Friday, September 11, 2009

Joe Scarborough Exposes Deather Gov. Pawlenty (Transcript, Video 9-11-09)

I found the transcript and video on The Hill's Blog Briefing Room. Joe deserves credit for having the decency to challenge the insanity of the Republicans, even if he is one.

Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe today, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) refused to distance himself from the claim that healthcare reform would lead to "death panels."

Pressed repeatedly by host Joe Scarborough, Pawlenty, a possible 2012 presidential candidate, called death panel concerns "legitimate" and suggested the high cost of care would lead bureaucrats to start deciding who lives and dies.

Here's the exchange. The empasis is mine. (Video of the exchange is below):

SCARBOROUGH: There's nothing in any of these bills that would "pull the plug on granny," is there?

PAWLENTY: ...Here are the facts. You did have in an earlier version of the bill a provision that said the federal government would encourage and incentivize end of life counseling. That concerned people, to have the federal government involved in that. So it's a legitimate question. Even if that is removed, there's concerns that this thing is going to be so expensive they're not going to be able to afford all that's promise, and somebody's going to have to make a decision to cut back, and peple are concerned that if the federal government does that--have them rationing care, that's a real problem. And so those are not irrational concerns based on those facts....

SCARBOROUGH: But but, there are no death panels here, though. Counseling is one thing. Having three people lining up and saying 'granny dies, grandpa lives,' that's quite another. You can't get there from here.

PAWLENTY: Well what happens--Joe, what you call it or label it, but I think the facts are these: if you have a system like the United Kingdom where---

SCARBOROUGH: But we don't. We don't governor. With all due respect, this does not give us a system like the United Kingdom. I'm talking specifically about this bill. How does this bill get us to "death panels?" You don't believe it does, do you?

PAWLENTY: Joe what if it becomes so expensive, and the trajectory of it is even close to what's being predicted 10 years out that they can no longer afford what they promised, and somebody has to scale back care, and the government is now empowered to do that.

And if you look at examples around the world where that takes place, there are concerns about care being cut back by a federal government instituation, and we can have a legitimate discussion about whether that's good or not. I don't think it is.

SCARBOROUGH: Governor, what in this bill, though, let's be specific, what in this bill leads us to that position, gives a bureacrat that power 10 years from now....what in this bill could lead someone to rationally believe that a death panel might emerge in a decade. Based on this legislation.

PAWLENTY: Joe there is nothing in the legislation directly that says that. It's the indirect concerns that i'm trying to articulate that I think are at least worth raising.

Anti-Abortion Activist Gunned Down Outside Michigan High School

There won't much outrage over this shooting. And it won't be plastered all over the media. This article was found predictably on FOXNews. There shouldn't be double standards. Political violence (assuming that's the case here) is political violence. It shouldn't be tolerated especially in a free society.

A well-known anti-abortion activist was shot multiple times and killed Friday morning in front of a Michigan high school, and another man was shot and killed just miles away in what police are investigating as related incidents.

Owosso police chief Michael Compeau said Jim Pouillon, 63, was outside the school Friday morning with a sign when a man drove by and shot him. No one else was injured.

Michigan State Police have taken a suspect into custody, the Flint Journal reported.

The school was placed on immediate lockdown, though no students were hurt or involved in the shooting, Ossowo Hish School officials told the paper.

NY Post Cover Today: Nothing on 9-11 Anniversary

The NY Post which is owned by Rupert Murdoch (who also owns FOXNews) has no mention of the 8th anniversary of September 11th on it's cover. It does have a section entitled, "NFL Bettor's Guide." This is the same rag that compared Obama to a dead monkey.