still can.

What is Sarah Palin going to do? She's going to try and pull this country back from the brink of losing everything that it is. In so doing she will tell it like she sees it, "death panel" language and all. If that kills her chances of the Presidency, whoop-de-dung-doo. This country is more important than any one person's political ambitions.

Here's my take on her healthcare comments:

Human life at any stage and any level is worth protecting simply because it is human, not because of its supposed value to society. The words "death panel" may not be in Obama's bill, but that is the natural result of the circumstances the bill would create.

All you have to do is look at other countries in Europe that already have socialized medicine. This healthcare bill is the first step to what they've got. The elderly mean less than dirt over there. What Palin has done is reason things out to their eventual end. I don't think we want to go down that road.

Yes, we as individuals do sometimes have to make choices about when to pull the plug, but those are choices we should be making, not choices a centralized government bureaucracy should be making for us. If they really want to just bring prices down there are tons of other things they could do that would actually work.

And to those who think she's being too divisive: She's right. I don't think she gives a rip if she's ever Prez or not, and at this point, neither do I. Would I like to see that? Sure. But Palin's political future is not nearly as important as the lives of American citizens. If matters of life and death are not worth dividing people over, then nothing is. Kudos to Sarah for not being afraid to speak the truth. Keep it up.