Sarah Palin and family used socialized Canadian health system
In November of 2009, while signing copies of her book at a Borders Book Store, Sarah Palin got punked by a Canadian comic… again.
This time, it was Mary Walsh who hosts a show in Canada similar to The Daily Show. As Walsh waited in line to ostensibly have her book signed, she shouted to Palin,
I just wanted to ask you if you have any words of encouragement for Canadian conservatives who have worked so hard to try to diminish the kind of socialized medicine we have up there.
Via Huffington Post
When the half-term Alaska governor got around to answering the question, here’s what she had to say -
Keep the faith! Because common sense conservatism can be plugged in there in Canada too. In fact, Canada needs to reform its health care system and let the private sector take over some of what the government has absorbed.
Until now, that seemed about par for the course for Palin,who always tries her best to stick to her conservative narrative – even when the storyline makes no sense whatsoever.
Yet, once again, Sarah Barracuda has been tripped up by her most daunting adversary – her mouth.
Check out what the one-time V.P. candidate had to say while speaking at a gathering in Alberta, Canada this weekend-
My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska, right there by Whitehorse. Believe it or not – this was in the ’60s – we used to hustle on over the border for health care that we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing, and my parents had to put him on a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn’t that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada.
Via Winnipeg Free Press
Ironic, indeed. Or as Sam Stein over at Huffington Post puts it,
The irony, one guesses, is that Palin now views Canada’s health-care system as revolting, with its government-run administration and ‘death-panel’-like rationing.
Via Huffington Post
It does appear to be a case of ‘What have you done for me lately?” Palin’s parents certainly saw some value in the Canadian health system, considering that health care was certainly available in Alaska in the 1960’s. When the Palin family needed the assistance of the Canadian health system it was all well and good. And why not? What Mom and Pop Palin likely found across the border was a quality of medical service equally as good, if not better, than what was available to them in Alaska and at a price that was likely far better than what they would have paid in their own country.
But that was then and this is now. And what was good for the Palin family in the 1960’s is bad for the Palin family – or at least their politics – in 2010.
Of course, Sarah Palin’s parents were but a harbinger of things to come. A report published last year by Deloitte Center for Health Solutions said 750,000 Americans travelled abroad for medical care in 2007, and forecast that the number would rise to 1.6 million by 2012 – many of whom will go to Canada. This, of course, far outpaces the number of Canadians coming to the U.S. for medical treatment.
While one can only wonder why Palin would say these things when they directly contradict her stated position, maybe she simply assumed that a ‘foreign’ country like Canada lacks the technology to communicate a local story to the States. She should know better. After all, she used to be able to see Canada’s socialized health care system from her front porch.
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Ha ha, well it beat going to Russia I guess!!!
Sarah Palin, an irony wrapped in hypocrisy.
Hey, guess what. Whitehorse, Yukon Territory is nearer to Wasilla than Johns Hopkins, or even the Mayo Clinic. And the crowd in Calgary loved Gov. Palin.
Uh…what’s your point? For starters, Palin did not live in Wasilla when she was 5. Secondly, so what if she did? Do you think all Americans get to go to Johns Hopkins or Mayo Clinic? Are you thinking at all? And what does the fact that the crowd in Calgary loved her have to do with anything being discussed here? The crowds love her everywhere she speaks. That doesn’t make her less of a hypocrite.
In response to another comment. See in context »Sarah Palin + Betsy McCaughey = The frightening truth as to why women with a voice get such a bad rap.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/jul/23/betsy-mccaughey/mccaughey-claims-end-life-counseling-will-be-requi/
You continue to impress, English. How did you know that Betsy McCaughey is my most unfavorite person? And here you’ve just started reading this page. If you go back in time, you’ll find lots of pieces here on Ms. McCaughey.
In response to another comment. See in context »Of course, to be fair, Betsy is no fonder of me than I of her.
Well I would be sincerely worried if she was in the least bit fond of you.
It was a lucky guess, and she rounds out nicely the threesome I like to call “darkness, chaos, and conflict”, otherwise known as the “The witches of Macbeth” (McCaughey,Palin and the dreaded Coulter in modern day form!)-
In response to another comment. See in context »**In case anyone needs a refresher on Coulter: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2005/Ann_Coulter_describes_Muslims_as_ragheads_0210.html
Do you know that woman said very publicly she would vote for Hillary if McCain won the nomination- now how conservative is that- all that talk is just the way to the bank for her! Just a problem maker.
In response to another comment. See in context »Did she write her speech on her hand, or has she fallen off the “I am like God” soapbox already?”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/03/sarah-palin-god-wrote-on-his-h.html?hpid=topnews
Sarah really is turning into Ronnie Reagan. According to the Washington Post…
Palin has also told an alternate version of the story that had her family traveling south by ferry to Juneau from Skagway for treatment of her brother’s burned foot, rather than to Canada, according to a 2007 report posted by the Skagway News.
Well now.
I think that’s an insult to Reagan.
In response to another comment. See in context »hahahha. agreed.
In response to another comment. See in context »Aren’t the Palins also taking advantage of Indian Health Services, another form of “socialized medicine”? Shannyn Moore reported on HuffPo it was so (link below) and called it a giant “hypocrisy.” Opportunistic seems apt enough to me. It is legal after all, since Mr. Palin has Native ancestry, so why not? Maybe another book by Palin could instruct us all on how to best serve oneself … might come in handy if she ever is elected to high public office.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/granny-palin-overcomes-he_b_470297.html
I’m no fan of Sarah Palin, but this strikes me as “gotcha” politics. Sarah was a child when this happened, she certainly wasn’t making her family’s health care choices. Now, she may be wrong about the value of modern Canadian health care, and she may spin her yarns as the audience demands, but that just makes her a politician.
The right way to argue with Sarah is with the facts – and to understand that Sarah and her followers have every right to deny the facts so that they can continue to live in their fantasy world. But don’t try to score points by pointing out that her world is a fantasy – everyone who cares already knows.
Ahem, there’s lots of fodder for this whole socialism thingy, you betcha: http://www.themudflats.net/2010/03/05/sarahs-socialist-snowmachine/
John, the Mudflats was my favorite blog all during the presidential campaign. So funny! I always go there for anything at all about Sarah vain and small …
In response to another comment. See in context »I think something being missed in all this is it shows the benefits of having free trade in being able to choose hospitals and doctors. Of course some Canadians come to the US for care, they might like a specific doctor here, and vice versa — we might want to go there. So let, for example, Medicare pay for treatment in another country if it’s a US citizen. Let’s get american hospitals to keep with abroad. A different kind of free trade.
What about Mexico’s health care system! I wonder how many Mexicans come to the USA for health care. How about everyone who manages to get in! An acquaintance of mine broke his leg in Mexico and developed a staff infection after they surgically repaired his leg and had to hire a private charter plane to fly him back into the USA because they wanted to amputate, which was not required after he received treatment back home. Free trade is simply an excuse to allow a slave labor force in Mexico and Central America to keep putting a drain on our unemployed work force here. Walmart can only employ so many people.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] Sarah Palin and family used socialized Canadian health system … [...]