President Obama took aim Saturday at the "outlandish rumors" being spread about his health-care reform proposals.
The pointed criticism in his weekly radio and Internet address came as Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin unleashed an attack on the plan, calling it "downright evil."
In a Facebook posting, the former GOP vice presidential candidate claimed that Obama's scheme will create a "death panel" promoting euthanasia.
"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care," she wrote.
"Such a system is downright evil."
And downright fictional, according to Obama, who said "political point-scorers" are spreading misleading information in an attempt to torpedo reform.
"Let me start by dispelling the outlandish rumors that reform will promote euthanasia, cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care," Obama said.
"That's simply not true."
The euthanasia rumor has been circulating for weeks, apparently based on a provision of the House of Representatives bill that would require Medicare to pay for end-of-life counseling sessions, on a voluntary basis.
During a town hall meeting last month, Obama said the Internet-based chatter about the provision was false.
"Nobody is going to be forcing you to make a set of decisions on end-of-life care based on some bureaucratic law in Washington," he said then.
His radio address on the subject was recorded before Palin updated her Facebook page, which has 700,000 fans.
Tying health care reform to economic recovery, Obama said lawmakers are moving toward a "broad consensus" on the plan.
"Four committees in Congress have produced legislation - an unprecedented level of agreement on a difficult and complex challenge," he said.
With News Wire Services