Death Panels are Back

In New Hampshire, Jeb Bush was asked about his handling of the Terry Schiavo case. After defending his indefensible involvement, he said this:

However, Mr. Bush said, “In hindsight, the one thing that I would have loved to have seen was an advance directive where the family would have sorted this out” before courts became involved. “I think if we’re going to mandate anything from government, it might be that if you’re going to take Medicare, you also sign up for an advance directive where you talk about this before you’re so disabled,” Mr. Bush said.

The original Obama administration proposal that sparked Sarah Palin's “death panels” comment simply allowed Medicare to pay for end-of-life consultations; the plan that Bush tossed off would require such consultations. I guess now we'll find out if the issue has lost any of its emotional charge in the five years since Palin won Politifact's Lie of the Year award. Will Rick Santorum or Herman Cain step forward to attack Bush on the issue? Would it work?