Death Panel Originator Rails Against 'Kill Granny' Bill

In an op-ed in today's New York Post titled "The 'Kill Granny' Bill," Betsy McCaughey continued to rail against health care reform, saying the Senate Finance Committee bill is akin to stealing from elderly women.

"The Senate Finance Committee bill (generally called the Baucus bill, after Chairman Max Baucus) robs the elderly to cover the uninsured -- like snatching purses from little old ladies," she wrote.

Tonight, McCaughey will debate Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) -- a vocal supporter of universal health care -- in an event hosted by Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century and moderated by Politico's Ben Smith.

And yes, TPM will be there.

McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor of New York, was the first person to look at provisions to compensate doctors for end-of-life counseling and say those provisions will lead to the government deciding who lives and who dies. She recently resigned from the board of a medical company, Cantel Medical Corp., after talking up death panels on The Daily Show.

She achieved prominence in 1994 by helping to kill the Clintons' plan for health care reform with a misleading article in The New Republic that was picked up far and wide by reform opponents.

Tonight's debate is sponsored by New York University, the New York Young Republican Club and the Young Invincibles, a group of 18- to 34-year-olds that supports reform.