Mark Steyn ponders “Death Panel With the Stars”
By Greg Lewis
Filling in for Rush Limbaugh today was National Review's Mark Steyn, who got the show started by talking about Tom DeLay participating in the Dancing With the Stars reality show. “The Hammer hits the dance floor,” explained Steyn, who was worried that DeLay could easily set conservatism back 20 years by appearing on the show. Then Steyn chatted about Tucker Carlson's stint on the show a few years ago, and used his poor performance as an analogy for Tucker's brand of moderate conservatism.
Then Steyn hit a creative streak for a moment, proposing a spin-off of Dancing, called Death Panel With the Stars:
STEYN: You'd get half a dozen celebrities -- you know, you get, I don't know, somebody from The Love Boat, the bass player from Hootie and the Blowfish, the Olympic bronze medalist from the 1978 Bahamian two-man luge team -- you know, the usual crowd. And they do the cha-cha-cha and the foxtrot and the merengue, and at the end Kathleen Sebelius, Rahm Emanuel's brother, and the vice president of ACORN would vote on which one of them would get the hip replacement. I think that would be a great show. Death Panel With the Stars, it'll be coming to a network near you soon.
After a few minutes eulogizing the death of conservative columnist Robert Novak, with whom Steyn had worked for a time at the Chicago Sun-Times, Steyn moved on to a Washington Post column by Robert Kuttner, which asked, “Where are the liberal protesters?” Steyn remarked that it was genius of Obama to “alienate the geezers.” Then Steyn noted that CBS had reported that 60,000 AARP members have resigned since July 1 (out of their 40 million members, or 0.15 percent) and wondered if AARP should be concerned about getting on board with reform “too early” since Obama's plan isn't good for seniors:
STEYN: But it is the oldsters who are resigning their AARP membership and going to these town halls hopping mad. I mean, these are people, a lot of them who voted for Obama, and they didn't realize that he wanted them to spend their last years howling in pain, waiting for a knee replacement that's never gonna come.
Steyn concluded that the idea that there would be masses of liberal protesters showing up isn't going to happen. He wondered about the “peculiar genius” of having liberals turn one of their “core constituencies” against them. This “core constituency” for liberals that Steyn is referring to -- voters 65 and older -- voted 53-45 for McCain in November.
After the break, Steyn asked if things were starting to turn on Obama, reading from a Politico column by Roger Simon, asking if “Obama [has] the guts.” Then Steyn went back to the subject of town halls. Steyn compared supposedly favorable media coverage of various anti-globalization protests to the media coverage of health care town halls. Steyn said the media was characterizing people asking “tough questions” as a “rampaging mob” when all they were really doing was asking tough questions to people like Arlen Specter.
Steyn on health reform: It will “metastasize like your untreated cancer ... while you're waiting to see a specialist”
After another break, Steyn explained how the details of health care reform don't really matter, and that Obama just needs to get something passed that has “seeds” of the public option within it. Then Steyn took this imagery a step further, equating health care reform to a “cancer” that would metastasize, spread, and grow with later reforms to expand it. Which is why, Steyn explained, this is a really dangerous moment in American history, because once you “cross this bridge,” it's almost impossible to go back.
Then Steyn recalled the caller on Limbaugh's show yesterday who was mad at the “death panels” being cut from the bill, and who had argued that Medicare should cover end-of-life counseling. Steyn wondered why seniors who really wanted this counseling couldn't just spend the “modest three-figure sum” themselves:
STEYN: What struck me about the thing is, well, you know, if you want to have end-of-life counseling, why not book an appointment? What's it going to cost you? A hundred bucks? Two hundred bucks? It's your life. It's your life. What's wrong with you that you're not prepared to spend a hundred dollars to talk with some guy in a room about the end of your life for a hundred bucks, for 200 bucks? How have we so corroded the nature of self-reliance that we're not even prepared to spend a modest three-figure sum getting advice that can change our life?
Steyn spent the next few minutes driving home the point that Obama only needs to pass the “seed” for health care reform that will lead to more government involvement over time, and stated that reform needs to be “nuked” and “killed” so that Obama can't get anything passed. Steyn continued on this theme up until the commercial break, adding that reform would lead to the “nationalization of your body.” And Steyn still was discussing the same theme when the show returned from commercial.
Then, Steyn took the first caller of the program, who spoke for some time about his experience as a self-described “reluctant” SEIU member. Steyn advised the caller to attend a town hall meeting in his union jacket and “talk down Obamacare.” Then Steyn explained the three types of people who voted for Obama: the people who simply wanted a black president, the people who kidded themselves that Obama was a moderate, and the people who voted for Obama because they knew he would be a “left wing domestically transformative president.” Steyn said that the last group are the “least insane,” but not enough people want this country to be “transformed into Scandinavia.”
Steyn on health care reform: Sarah Palin taught us not to be moderate
Hour two of Steyn filling in for Rush began with some inane discussion of Obama's upcoming vacation in Martha's Vineyard. Steyn mentioned that Cindy Sheehan will be there to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Steyn also reminisced about Bill Clinton's vacations at Martha's Vineyard during his presidency, and how the press covering Bush apparently disliked going to Crawford, Texas when he vacationed.
But then Steyn returned to the topic of health care. Steyn proclaimed that if you kill reform “stone dead,” then it would be a precautionary tale for Obama and Democrats, but if you don't kill it, you can never undo it. Once you pass it, it will be irreversible. This is true, said Steyn, because in other countries which have socialized health care, like Canada and Britain, even the right-of-center parties can't speak out against their respective health care systems.
Anyway, Steyn explained that we need to “learn the lesson” that Sarah Palin taught with her “death panel” remarks, that we should not be moderate and reasonable when it comes to reform but, rather, should just say “no.” Steyn says this has put the president on the defensive on health care. Steyn warned what is at stake: the right of citizens to decide with their doctors what is in their best medical interests. In the end, said Steyn, you still have the freedom to get out your checkbook and write a check for you medical care. You also have the freedom to sell your house or car if you need to pay for it. But you wouldn't have that freedom under government-run health care.
After the break, Steyn took a caller who essentially repeated back everything Steyn has been saying about health care for the past hour and 20 minutes -- that health care reform will just plant the seed of impending government control. Steyn went on to compare the government inserting itself into your life through health reform to the government imposing seat belt and helmet laws. Like an embryo, said Steyn, health reform will grow, giving the state reasons to control every aspect of how you live.
Steyn still obsessing over Uighurs in Bermuda
After another break, Steyn remarked that he had been looking for some more “Uighur news,” and noticed that Hurricane Bill was headed for Bermuda (if you're new to the Limbaugh Wire, Steyn has previously made known his appreciation for Uighur jokes). Steyn made the connection:
STEYN: Hurricane Bill is now heading for Bermuda, and all those Uighurs released form Gitmo to sit on the beach in Bermuda are right in the path of Hurricane Bill. So if something goes horribly wrong, they could be swept up and deposited straight back at Guantánamo, so we'll keep an eye on track -- on that Hurricane Bill.
Then Steyn spent some time discussing the recent revelation of the artist behind the Obama Joker illustration (although the identity of the person who put the Joker illustration on a poster with the caption “socialism” is still unknown). Steyn noted that the artist was a 20-year-old Palestinian student in Chicago and a Dennis Kucinich supporter. Before this news, though, Steyn said that people assumed the artist was a right-wing extremist and that the poster was called “racist.”
The next caller on the program asked about Steyn's previous characterization of health reform, when he said that an individual would not be able to get a procedure, even if they had the ability to secure their own financing. Based on absolutely nothing in the actual “death panel” language in the House bill, Steyn affirmed his previous remarks. Steyn explained that private insurance doesn't exist in Canada, and that it's “shriveled” in Britain. After the caller said he was against additional government control of his life, Steyn noted how “elastic” so-called “elective surgery” can be in Canada, where the government will make you wait for critical surgeries to improve your quality of life.
One more break for the hour, and Steyn took another caller who stated he wanted to “cap” Obama's agenda and “trade” him out of office. The caller went on to explain why he thought the public option wasn't really dead. Steyn agreed, stating that the public option will be rammed through privately in conference committee. Then Steyn went on a tangent about the abortion issue in the 2004 Democratic primary. Steyn said Kerry would tie himself in knots about abortion. But what Steyn liked about Howard Dean “is he was basically just offering to perform, you know, partial birth abortions on volunteers from the crowd. He was like all for it.”
Steyn continued:
STEYN: [I]t would be interesting to ask Howard Dean, how come with abortion your whole thing is, oh, a woman's right to choose, keep your laws off my body, and you believe in that for reproductive rights. You believe in that for your fallopian tubes, but you don't believe in it for anything non-fallopian. If it's some non-fallopian part of you, you say, well, the government can put its laws all over you.
[...]
Keep the government off the body; every other body part you have, the government is going to be owning 100 percent.
Steyn: “under the whole death panel scenario,” government will treat illegal immigrants instead of the elderly
The final hour of Steyn's fill-in stint today began with more discussion of health care reform. Steyn said it was a huge gamble to let a group of people who have never generated wealth or covered payroll annex one sixth of the economy. Steyn went on to explain how other countries used a moral argument for universal health care. But in since passing universal health care in 1948, Steyn argued that health disparities have widened in the United Kingdom, and brought up the example of the low life expectancy in areas outside of Glasgow, Scotland.
Steyn continued on the subject of life expectancy. He claimed that if you take the European Union as a whole, the average life expectancy is about six months higher than it is in the U.S., and the people pushing Obamacare want you to believe that's because 50 million Americans lack health insurance. Steyn said that the reality is that treatment is very easy to get in America because if you walk into the emergency room bleeding, they have to treat you. Steyn added that mandatory ER treatment for people who come in bleeding has "nothing to do" with government.
Then Steyn told a story about an “elderly visitor” from Britain who was staying with him recently. His guest had to go to a local New Hampshire hospital to be diagnosed with gout, a diagnosis her doctor in Britain had missed because tests are “regulated” by the country's “death panel” equivalent. Steyn also claimed that up-to-date procedures are not available to British citizens.
After the break, Steyn took another caller who complained about the “Washington mentality” that we have to do something about health care. She wondered if it wouldn't be cheaper to just send our representatives on a “permanent paid vacation” so that they wouldn't be able to legislate. Steyn took the idea a step further, suggesting we send them to Bermuda, like the Uighurs. The next caller was really upset about illegal immigrants going to emergency rooms and leaving states to cover these costs. The caller complained that politicians of both parties are ignoring this issue. Again, Steyn took a caller's idea a step further:
STEYN: And what's interesting is that under the whole death panel scenario, you know, you'll be an 87-year-old who's paid his taxes all his life, but they're not going to give you the procedure because they think it's more in the country's interest to give it to a 38-year-old illegal immigrant who shouldn't even be here in the first place.
Coming back from another break, Steyn took another caller, who explained why it is our life expectancy rates are lower than in many European countries: because those countries are comprised of mostly white people, and the population of whites in this country have a similar life expectancy to the whites in European countries. But, explained the caller, we have a larger minority population who have a lower life expectancy, and therefore lower our statistics. Steyn remarked that the caller made a “very sound point.” Countries with high life expectancy, he explained, usually have a small, homogonous population. He said the statistic has as much to do with genetic and cultural variables as anything else.
Steyn continued on the subject of life expectancy. He noted that another reason Americans have lower life expectancy rates “from birth” are because we have a higher infant mortality rate, but he said, “that's a separate thing.”
One more break, and it was time for Steyn to take the final caller of the program. The caller explained that through his union PPO, his benign brain tumor was diagnosed and treated in a nine-day period. Steyn said that wouldn't have happened in nine days in Canada, because as the caller explained, the surgery was considered “elective.” Steyn explained how Canadian health care will often pay for its citizens to be treated in the U.S. The “death panel” in Quebec, said Steyn, “outsources your death” and sends you to die in Maine or New Hampshire.
Zachary Aronow and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.
Highlights
Outrageous comments
STEYN: You know what I'd like to see, by the way? A death panel with the stars. You'd get half a dozen celebrities -- you know, you get, I don't know, somebody from The Love Boat, the bass player from Hootie and the Blowfish, the Olympic bronze medalist from the 1978 Bahamian two-man luge team -- you know, the usual crowd. And they do the cha-cha-cha and the foxtrot and the merengue, and at the end Kathleen Sebelius, Rahm Emanuel's brother, and the vice president of ACORN would vote on which one of them would get the hip replacement. I think that would be a great show. Death Panel With the Stars, it'll be coming to a network near you soon.
[...]
STEYN: But it is the oldsters who are resigning their AARP membership and going to these town halls hopping mad. I mean, these are people, a lot of them who voted for Obama, and they didn't realize that he wanted them to spend their last years howling in pain, waiting for a knee replacement that's never gonna come.
[...]
STEYN: What struck me about the thing is, well, you know, if you want to have end-of-life counseling, why not book an appointment? What's it going to cost you? A hundred bucks? Two hundred bucks? It's your life. It's your life. What's wrong with you that you're not prepared to spend a hundred dollars to talk with some guy in a room about the end of your life for a hundred bucks, for 200 bucks? How have we so corroded the nature of self-reliance that we're not even prepared to spend a modest three-figure sum getting advice that can change our life?
[...]
STEYN: I see Hurricane Bill -- Hurricane Bill is heading straight for Bermuda. I asked HR whether we had any Uighurs in the news today, 'cause I always like to have a couple Uighur stories when I'm behind the golden EIB microphone. And there were no Uighurs in the news, and since we've come on the air, Hurricane Bill is now heading for Bermuda, and all those Uighurs released form Gitmo to sit on the beach in Bermuda are right in the path of Hurricane Bill. So if something goes horribly wrong, they could be swept up and deposited straight back at Guantánamo, so we'll keep an eye on track -- on that Hurricane Bill.
[...]
STEYN: What I like about Howard Dean is he was basically just offering to perform, you know, partial-birth abortions on volunteers from the crowd. He was like all for it. He was “Hey, bring it up.” [laughing] “Let's have a couple today.”
He is a doctor, and it would be interesting to ask Howard Dean, how come with abortion your whole thing is, oh, a woman's right to choose, keep your laws off my body, and you believe in that for reproductive rights. You believe in that for your fallopian tubes, but you don't believe in it for anything non-fallopian. If it's some non-fallopian part of you, you say, well, the government can put its laws all over you. No more -- why, why, why, why doesn't he say keep your laws off my body when it comes to your twisted ankle or your knee replacement? No, no, but it's only your birth canal and your fallopian tubes and all that kind of stuff. Keep the government off the body; every other body part you have, the government is going to be owning 100 percent.
[...]
STEYN: And what's interesting is that under the whole death panel scenario, you know, you'll be an 87-year-old who's paid his taxes all his life, but they're not going to give you the procedure because they think it's more in the country's interest to give it to a 38-year-old illegal immigrant who shouldn't even be here in the first place.