Liberal critics focused on the fact the proposal in question did not include any such “death panels.” But being liberals, they endorsed Palin’s central thesis: that Medicare should indeed provide essentially unlimited coverage for Palin’s child as well as her parents.

But senior citizens who receive Medicare benefits pay only a fraction of the cost of the coverage, with the bulk coming from the taxpayers. As for Palin’s child, she seems to be assuming that his care comes under the Medicare law. That seems unlikely, but if he is indeed covered by it or some other government program, then the entire cost of his treatment is being paid by taxpayers.

Now let us assume that the panel Palin envisions is created and various of her relatives are paraded before it. The panelists would be deciding not whether the relative in question should receive treatment. They would be deciding whether the taxpayers should fund that treatment.

Palin agrees with the liberals that it’s evil to deny that payment. As a conservative, though, I believe it’s evil for her to expect my family to pay her family’s health-care costs. The Palin family can afford to come all the way from Alaska to New York to watch a Yankee game. With Yankee ticket prices what they are, I couldn’t even afford to take my family across the Hudson River. Yet she wants to use my taxes to subsidize her medical bills?