More media reaction to Sarah Plain on health care

Townhall.com columnist Wynton Hall opines on "The One Lesson Democrats Never Learn":

Now ask yourself this question: If conservatives like Gov. Sarah Palin are such vaporous fools, then how can they “hijack” a national debate from the most powerful man on the planet…and all with a simple Facebook posting no less?

Indeed, if Sarah Palin is the "whack job" and "intellectual lightweight" Mr. Begala claims her to be, then what does that make Mr. Obama who, according to Ms. Dowd, just got his clock cleaned by a Facebook message written by the unserious likes of a "nutty puppy" like Ms. Palin?

And therein lies the rub: Democratic elitism never ceases to backfire.

At the Post Chronicle, a John Lillpop commentary contrasts Nancy Pelosi and Sarah Palin:

Because of her common sense and conservative views, Palin has been roundly scorned and ridiculed by leftist moonbeam media who favor the Marxist scatter brain, Nancy Pelosi.

Although she no longer holds any elective office or official capacity, Sarah Palin has apparently saved millions of aging Americans from the dreary and inhumane death panels hidden in the bowels of the Obamacare disaster.

Liberals deny that Obamacare includes death panels, but most of those damn fools have not read the 1,000-page monster.

David Warren's op-ed for Real Clear Politics makes the point that when you're unmasking hidden liberal horrors, nice language doesn't do the job. Warren praises Palin for her "candour":

Palin called a spade a spade. She did so in full knowledge of how that publicity machine would respond.

It is assumed she will be running for president on the redneck ticket. But as we saw last week, she does not need any office to get results. For after many nice legislators had condemned her for her "unreasonable" criticisms, the U.S. Senate finance committee this week dropped a key provision to which she had referred, from the House health-care bill before them. According to the ranking Republican member, it was dropped "because it could be misinterpreted or implemented incorrectly."

That's a very nice way of saying that Sarah Palin had a point. And it is a point that would have passed unnoticed, had she confined herself to "nice" language.

The Chicago Daily Observer's John Powers says in an opinion piece that despite all of the media frenzy, Sarah Palin won a "Big Victory":

A red light should turn on in every newsroom in the United States when the ruling Emanuel Family makes charges like "It's An Absolute Outrage" directed at Sarah Palin and anyone who might take time to read the bills before Congress.

A more inquisitive press might note that Pres. Obama was trying to push through his healthcare takeover before the August recess without so much as a debate on any of the issues addressed by the bill. It took a highly agitated American public working with the highly agitating talk show hosts to bring about any serious conversation on what is perhaps the biggest issue in American Politics (since we can no longer talk about the Iraq War). Something as simple as a Facebook Post by Sarah Palin (wasn’t Obama supposed to be the Facebook candidate?) set off a completely reasonable discussion as to the role of the Federal Government in life and death decisions. The media did everything it could to discredit the idea that the Feds will have a role in healthcare resource allocation, which is of course, a fundamental part of any healthcare reform. Call it a Death Panel if it will wake anyone up, but it is definitely true that the Federal Government will be making financial decisions about healthcare regardless of the wails of the Emanuel Family.

The Examiner's watchdog politics editor Martha Gore writes that Sarah Palin outfoxed the media on ObamaCare's "end of life" provision:

The media played right into her hands when they created a firestorm of criticism about her choice of the words "death panel" as did the Democrats and Obama. She accomplished the end she wanted, focusing on the "end of life" provisions in HR 3200 which is in the approximately 1,100 pages that make up the health care reform bill.

[...]

The pressure became so great that it was publicly announced that the provision was eliminated from HR 3200.

It looks like MSNBC, CBS, CNN, Democrats and Obama=0; Sarah Palin=a TKO!

And at NRO's The Corner, Andy McCarthy takes issue with his Romney-loving Editors who condemned the "hysteria" associated with Sarah Palin's criticism of the ObamaCare measure:

I don't see any wisdom in taking a shot at Governor Palin at this moment when, finding themselves unable to defend the plan against her indictment, Democrats have backed down and withdrawn their "end-of-life counseling" boards. Palin did a tremendous service here. Opinion elites didn't like what the editors imply is the "hysteria" of her "death panels" charge. Many of those same elites didn't like Ronald Reagan's jarring "evil empire" rhetoric. But "death panels" caught on with the public just like "evil empire" did because, for all their "heat rather than light" tut-tutting, critics could never quite discredit it. ("BusHitler," by contrast, did not catch on with the public because it was so easily refuted.)

The editors implicitly concede that Palin is on to something. Indeed, from an Obamaesque perch, they find themselves admonishing both "Sarah Palin’s fans and her critics." With due respect, there's a right side and a wrong side on this one. Above the fray is not gonna cut it.

- JP