Palin Gets Politifact's "Biggest Lie of the Year"

Politifact.com is out today with its list of the Biggest Lies of 2009, and our favorite hockey mom sits right at the top. From the article:

Of all the falsehoods and distortions in the political discourse this year, one stood out from the rest.

"Death panels."

The claim set political debate afire when it was made in August, raising issues from the role of government in health care to the bounds of acceptable political discussion. In a nod to the way technology has transformed politics, the statement wasn't made in an interview or a television ad. Sarah Palin posted it on her Facebook page.

Ah, yes, the Facebook declaration. What's really amusing about her lie is that she not only repeated it numerous times, but actually managed to get her party's top dogs to chant it like a mantra throughout the summer. To be fair, President Obama and several other Democratic politicians made their way onto the list as well for broken promises or half-truths. But I think it's hard to argue that any lie was as blatant, cynical and underhanded as to tell the people who need health care reform the most that their government wants to kill them. If this is the great new hope of the Republican Party's renewal, then they're in big trouble.