QOTD: The "rationing" switcheroo

Quote of the Day:

One thing that should be obvious about death panel arguments a la Huckabee — but which I haven’t seen pointed out — is the game of three-card monte that goes on over what it means to “ration” health care.

The switch goes like this: reformers argue that Medicare needs to make choices about what it will pay for; people like Huckabee then scream that the government is going to tell people that they can’t get medical care it disapproves of.

But nobody is proposing that the government deny you the right to have whatever medical care you want at your own expense. We’re only talking about what medical care will be paid for by the government. And right-wingers, of all people, shouldn’t believe that everyone has the right to have whatever they want, at taxpayers’ expense. The Declaration of Independence did not declare that we have the right to life, liberty, and the all expenses paid pursuit of happiness.

And of course Huckabee knows this; he’s being completely cynical here — and his whole party is going along. - Paul Krugman