Video: Jon Stewart slams Betsy McCaughey on alleged 'death panels' from page 425 in HR 3200

August 21, 10:29 AMPolitical Buzz ExaminerRyan Witt

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In these clips Jon Stewart does a great interview of the "death panel" originator Betsy McCaughey.  As Stewart correctly notes McCaughey never actually referred to them as "death panels" but she did advance the myth that mandatory end-of-life consultations would force seniors to "pull the plug." 

In the interview McCaughey first tries to squirm away from her original argument.  Originally, McCaughey argued that page 425 of the health care reform bill mandated end-of-life consultations.  Now that people like FactCheck have de-legitimized her claim McCaughey now claims that other provisions implicitly mandate the end-of-life consultations.  McCaughey then struggles in being able to substantiate her claim with any actual references to the bill.  Some may argue that McCaughey was not given time but given that this is her signature issue you would think she would be able to quickly provide evidence for her claims.

Throughout the interview McCaughey time and time again relies on very remote connections that require a complete twisting of the language of the bill.  When McCaughey finally finds the language she says mandates care the provision actually does not even encourage end-of-life treatment.  Stewart does a great job of going through the actual language of the bill in showing how McCaughey's arguments simply do not make sense.  McCaughey's appeals to her Ph.d. in "constitutional history' to say she must be right.  First, not every constitutional history scholar knows how to correctly interpret current statutory language.  Secondly, Stewart demonstrates that the actual language along with common sense demand an opposite understanding of the bill.

Watch the following clips yourself and provide your own comments on McCaughey's claims.