Keep your eye on the ball, America

Can you believe this?

Congressman Barney Frank of MA was holding a town hall meeting, when a person got up and asked him this question on health care:

"They say we need to limit Medicare expenditures in order to reduce the deficit, that’s the origin of this [healthcare] policy. This is the T4 policy of the Hitler policy in 1939, where he said certain lives are not worth living, certain people, we should not spend the money to keep them alive. Why do you continue to support a Nazi policy, as Obama has expressly supported this policy, why do you support it?"

Frank replies, "On what planet do you spend most of your time?"

Never mind that Medicare is a government program, and the long list of things associated with that when compared to the T4 "argument." Overall, however, this woman's statement clearly shows the lunacy of the current discussion. The hysteria created when people in high positions and on mass media put out false comments and confuse the debate at hand.

It obviously stems from Sarah Palin's comments on "death panels," and ties in with more and more disturbing comments I hear from everyday people on Facebook or in person today. About how Obama is a "dictator" or an "emperor." An emperor? How so? Obama was elected into office in the strongest democracy in the world, partially on a platform of health care reform. To avoid the mistakes of the Clinton administration, he set broad goals and is having the Congress work out the details of reform on a committee made up of 3 members from each political party. His administration's officials have stated over the weekend that they're open to dropping the public option entirely. That's called compromising.

Where's the emperor part come in? I'm having trouble seeing that. Maybe someone can help me out there.

The idea on the table is how to improve health care. Let's try to keep that in mind. Let's keep our eye on the ball here.