Grassley Feeds Fire of Death Panel Claims

(AP) - Now it's personal. President Barack Obama invoked his own anguish over the death of his grandmother as he challenged the notion that Democratic efforts to overhaul the nation's health care would include so-called death panels. "I just lost my grandmother last year. I know what it's like to watch somebody you love, who's aging, deteriorate and have to struggle with that," he told the crowd in Colorado. More»

Specter accuses Grassley of spreading false info

(NEWSER) - Arlen Specter and Chuck Grassley engaged in a very 21st-century sniping match today, ABC's Jake Tapper reports. The 79-year-old Pennsylvania Democrat took to Twitter to accuse the 75-year-old Iowa Republican of spreading "myths about health care reform and imaginary ‘death panels.' " He was referring to comments Grassley made at a forum this week in Iowa. We "should not have a government run plan to decide when to pull the plug on grandma," Grassley said. More»

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama took the stage in New Hampshire today to set the record straight about Democratic health care reform efforts. Though the crowd was all applause, Obama took on the raucous protests that have characterized recent town halls. “Let's disagree over things that are real, not these wild misrepresentations,” he said, laughing off rumors that the government would set up “death panels that will basically pull the plug on Grandma.” More»

(NEWSER) - Chuck Grassley, the leading Republican senator negotiating health care reform, said yesterday that Congress should pass a substantially narrower bill in the face of town hall anger. The Iowa legislator said baying crowds at public meetings had convinced him that the public has rejected "a government takeover of health care." It's the latest sign of divisions between the Democrats and Grassley, considered a key vote for any bipartisan measure, reports the Washington Post. More»

(NEWSER) - Town hall crazies, you have met your match. Rep. Barney Frank had no time for a woman who asked why he supported Barack Obama's "Nazi" policies, calling it "vile, contemptible nonsense" and asking, "On what planet do you spend most of your time?" When the questioner pushed back, the House Financial Services Committee chair dismissed her: "Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table." More»