This is the face of "bipartisanship" in the healthcare reform debate. This is what Max Baucus insists on negotiating with, apparently with President Obama's blessing:
[E]arlier today during a radio interview with Iowa City’s KCJJ, Grassley steered the conversation with a caller toward rationing health care services among the elderly, one of the right wing’s favorite fearmongering tactics when it comes to health care reform. And as an example, Grassley cited Sen. Ted Kennedy’s (D-MA) brain tumor. Grassley said that in countries with government-run health care, Kennedy "would not get the care he gets here because of his age." Instead, the government would decide to spend health care resources on younger people "who can contribute to the economy":
GRASSLEY: In countries that have government-run health care, just to give you an example, I’ve been told that the brain tumor that Sen. Kennedy has — because he’s 77 years old — would not be treated the way it’s treated in the United States. In other words, he would not get the care he gets here because of his age. In other words, they’d say ‘well he doesn’t have long to live even if he lived another four to five years.’ They’d say ‘well, we gotta spend money on people who can contribute more to economy.’ It’s a little like people saying when somebody gets to be 85 their life is worth less than when they were 35 and you pull the tubes on them.
You can listen to the audio at Think Progress, which also details the numerous lies contained in that statement.
Update: And yes, as many commenters have pointed out, Sen. Kennedy--AND Sen. Grassley--are in government-run health care. They are covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefit plan, with the government--us as taxpayers--paying a large percentage of the coverage cost. And, since we pay their salaries, we pay their premiums, too.
