Sarah Palin emerges in vice presidential debate
Sarah Palin hasn’t taken part in a vice presidential debate in four years, but the fiery former GOP running mate remained a presence in Thursday’s face-off between Vice President Joe Biden and GOP running mate Paul Ryan.
During a discussion about Republican plans to reform Medicare, Ryan said they were not trying to create a voucher system but rather offering choice to younger Americans.
“Choice and competition — we would rather have 50 million future seniors determine how their Medicare is delivered to them instead of 15 bureaucrats deciding what, if, where, when they get it,” Ryan said.
Biden immediately invoked Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor, his debating partner four years ago.
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“You know, I heard that death panel argument from Sarah Palin. It seems that every vice presidential debate, I hear this kind of stuff about panels. But let’s talk about Medicare,” he said.
Ryan was referring to the Independent Payment Advisory Board. President Obama and Democrats have argued it is a centralized body which will figure out best practices taking place among healthcare providers among the nation, and spread word of them. Republicans have argued that this practice will inevitably lead to rationed care, or, as Palin dubbed it during her 2008 vice presidential run, a “death panel.”
Death panels have been debunked, and Mitt Romney does not use the term on the trail, though he does raise the rationed care argument as a logical extension of Obama’s federal healthcare law.
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