It turns out Sarah Palin's "death panel" craziness about her Down syndrome son Trig wasn't quite as original as it initially seemed.
On August 4 -- three days before Palin's deather rant -- Newt Gingrich made the same basic claim, asserting that through adviser Ezekiel Emmanuel, the Obama administration was seeking the "foreboding" and "threatening" power to "euthanize" Americans, putting "Down syndrome children at risk."
Given that Gingrich made his strange euthanasia claim three days before Palin, the fact that he vociferously defended her on Sunday shouldn't be any surprise.
Transcript:
Look at what Dr. Emmanuel has said, the President’s advisor who has certainly implied a willingness to consider euthanasia, and then you look at the historic record of euthanasia. You know, should Down syndrome children be at risk of the government, or should their lives be protected?
If you read the "communitarian standards" that Dr. Emmanuel describes, then it certainly sounds very foreboding and very threatening, and I think you can suddenly get people engaged in conversation and in debate who would not normally be engaged in it.
Gingrich was answering a political question about how conservatives should woo college students on issues like the health care debate.
Although he didn't say it, it's obvious that one of Gingrich's top strategies is to lie through his teeth.
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