Friday, December 18, 2009

Following TP report, Sarah Palin is booted from her scheduled speech at a Canadian hospital fundraiser.

THINK PROGRESS

Last week, it was revealed that Sarah Palin had been booked to deliver a $200,000 speech at a hospital fundraiser in Canada. ThinkProgress was the first to report that the event seemed odd given the fact that the hospital — which offers the same advanced directive service that Palin derided as “death panels” — is part of a “socialist” health care system Palin abhors. Now, the Toronto Sun reports that Palin has “been given the boot” and will no longer appear at the fundraiser for St. Peter’s hospital. Jeff Valletine, the vice president of communications for Hamilton Health Sciences, said that he had received a backlash for inviting Palin:

“Individually I’m a bit surprised by the magnitude of the reaction but I’m not too surprised. Sarah Palin is a strong personality who brings out lots of opinions from lots of folks, so that’s to be expected.”

Last month, Canadian comedian Mary Walsh asked her about Canadian health care, to which Palin responded, “Canada needs to dismantle its public health-care system and allow private enterprise to get involved and turn a profit.” According to the Sun, Palin will instead give a speech to a local children’s charity.

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