A blast from the (not too distant) past: the origin of that "death panels" remark that got Palin in hot water

This Dickensian quote by President Obama went largely unnoticed by the media. Yet it is the point of origin for the fear of "death panels" resulting from a government-run health care system which Sarah Palin, among others, have voiced.

Both the Administration and its water carriers in the media (even Conan O'Brien!) went to great lengths to point out that there were no "death panels" in the Obama health care legislation. Of course, nobody ever claimed that there were. But all one has to do is read that quote from the President to know precisely why, say, the mother of a Down Syndrome child like Trig Palin might have good cause to fear this proposal.