Palin on Facebook: Now She's Got a Ghostwriter

Former Alaska governor says in op-ed she won the debate on 'death panels'

(NEWSER) - Ahead of Barack Obama's clutch address to Congress tonight, Sarah Palin writes in the Wall Street Journal that the president's health reform plan "will increase our deficit, decrease our paychecks, and increase the power of unaccountable government technocrats." In a surprisingly wonky op-ed, the former Alaska governor lambastes Democrats for pretending to seek bipartisan reform, while ignoring conservative proposals that are "market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven." She also revisits her most notorious turn of phrase, saying she won the debate over "dare I say it—death panels." More»

Targets Palin fans; 'tell her to stop lying'

(NEWSER) - A pro-health reform group is hitting Sarah Palin where she lives, the Plum Line reports—Facebook. Americans United for Change is running ads on the social networking site, where “death panels” got their start. The missives, targeted specifically at Palin followers of every stripe, ask users to “send Sarah Palin a message” and “tell her to stop lying about ‘death panels.’” More»

... they're being run by insurance companies

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin thinks health care reform will bring with it “death panels,” collections of bureaucrats who will ration care, deciding whose life is and isn’t worth saving. The flaw in that logic? “That’s not the future of health care—it’s the present,” writes Mike Madden for Salon. According to the AMA, the country's biggest insurance companies denied 2% to 5% of claims last year, often with heartbreaking or outrageous results. More»

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin urged supporters to show restraint at town hall meetings, arguing that disruptive protests were giving Democrats ammunition. “There are many disturbing details in the current bill that Washington is trying to rush through Congress,” she said on Facebook yesterday, but we must “not get sidetracked by tactics that can be accused of leading to intimidation or harassment.” More»

'Isn't that ironic?' she asks Calgary crowd

(NEWSER) - It turns out the woman who nearly single-handedly killed health-care reform in the US with her "death panel" charges slipped across the border for health care in socialized Canada. "Isn't that kind of ironic?" Sarah Palin asked a Calgary crowd over the weekend. She said her parents traveled across the border from Alaska for health care when she and her brother were growing up in Skagway because it was convenient. More»