Props to Ezra Klein for this interview with Georgia Republican Johnny Isakson:
Klein: Is this bill going to euthanize my grandmother? What are we talking about here?
Isakson: In the health-care debate mark-up, one of the things I talked about was that the most money spent on anyone is spent usually in the last 60 days of life and that’s because an individual is not in a capacity to make decisions for themselves. So rather than getting into a situation where the government makes those decisions, if everyone had an end-of-life directive or what we call in Georgia “durable power of attorney,” you could instruct at a time of sound mind and body what you want to happen in an event where you were in difficult circumstances where you’re unable to make those decisions.
This has been an issue for 35 years. All 50 states now have either durable powers of attorney or end-of-life directives and it’s to protect children or a spouse from being put into a situation where they have to make a terrible decision as well as physicians from being put into a position where they have to practice defensive medicine because of the trial lawyers. It’s just better for an individual to be able to clearly delineate what they want done in various sets of circumstances at the end of their life.
If Democrats were smart (they’re not) they would point out that this is the fitting tribute to Terry Schiavo and name this the Schiavo amendment, because that is really what this does. It provides patients with the information they need to make living wills, so that should they get into a tragic circumstance such that Terri Schiavo found herself, there would not be any questions about what needs to be done.
Of course, though, that runs square into the real problem with the GOP right now- the profit motive for the hucksters. There is a large contingent out there who would love nothing more than another Schiavo. The fundraisers, the weepy editorials about the value of life (stuck in a bed immobile and unconscious and brain dead for 15 years, but sweet, sweet, life), the marches, the public displays of religion, getting to scream murderer at elected officials and yelling “judicial activism,” the direct mail begs for money- all that would be wiped out. And that is the real problem. The people running the current freak show have a profit motive for things to keep the way they are- with the GOP out of power and the ratings through the roof.
TR
Good for Isakson for playing this straight. He’s a far-right conservative, but he’s apparently an honest and sincere one, the kind John Rogers talks about in his “I Miss Republicans” classic. We need more of them, and less of the nutters.
Bob
Ditto on the props to Isakson.
wasabi gasp
I just woke up and your post title kicked my day off with a good laugh.
Da Bomb
I read that Ezra Klein article yesterday. I was shocked that Senator Isakson was very honest. There should be more discourse that is similar to what occurred between Klein and Isakson.
These people are crazy, and I still feel that there some sort of racial twist to all of this madness.
4tehlulz
So where the fuck has Senator Isakson been for the past week or two?
Damned at Random
The crazies still think Terry Schaivo was deprived of a high quality life by her husband and the courts. The screamers would consider an amendment named for Schaivo as further evidence of death panels.
Of course, there is no point in trying to placate the wingnuts
Hunter Gathers
It seems to me that the GOP may have just screwed themselves over in a big way by giving the nutters and the ragers the keys to the car. They’re going to fail on their health care opposition, which will just piss the base off even more, and when immigration reform comes up next year, the base will go nuts, again. But by this time, ‘teabagger’ will become the new ‘hippie’. In twenty years, you’ll hear liberal pols saying “Do you want to hand the country over to those crazy, teabagging birthers?”
Napoleon
Just remember at the end of the day regardless of what is in the bill Ikakson will vote against it.
General Winfield Stuck
Spector is on MSNBC at a townhaller, and he ain’t takin’ no shit from the teabaggers.
I say we put Grandma on a Chrystal Meth pump so in those waning hours so she can let her Freak Flag fly.
joe from Lowell
The Schiavo Amendment. I like it. Who was shoving government into people’s hospital rooms again?
They should also point out that living wills are expressions of the patient’s wishes, and can be used to state that the patient wants the most aggressive live-prolonging measures used until the moment of natural death, if that’s what the individual patient wants.
Why are Republicans against patient’s making their wishes clear? Is it because they want the government to make end-of-life care decisions for us all, as they tried to do with poor Terry Schiavo?
joe from Lowell
The screamers would consider an amendment named for Schaivo as further evidence of death panels.
Good. Give them more rope. Let them isolate themselves even more.
In my experience, when a conservative demonstrates a level of humaneness and decency on a social issue, it’s because he has had personal experience with the issue in his own life. Hence, Dick Cheney supports gay marriage. I wonder what Isakson’s story is?
Bob In Pacifica
I have made several life decisions when I was in a coma-like condition.
The worst was in Hollywood in the seventies. I woke up the next morning in a strange bed with a strange woman with two little kids standing at the bedroom door and one of them asking, “Are you our new daddy?”
I probably could have used a panel of experts the night before.
superking
I think we have finally found out how Obama killed his grandmother . . . straight up death panel.
General Winfield Stuck
@Da Bomb:
This is what I sense as well. These people actually do oppose the bill based on ideology, but the barely contained rage and anxiety, as well as a willingness to believe the most egregious and bizzare lies, is all about the blackety black High Sheriff.
Tonybrown74
The media would accuse the Democrats of politicizing the death of Terri Schaivo if they named the amendment after her.
Our problem is the media.
Aimai
It should be called the senior Americans personal responibility bill that guarntees seniors full control over anti death measures. No one remembers schiavo and it’s unclear that the nuts grasp what the real message was– lots if them still think the husband wanted to kill her.
They should call it the free pre approval session that prevents your greedy son in law from pulling the plug.
Aimai
Ash
@Tonybrown74: Yep.
These people are simply crazy. There’s absolutely no way to deal with them. It’s not sane discourse, no matter what you do, these morans will go on believing old people are gonna get killed and handicapped babies are gonna get thrown into rivers. THEY’RE ALL INSANE.
MattF
I disagree with the idea that, somehow, cable TV ratings became the new criterion for right-wing success– and that this is the cause of Republican craziness. There’s a political calculation here– that typical voters are irrational, that typical voters are upset about the colored guy in the White House, that typical voters want candidates that make their juices flow. What you see on Fox News is a consequence of this calculation. Rupert Murdoch is along for the ride, not the driver.
Persia
@Aimai: Fuck that, call it the ‘respect for life’ amendment. Because it’s respecting how people want to live out the last days of their lives. Throw ‘quality of life’ in there somewhere, but goddamnit, there’s not much that’s more ‘pro-life’ than letting people make their own decisions.
flukebucket
Just remember at the end of the day regardless of what is in the bill Ikakson will vote against it.
Only if he wants to keep his job.
latts
@Damned at Random:
IIRC they screamed a lot about him abusing her, so I imagine that they’d immediately pivot into people being forced to sign DNR orders, etc., by greedy and manipulative family & heirs. We’d hear a lot of ‘how do we know this was So-and-so’s wishes?’ Never try to use alternative histories against wingnuts; they’re far more imaginative than we are, being untethered from reality.
media browski
John,
If you think that “end of life” directives were what the Schiavo thing were about, then you are truly now a Democrat, heart, mind and soul. It was NEVER about any legal or moral question except “EVERYONE MUST LIVE FOREVER AND IF YOU DON’T SUPPORT LIFE THEN YOU ARE PART OF ABORTIONIST LIBERAL SOCIALIST DEATH CULTURE.”
Sorry for the yelling, just channeling my mom on this.
Rosali
WRT Schaivo, I Iiked the wingnut protestors better when they had red tape across their mouths.
Zifnab
Then they are a large contingent of morons. Schiavo was the watershed moment that turned you from right wing apologist to on-the-fence moderate. It was the wake up call for you and for many others. If the GOP wants to re-fight the Terri Schiavo case, they’re idiots of the first degree.
The Grand Panjandrum AKA Americans for America
Death panels already exist.
They just don’t work for the gummint.
gypsy howell
@Zifnab: “If the GOP wants to re-fight the Terri Schiavo case, they’re idiots of the first degree.”
I dunno, zifnab. Haven’t they already chased away anyone who was horrified by Schiavo? The people who are left in the Republican party would probably love another Schiavo – it’d keep their white peaks fluffed for another news cycle.
satby
Fear of becoming another Terry Schiavo, imprisoned in an all but dead body and unable to tell anyone to stop tormenting them and prolonging their death, is actually very strong in a lot of otherwise conservative types. No one wants to end up like that. That’s how that ammendment should be pitched to the public.
bob h
Isakson plays it straight with Ezra but will vote against reform anyway.
gbear
I disagree. Proposing anything with ‘Terry Schiavo’ in the title would cause a wingnut explosion that would obliterate any positive message you were trying to make. The right got everything about what happened with T. S. completely and horribly wrong. Why would you think they’d see it clearly in 2009?
Phoenix Woman
The problem is that the media is still in the tank for the GOP. That’s why people like Sarah and Newt are treated with deference and respect by the press, as if what they were saying was truth.
gbear
@The Grand Panjandrum AKA Americans for America:
Palin’s reference to ‘Obama’s death panels’ may have been one of the biggest blunders of the anti-health care battle. The term is so easily applied to what insurance companies have been doing to patients for so long, that almost everyone has an example. A bunch of stories like the one you quoted have been surfacing since Palin’s remark, and they’re so simple and horrifying that even the wingnuts can’t obfuscate the underlying truth.
gopher2b
Actually, this is genius. Republicans, not Democrats should use Terri Schiavo. They should point to her and say “See what happens when government runs your healthcare. Look at the mess we made with that situation. What a disaster that was. Do you want to be treated like Terri Schiavo?”
To lay that groundwork 6-7 years before its needed. Genius.
gopher2b
Actually, this is genius. Republicans, not Democrats should use Terri Schiavo. They should point to her and say “See what happens when government runs your healthcare. Look at the mess we made with that situation. What a disaster that was. Do you want to be treated like Terri Schiavo?”
To lay that groundwork 6-7 years before its needed. Genius.
gbear
Horror. Also.
White House Department of Law (fmrly Jim-Bob)
The fundraisers, the weepy editorials about the value of life . . . the marches, the public displays of religion, getting to scream murderer at elected officials and yelling “judicial activism,” the direct mail begs for money- all that would be wiped out. And that is the real problem.
So, basically, it’s the Right’s stand on reproductive choice, or a dozen or so other matters.
White House Department of Law (fmrly Jim-Bob)
@11
Dick Cheney supports gay marriage. I wonder what Isakson’s story is?
Gay necrophilia. Obviously.
BDeevDad
The AARP is starting to fight the FUD scaring their members.
Tsulagi
@Zifnab:
I’d go with that.
Yeah, go for more first-degree stupid burns. Know more than a few Pubs and even most of the pro-lifers among them saw the Schiavo push as nothing more than deep throating the most obnoxious part of the fundie base.
But sure, these teabaggers are probably certain the Soros funded commie MSM just made them look bad. Maybe the really deep thinkers among them will dust off their “Save Terri!” t-shirts. Add the word grandma to them then go to health care townhalls with “Save Grandma Terri!”
YellowJournalism
@Phoenix Woman: The problem with the media is not that they give true deference and respect to those people (outside of Fox News and some other shows), it’s that they know people like Palin and Gingrich draw in a crowd of supporters and the rest of us tune in to watch the train wreck/outrage. It’s “you’re going to make me money”. And in some cases, they make the moderator look smarter, too.
PanAmerican
So when is Isakson announcing his retirement?
Zuzu's Petals
If the Dems were smart (I know) they would describe this provision about empowering people to take control of their own health care.
Taking the time to give directives for your care when you’re incapacitated, whether it’s a directive to provide full care or minimal care, is taking the decision about what happens to you away from insurance company or hospital bureaucrats. And it tells your loved ones EXACTLY what you want.
In other words, it’s rather the opposite from the government telling you what to do.
Zuzu's Petals
@Aimai:
Yep. Exactly.
Scottofny
@4tehlulz:
Now that he’s been outed,,, Watch the Beck-Hannity-Limbaugh Axis of insanity explode all over him. Clearly he is NO LONGER A REPUBLICAN! I think there are many informed, intelligent Senators on the Republican side who just can’t afford ( or Won’t) stick there heads up to defend whats rational. The issue for me is how they vote. How do you think Isakson (sp?) will vote. I bet it’s no.
S
Scottofny
@BDeevDad:
BTW, The AARP Insurance arm is a BIG Fox Network sponsor!
Covering all the bases I guess.
Drop them a note if you think that’s wrong.
Cheers,
S
Comrade Darkness
the direct mail begs for money- all that would be wiped out
I’ve been thinking about this, especially given the birthers are unable to raise money despite the high dose of crazy… I think the right spent all their money on guns and other supplies. Guns are not cheap. If true, the 2010 midterms for the republicans are going to be lean ones.
jenniebee
If Democrats were smart (they’re not) they would point out that this is the fitting tribute to Terry Schiavo and name this the Schiavo amendment, because that is really what this does. It provides patients with the information they need to make living wills, so that should they get into a tragic circumstance such that Terri Schiavo found herself, there would not be any questions about what needs to be done.
I’m not so sure that it would be so smart to do that. First of all, I think that anybody who is likely to be sympathetic to the idea of living wills is probably making that connection themselves. After Terri Schiavo, a lot of younger people went out and got living wills.
But second, I think this is the bait to derail the whole conversation into a rehash of the Schiavo debate, which yes, Dems would probably win, but while they’re doing that they’re not talking about health insurance reform. All of these death panels and mandatory sex change charges and so forth are desperate distractions from the central issue, which is: do we need health insurance reform. The Republicans are trying their best to put deviltry in the details because the essence of the thing (summed up neatly by Helen Hunt as “fucking HMO bastard pieces of shit”) is still something that even the teabaggers agree with the rest of us on.
Corner Stone
@superking: To be filed under Things I Wish I Had Written:
lizzy
I’m still waiting for the “Soylent Green” rumors to start.
Tonal Crow
@Zuzu’s Petals:
Yes. And if they were smart, they’d be pushing the public option as “doctor choice for the middle class”.
Mike G
Cigna initially refused to pay for it because the company’s analysis showed Sarkisyan was already too sick from her leukemia; the liver transplant wouldn’t have saved her life.
Rightards are bizarrely complacent little sheep when screwed over by corporations, they just go apeshit if ‘the govmint’ has any connection to the issue.
Thus, manipulated oil markets sending gas prices over $4 is greeted with a shrug, maybe some mild grumbling, but you don’t dare question “market forces” or you’re a “commie”. But if the feds want to increase the gas tax by 5c for public transport or carbon reduction you’d hear a shitstorm about “soshulism”, economic armageddon and hating the baby Jeebus. These people are bone-stupid.
catclub
You know that Obama is also hiding his long form
durable power of Attorney.
Why won’t he show it?
Hob
@Bob In Pacifica: I probably could have used a panel of experts the night before
Not necessarily a good idea. I’ve woken up on a few occasions with a few regrets about the using– the panel seemed a little less nuts the night before. But you go with the experts you have…
The Saff
@Mike G: Exactly. It gets back to so many folks voting against their own economic interests. The ignorance of these people is mind boggling.
Hob
@satby: There’s a grim scene in G.R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire that comes to mind:
A town has been conquered and enslaved. One of the conquerors – the nominal hero – tells the survivors to be grateful, because even though everything they had is gone, they’re still alive and that’s what counts. Later, the hero’s husband is deathly ill, and they bring in a doctor who’s one of the slaves. The doctor saves the man’s life and leaves him brain-dead. “Well, you told me that’s what counts…”
Paul in KY
I think the question that should be asked of all these know-nothings is ‘Why do we need Insurance Companies for health care?’
Ask each one of them that. Also ‘What do Insurance Companies bring to the table that helps in the delivery of health care?’.
They can’t answer honestly, because Insurance Companies do NOTHING except try to turn a profit by paying out as little as possible.
Here’s one more: ‘Are Insurance Companies a philanthropy, dedicated only to helping sick people get better?’ (hard to ask that one with a straight face).
woody45
Corner Stone
@Bob In Pacifica: If that was the worst then I think I’ll vote you our new Healthcare Czar & Overlord.
I made a worse decision just last night, and I would’ve welcomed government intervention. Divine intervention, FSM intervention, my librarian, my 8th grade gym teacher, etc.