Lansley accused of using Palin’s “dangerous” tactics

As Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan prepares to emulate the Republican’s “tea party” movement, Andrew Lansley has been accused by a leading US blogger of being “dangerous and dishonest” for attacking Labour with phrasing from the Sarah Palin school of politics.

The Conservative’s use of the term “death tax” was first ridiculed when the Tory Tombstone poster urged “Don’t vote for Labour’s new death tax.” But a recent press release, titled “Lansley: Labour need to come clean over the death tax”, continued the Conservative party’s controversial use of the terminology.

The shadow health secretary is quoted saying:

“But what are the Labour Party proposing? They talk about a National Care Service but won’t say how it’s to be funded. They plan a death tax in private but put up a smokescreen in public. They say they will publish a white paper in weeks but the election is imminent. The public have a right to a clear choice.

Amanda Terkel, Managing Editor of Think Progress – Left Foot Forward’s sister blog – told us:

“In the United States last summer, distractions about whether the government would ‘pull the plug on grandma’ hijacked the debate on health care reform. Instead of substantively discussing how to save taxpayers money, increase coverage, and improve service, conservatives were playing on people’s fears.

“Now, not surprisingly, polls here show the American public is fed up with the delay tactics and demanding progress from its elected officials. Terms like ‘death tax’ and ‘death panel’ are dishonest and dangerous, pushed by right-wing propagandists and big-money constituencies who want to scare the public into voting against its best interests.”

In August last year, Sarah Palin used her facebook account to claim that healthcare reform could result in an Obama-created “death panel” killing her infant son with Down Syndrome. The term “death tax” was popularised in the 1990s by opponents of the US estate tax.

Picture credit: Political Scrapbook