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Wash. Post admits its editorial page populated by un-thoughtful persons

August 22, 2009 5:46 pm ET by Matt Gertz

From today’s Washington Post editorial, “Scare Tactics Evade Debate on Real Health Care Issues”:

EZEKIEL EMANUEL, one of President Obama's top health advisers, is a respected bioethicist who opposes euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. When the Supreme Court was considering the constitutionality of state laws that prohibit physician-assisted suicide, Dr. Emanuel was an outspoken opponent of the practice. He warned it could be abused "to justify using euthanasia for children, the incompetent, the mentally ill, and others who are suffering or who we imagine are suffering in some fashion." So it is grotesque that Dr. Emanuel has become the latest bogeyman -- the "Dr. Death" behind the "death panels" -- for opponents of the Obama administration's push for health-care reform.

[…]

Dr. Emanuel's writings reveal him to be a thoughtful person grappling with difficult ethical issues. The same cannot be said of his critics, who seem less intent on discussing what is in the health reform proposal than in deploying scare tactics to defeat it.

From Washington Post columnist Bill Kristol’s August 31 Weekly Standard column:

Conservative policy wonks helped to explode the false budgetary and health-improvement claims made on behalf of Obamacare. Conservative polemicists pointed out how Obamacare--conceived in the spirit of budget chief Peter we-spend-too-much-as-a-nation-on-health-care Orszag and adviser Ezekiel we-need-to-stop-wasting-money-on-extending-low-quality-lives Emanuel--means, in effect, death panels.

So good for them.

Good hire, guys. Clearly a welcome and valuable addition to the Post family.

And yes, Kristol “deploying scare tactics to defeat” the health reform proposal rather than “discussing what is in” it was entirely predictable.

Expand All Expand 1st Level Collapse All Add Comment
    • Author by ReasonAndResolve (August 22, 2009 10:33 pm ET)
      5  
      Kristol is despicable.

      Zeke Emanuel, as near as I have been able to tell, is the kind of man I would want caring for my 70 year old mother.

      I wouldn't trust Kristol to care for a goldfish.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Limit Corp. Ownership (August 22, 2009 10:45 pm ET)
        3  
        Kristol is the very essence of conservative scum...

        Conservatives continue to bank on their domination of the media to spread brazen lies to an apathetic and ignorant audience.

        They know the corporate media will cover for them.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by Ugmo (August 22, 2009 11:27 pm ET)
         
      Un Thoughtful?
      More likely unthinking!
      It's the American way.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by overmars jr. (August 23, 2009 4:19 am ET)
      3  
      Here's a fun question: when was the last time Bill Kristol was right about anything, anything at all?
      Report Abuse
      • Author by rwmacdonald2091 (August 23, 2009 5:34 am ET)
        1  
        Just hang on, I'm thinking.........
        Report Abuse
      • Author by WorldViewer (August 23, 2009 7:47 am ET)
        1  
        He ordered the Baby-Back Ribs at Jonathan's (restaurant) in Mineola, Long Island. They are fall-off-the-bone delicious. He was absolutely spot on in ordering them for his main course.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Easy to refute wingnuts (August 23, 2009 9:07 am ET)
             
          I heard he ordered them for his goldfish (callback to the first post), so he was wrong about that, too.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by rwmacdonald2091 (August 23, 2009 10:11 am ET)
            1  
            Just hang on, I'm still thinking......... You guys are demanding an awful lot here
            Report Abuse
      • Author by Easy to refute wingnuts (August 23, 2009 9:06 am ET)
           
        when was the last time Bill Kristol was right about anything, anything at all?
        I'll try to narrow it down a bit. It wasn't in a year that began with a 1 or a 2.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by steeve (August 23, 2009 8:15 pm ET)
        1  
        That was a fun question. I checked out the editorial MMFA linked to, and this was literally it:

        "[conservatives] have...opposed Obama..."

        "some conservative pundits and GOP talking-heads [have] kept themselves busy..."

        "GOP senators and congressmen refused to be intimidated..."

        None of those is a complete sentence. Except for quoting someone else, Kristol was unable to write a full correct sentence. In fact, the only way he's correct is when he's taken out of context, like I did.

        He says republicans are coming back strong. So democrats are gaining seats in 2010.
        Report Abuse

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