Amy Sullivan, in the Time Magazine blog Swampland has discovered the Holy Grail of GOP hypocrisy. If you can recall the big give away to Big Pharma in 2003 that was known as the medicaid bill, you will recall that most Republicans voted for it, as Karl Rove told them do so, while most democrats opposed the large corporate welfare bill.
Well Buried in the text is the following.
Let's go to the bill text, shall we? "The covered services are: evaluating the beneficiary's need for pain and symptom management, including the individual's need for hospice care; counseling the beneficiary with respect to end-of-life issues and care options, and advising the beneficiary regarding advanced care planning." The only difference between the 2003 provision and the infamous Section 1233 that threatens the very future and moral sanctity of the Republic is that the first applied only to terminally ill patients. Section 1233 would expand funding so that people could voluntarily receive counseling before they become terminally ill.
Here is a link to the 2003 vote and how everybody voted.
In wingnut world, this bill would be much worse. It ONLY targeted the terminally ill. You know. This only was done for the scared grandmothers near death, as their options were overwhelming. This was perfectly acceptable.
A bill that allows counseling to people well before that point in 2009, OTOH, is pure evil with eugenics, dead grandmas, Trig Palin euthanized, and various and other sorts of evil involved.
Chuck Grassley btw voted for this bill. He is an asshole.