It was ugly, watching Tammy Duckworth defend the indefensible, the “death book” that the VA was issuing to vets (I have a copy), about “end of life issues” on Fox News Sunday.

Jonah Goldberg notes:

“I just watched Tammy Duckworth try her best to defend the V.A. “death book” on Fox News Sunday. The Iraq War veteran was severely wounded as an army aviator, losing both her legs, and is currently an assistant secretary at the V.A. The administration sent her out to defend the book and to push back against Jim Towey, who first raised the issue. While she admirably held her own, her talking points were often very, very lame (she kept insinuating that Towey’s bitter his $5 book isn’t free of charge to vets). The upshot was she defended this irretrievably gross book on the merits and attacked the messenger to boot. And here’s the thing: The death book is doomed, doomed. It’s obvious Obama will pull the thing, because it’s the right thing to do and because it’s a political no-brainer while he’s trying to shake off the “death panel” albatross. So they sent out Duckworth to stake a position that will be reversed, making her look like a fool. Just give it time.”

All true. The Huffington Puffington Post is equally wrong about the book being “required by law” since 1997.

While “Your Life, Your Choices” was in the VA system, it wasn’t until under Obama did it become a pamplet you could actually pick up in a VA waiting room (It’s where I got mine).

More to the point as Jim Towey points out the authorship is the key.

“Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing.

“Your Life, Your Choices” presents end-of-life choices in a way aimed at steering users toward predetermined conclusions, much like a political “push poll.” For example, a worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks users to then decide whether their own life would be “not worth living.”

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