Sarah Palin, by way of Betsey McCaughey, popularized the 'death panel' meme leading to the 2010 Republican takeover of the House.
Ok, Sarah Palin is an Alaskan halfterm, halfwit governor with an agenda and a microphone. What's Mark Halperin's excuse?
One of the Beltway's best-known pundits gave credence this week to perhaps the fringiest of all Obamacare conspiracy theories.
In an interview on Monday with the conservative Newsmax, Time's Mark Halperin said that so-called "death panels" are enshrined in the Affordable Care Act.
"It's going to be a huge issue," Halperin said. "And that's something else about which the President was not fully forthcoming or straight-forward."
"So, you believe there will be rationing, a.k.a 'death panels'?" host Steve Malzberg asked Halperin, the co-author of the 2012 election chronicle "Double Down."
"It's built into the plan. It's not like a guess or like a judgment. That's going to be part of how costs are controlled," Halperin said before arguing that it's necessary to ration care.
On Planet Reality, the law specifically prohibits the Independent Payment Advisory Board from rationing health care.
Why, Halpo, why? This is no longer bad journalism, it's outright lying.
(He later clarified that he doesn't believe the ACA has death panels. So, who knows what that outburst was supposed to mean).