Santorum a symptom of the GOP’s very deep ills
For those who don’t have video access, here’s what Rick Santorum has to say in the interview above:
“In the Netherlands, people wear different bracelets if they are elderly. And the bracelet is: ‘Do not euthanize me.’ Because they have voluntary euthanasia in the Netherlands but half of the people who are euthanized — 10 percent of all deaths in the Netherlands — half of those people are euthanized involuntarily at hospitals because they are older and sick. And so elderly people in the Netherlands don’t go to the hospital. They go to another country, because they are afraid, because of budget purposes, they will not come out of that hospital if they go in there with sickness.”
A few quick points:
1.) The remarks above come from the frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, a man who in late February is still leading the race by some 10 percentage points nationwide.
2.) This statement was made not five years ago or 10 years ago, but earlier this month.
3.) Not a shred of what Santorum says is true. There are no such bracelets in the Netherlands. They exist only in the same reality in which green men from Mars exist, and in fact the Dutch press is laughing at Santorum’s claim that “we in the Netherlands delight in murder of the elderly.”
While the Netherlands does have a euthanasia law, a total of 3,136 terminally ill people took advantage of that option in 2010, a far cry from Santorum’s claim of 10 percent of all deaths in that nation.
Under Dutch law, the attending physician must certify in writing that the patient has made “a voluntary and carefully considered request” to die. The physician must also certify that the patient is undergoing unbearable suffering and that the patient’s condition is terminal, with no hope of recovery. As Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post further notes, “the patient must voluntarily and repeatedly request the procedure, and another doctor must provide a written opinion agreeing with the diagnosis. After the death, a commission made up of a doctor, a jurist and an ethical expert also are required to verify that the requirements for euthanasia have been met.”
Say what you choose about the merits of euthanasia. Feel free to debate it. But Santorum’s claims that half of euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands are involuntary — i.e., outright murder — and that senior citizens are terrified of going into the hospital lest they be killed in order to save on health care costs are absolutely ludicrous. It is ignorant fear-mongering, and as the gasps and moans on the tape reveal, people swallow it.
4.) Did I mention that this man leads in every national poll for the Republican presidential nomination? As a Dutch writer notes, “It would be laughable if not for the fact that Santorum is still very much in the race for the Republican nomination against Barack Obama for the presidency of the most powerful country in the world.”
Look, every party has its Maxine Waters and, to a lesser degree, its Dennis Kuciniches. However, Waters did not just win three presidential primaries, as Santorum has. When Kucinich ran for president in 2008, he got all of 1.35 percent of the vote in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary and then dropped out.
I honestly find it depressing that a major American political party has come to a state of affairs verging on collective madness. It’s obviously not a healthy sign for the Republican Party, but it’s also bad for the Democrats, who need a sane and vigorous opposition to keep them honest. Most of all, it’s bad for our country and bodes poorly for its future. I know for a fact that there are millions of very sane, decent Republicans in this country; I just wish they would begin to speak up and take their party back.
– Jay Bookman
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832 comments Add your comment
lovelyliz
February 23rd, 2012
9:11 am
You can’t fix stupid or keep it from running for president or kepp it from voting
gm
February 23rd, 2012
9:11 am
Bill Orvis White
These three men are more qualified to be in the Oval Office than the radical secularist currently occupying that precious, sacred
That Securlarist has given the order to kill more terrorist and has protected our nation the last 3 years, he should have allowed them to attack some of you right wing nut jobs then maybe you can remember the pain of 3500 Americans dead in Ny and 4500 troops dead in Iraq.
Bill we really need a 3 times adultry representing America around the world and religion nut who hates women and business killer in Romney you peopl need to back to the hole you tea party inside terrorist anti Obama haters are a disgrace to this country.
Keep Up--Te gusta losing numb nutz?
February 23rd, 2012
9:12 am
oy vey…. the light bulb stupidity parade about to begin? How very very very very silly.
Talking Head
February 23rd, 2012
9:12 am
kayaker,
Bozo the clown, COTUS
Butch Cassidy
February 23rd, 2012
9:12 am
md – “Jobs…..”
I’m all for jobs, but it wouldn’t lessen the price of fuel. Also, the area that the Keystone would take passes through the states that already have some of the lowest unemployment in the country.
Besides, I’m still for free trade and not interferring in the natural course of the markets. If people can’t buy gas, it’s really their problem, and not one that the government needs to solve.
Sorry.
Brosephus™ - Browning America Since 1973
February 23rd, 2012
9:13 am
Talking Head
Doesn’t sound like anybody’s being “forced” after reading your link. Seems that GE is trying to save $$ through fuel costs. Paying for electricity right now is much cheaper than paying for $4-$5 gas. Sounds like a company trying to save along the bottom line to me. The fact that some even get a company car is much better than most of the working class anyway. I’m sure if you gave many a Volt as a company car, they wouldn’t complain at all. Hell, I’d take one if that meant I didn’t have to drive my own car as much AND pay for nearly as much gas.
md
February 23rd, 2012
9:13 am
“i don’t think the use of fossil fuels benefits anybody in the long run.”
nope……but in the short run it is all we have to drive our economy……don’t get through the short run, will there be a long run??
And yes, there will be a long run (unless Israel unleashes Armageddon), but who knows what it may look like…….we are not immune to bad things happening…..remember the pictures of the bread lines after the fall of the USSR? Folks are only fooling themselves if they think that can’t happen to us…..it can…..the question is will it? Folks that suffered through the depression understand that anything can happen…….2008 was our wake up call…….I think we are still sleeping.
Aquagirl
February 23rd, 2012
9:15 am
Obama haters are a disgrace to this country.
But some not-so-serious ones are funny as hell.
http://billwhitesavesamerica.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html
Pat
February 23rd, 2012
9:16 am
That’s the key issue here; the blanket, approved use of deception as acceptable Republican strategy, and a vast critical mass of Republican voters too ignorant to know they’re being fed baloney. Fox News and Rupert Murdoch bear much blame here, but all the blame can’t be laid at their doorstep. The willingness to be repeatedly lied to and deceived says something about the character of the voters of this party. No one, Republican or Democrat, likes receiving information – facts – that contradict a fondly held belief or prejudice. But when something is verified as fact and it contradicts something I want to believe, I have to make a difficult choice and confront my own biases. This willingness to deny, refute or distort fact is now a hallmark, not just of Republican politics, but policies. And it couldn’t have happened unless GOP voters let them get away with it.
Steve - USA (I support "None Of The Above")
February 23rd, 2012
9:16 am
I really feel that the use of nicknames by the Left, Right and Middle just lowers the level of discussion.
I realize that I am in the minority on this.
BTW – While I am on my soapbox….any chance we can get through the day without someone writing about Media Matters and Fox News talking points?……….No…..didn’t think so.
kayaker 71
February 23rd, 2012
9:18 am
gm,
“He should be able to attack some of you right wing nut jobs”…. Just like he “got OBL”, gm? Got news for you gm, he already has. That’s pretty incendiary rhetoric, gm. Hey Bookman…. you gonna’ let this pass?
Brosephus™ - Browning America Since 1973
February 23rd, 2012
9:18 am
Stevie Ray
My point is still the same. We did that once with Bush. If you keep going left trying to drive to the bucket, eventually the defender will pick up on your fake and block your shot. I simply don’t think we should bluff anything. There’s many short term bridges we could use to slow down our oil consumption while we’re working towards a viable alternative. We put a man on the moon in less than 10 years. We built the hydrogen bomb in less time than that, I think. It should not take 40 plus years to find an alternative fuel source. As md pointed out, that was the reason for the creation of the DOE, and we’ve been sh*tted on since then.
————————
Keep up
Wasn’t me… honest!! Although, I’d give that guy/girl a pat on the back because that was well needed.
godless heathen©
February 23rd, 2012
9:18 am
Besides, I’m still for free trade and not interferring in the natural course of the markets. If people can’t buy insurance, it’s really their problem, and not one that the government needs to solve.
md
February 23rd, 2012
9:20 am
Truth Sooth?
Israel had a peace agreement with Mubarak…….and a partner at the other end of Gaza…..now?
Libya was no threat to Israel with Qaddafi……he was about keeping himself in power.
The above “truth” makes no sense…….
Butch Cassidy
February 23rd, 2012
9:20 am
godless heathen – “If people can’t buy insurance, it’s really their problem, and not one that the government needs to solve.”
Agreed. At this time, health insurance, much like cheap gas is not a right.
Keep Up--Te gusta losing numb nutz?
February 23rd, 2012
9:21 am
I am with you bro…. perhaps you are the butterfly wind changing the world
Granny Godzilla
February 23rd, 2012
9:22 am
md
thankfully I don’t share your paranoia.
Talking Head
February 23rd, 2012
9:23 am
“Talking Head
Doesn’t sound like anybody’s being “forced” after reading your link. Seems that GE is trying to save $$ through fuel costs. Paying for electricity right now is much cheaper than paying for $4-$5 gas. Sounds like a company trying to save along the bottom line to me. The fact that some even get a company car is much better than most of the working class anyway. I’m sure if you gave many a Volt as a company car, they wouldn’t complain at all. Hell, I’d take one if that meant I didn’t have to drive my own car as much AND pay for nearly as much gas.”
Bro,
Stay on point with the connection between Jeffery Immelt and GE, GM, the underperforming Chevy Volt, and the Obama Administration. This is what’s interesting.
By the way, you said “Paying for electricity right now is much cheaper than paying for $4-$5 gas.” Guess what is used to produce electricity? I’ll give you a hint, it’s fossil fuels (and demand for those products are going up)
AmVet - Stop the Phallacy Party.
February 23rd, 2012
9:23 am
Lou Dobbs is on Faux News now?
Hysterical.
I remember seeing some years back on the Communist News Network, thinking, “OMG, where did they dig this moronic dufus up from?”
It makes sense that he became a flunky for the Republican Noise Network, masquerading as a business analyst…
Just saying..
February 23rd, 2012
9:25 am
I agree, Jay. I used to have tremendous respect for the Republican Party, and we need a strong opposition party to call out the Democrats when needed.
But this current crowd of frauds, opportunists, and clowns… Just so sad.
md
February 23rd, 2012
9:28 am
“thankfully I don’t share your paranoia.”
Thats it, throw out meaningless words like paranoia……….to a mathematician, they are called possibilities……and believe it or not, all possibilities are possible.
Paranoia would be not getting in a car because xx number of folks die in auto accidents every single day………but you are free to use your labels on folks you don’t know as often as you wish…..only makes you look silly.
Brosephus™ - Browning America Since 1973
February 23rd, 2012
9:36 am
Keep Up
That’s a scary proposition if I’m the wind changing the world. We’re really gonna hope that Mayan calendar is right before it’s all done.
———————-
Talking Head
Any other time with different companies, that decision would be hailed as damned good way to cut costs. I saw the connections you’re talking to. I still see it as a way of cutting costs. That’s the only way companies remain viable nowadays.
As to the cost of electricity, yeah it’s generated using fossil fuels. I also get to talk to engineers who are installing gas turbines all around the world to generate electricity. Natural gas burns cleaner than coal, and there’s also the jobs for building, installing, and maintaining gas turbines. That’s still done, by GE (if you want to add another layer to your conspiracy theory) in New York state.
Joe Hussein Mama
February 23rd, 2012
9:45 am
B. O. White — “rational, conservative folk”
Objection! Assuming facts not in evidence, Your Honor. (laughing)
Oscar
February 23rd, 2012
10:42 am
If people can’t buy insurance, it’s really their problem, and not one that the government needs to solve.”
_________
Well, that’s the debated, isn’t it. Not a question of need, but question is whether or not government should help provide medical care for people who can’t afford it. Lot’s of people think it should. We will vote on that question in November.
Billings
February 23rd, 2012
10:54 am
And Paul Ryan is going to throw granny off a cliff?
Santorum was wrong.
That aside, can Bookman deny that there may exist a power of persuasion within the Netherlands that is feared by their elders? No, he cannot.
chuck
February 23rd, 2012
11:09 am
Jay, according to:
http://www.euthanasia.com/hollchart.html
5981 patients were killed by their doctors in the Netherlands in 1990 WITHOUT CONSENT. I am looking for current statistics, but they don’t seem to be available as they are not listed among mortality rates that I have been able to find as yet. Perhaps you can tell us where you got YOUR statistics.
chuck
February 23rd, 2012
11:13 am
Also, it is quite possible that your statistics are skewed as well:
http://www.patientsrightscouncil.org/site/holland-background/
“In the overwhelming majority of Dutch euthanasia cases, doctors–in order to avoid additional paperwork and scrutiny from local authorities–deliberately falsify patients’ death certificates, stating that the deaths occurred from natural causes. (19) In reference to Dutch euthanasia guidelines and the requirement that physicians report all euthanasia and assisted-suicide deaths to local prosecutors, a government health inspector recently told the New York Times: “In the end the system depends on the integrity of the physician, of what and how he reports. If the family doctor does not report a case of voluntary euthanasia or an assisted suicide, there is nothing to control.” (20)”
chuck
February 23rd, 2012
11:24 am
Also Jay, a REAL journalist would have checked a source beyond Media Matters before posting:
http://law.jrank.org/pages/1100/Euthanasia-Assisted-Suicide-Euthanasia-in-Netherlands.html
“…approximately 59 percent of euthanasia and assistedsuicide deaths are not reported to the coroner as required by the guidelines. Thus, they claim that the actual number of Dutch patients killed is probably far higher than the statistics seem to show. Proponents admit that unreported euthanasia deaths are a problem but counter that full legalization would remove fear of prosecution thereby increasing compliance with reporting requirements.”
md
February 23rd, 2012
11:40 am
Save it chuck…..folks here don’t want to see anything outside their preconceived notions……you can present evidence all day long and they’ll blow it off as if you are some kind of kook.
Ben Franklin
February 24th, 2012
12:30 am
It is a telling fact about the American intellect that these 4 men are being
given hundreds of millions of dollars and have tens of millions of supporters.
Is says to the world ” Look at us (USA) we are stupid and support these
bigots and fools.
The Anerican media is at fault for never questioning these men when they
tell blatant lies . The self described “virtuous and wise” media just let
this bullsh!t flow unchecked.
kghgkj
February 24th, 2012
9:22 am
“I know for a fact that there are millions of very sane, decent Republicans in this country…”
We call them democrats.
T
February 24th, 2012
4:13 pm
…. and John Edwards is a symptom of the democrat party .. lying, deception, cheating, and back room deals.
I am not a Santorum fan .. I do not like him, I would not vote for him but, I thought the headline equating him to the GOP is a low blow and us against them mentality.