So Ed Martin Is Being Ridiculous Again

Update: Peter Kinder is also hyperventilating about the article.

You're totally not going to believe this. Crazy Ed Martin is trying to scare voters with crazy accusations again.  I know, right?  Crazy.

Martin, the man who previously penned a column titled Democrat Health Plan = Abortion and Euthanasia** and has repeatedly peddled false claims about federal funding of abortion under the health care reform law, is now promoting a blog post on BigGovernment.com warning citizens that Barack Obama is "attempting to limit life-extending drugs for cancer patients." 

"This is the first shot in the health care revolution," the author declares, based entirely upon a recent 12-1 vote by the FDA to "revoke approval of Avastin for women with late-stage breast cancer."  I know very little about treating cancer (about as much as Ed Martin knows, I imagine), but you can read all about the FDA decision in the New York Times, Boston Globe, etc. Essentially, "two follow-up trials by the manufacturer have failed to confirm even those meager gains" suggested by a initial clinical trial.  Given the "serious side effects" for the "enormously expensive drug," the FDA voted to revoke approval in this limited use; the drug still "has full FDA approval for colon, lung, and kidney cancer and accelerated approval for brain cancer."

But in Martin's mind, this decision means it's okay to scare voters with headlines about how rationing has begun "in earnest,' and you'll probably be dead soon because Barry Soetoro wants it that way.

** Don't bother trying to find that article on Martin's Circular Letter website anymore -- he's taken that whole thing down since deciding to run for Congress.  You can still read part of the column here, however.  My favorite part: "Even liberal columnists - from Slate.com and the Washington Post for example - admit that the combination of end of life and cost containment leads you to one place: euthanasia. Cut costs by ending grandma's meds or care."