Representative Joe Wilson yells "You lied!" at President Obama on Wednesday night and, in less than 48 hours, protest campaign contributions for his 2010 Democratic challenger, Rob Miller, have exceeded one million dollars.
Of course, Wilson also has his followers, and they're sending him money too.
I guess maybe the recession isn't as bad as we thought.
Ralph
Friday, September 11, 2009
More on childish behavior
A letter in the New York Times evoked a satisfying fantasy:
Ralph
It would have been audacious but, nevertheless, a teaching moment had President Obama called Representative Joe Wilson, who heckled him during his address to Congress, to the well, like a teacher calling an errant child to the front of the class, asked him his name, asked him what state he came from, asked him to repeat his remark, asked him to explain why he called him a liar, straightened him out, then told him to sit down.Wouldn't that have been lover-ly?
. Richard Rosenthal, New York.
Ralph
Olberman on Wilson
Keith Olberman is always good as a denouncer of idiots.
About Representative Wilson, he said that the only thing more offensive and embarrassing than the lack of civility Wilson displayed in "shouting at the President like he was a referee at a ball game and you were a drunk in the stands," is that Wilson was glaringly wrong in a comment that has "embarrassed the nation."
All fact checkers agree that Obama's plan does not give health coverage to those in this country illegally. Yet many Republicans continue to insist that it does. I heard one being interviewed: his assertion was that illegals are not supposed to get various other government services but they do anyway. Ergo, they will get health care, no matter what the law says. So how in this world can you write a law that will satisfy them? The answer is you can't.
One of the many progressive groups on whose emails lists I seem to occupy a space wrote that Obama's speech marks the end of the silly season.
Let's hope so.
Ralph
About Representative Wilson, he said that the only thing more offensive and embarrassing than the lack of civility Wilson displayed in "shouting at the President like he was a referee at a ball game and you were a drunk in the stands," is that Wilson was glaringly wrong in a comment that has "embarrassed the nation."
All fact checkers agree that Obama's plan does not give health coverage to those in this country illegally. Yet many Republicans continue to insist that it does. I heard one being interviewed: his assertion was that illegals are not supposed to get various other government services but they do anyway. Ergo, they will get health care, no matter what the law says. So how in this world can you write a law that will satisfy them? The answer is you can't.
One of the many progressive groups on whose emails lists I seem to occupy a space wrote that Obama's speech marks the end of the silly season.
Let's hope so.
Ralph
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Childish Republicans
Robert Creamer, progressive political strategist and author, wrote this on Huffington Post today:
When Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) yelled out that President Obama was a "liar" in the middle of Obama's nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress, he became the poster child for the new Republican Party.I definitely mean poster "child." Since President Obama took office, the language of the Republican Party has become more childish and irresponsible by the day.
President Obama's powerful speech to the nation last night could not have contrasted more sharply. He was the adult in the room, calling on Congress to take responsibility for our future -- for stepping up to solve the health care crisis that worsens every day, for making the changes necessary to allow America to live up to its own democratic values -- to acknowledge that no one should be denied the health care he needs because he can't afford it.
By contrast, the Republicans have careened into schoolyard name-calling; Obama the Nazi, Obama the "Joker" from Batman.
They have begun to act like a gang of juvenile delinquents, doing everything they can to frighten senior citizens -- attempting to convince them that health care reform would jeopardize their Medicare and that the Government would set up "death panels" with the power to pull the plug on Grandma, when both were patently untrue.
There has been a brazen, bullying quality to their rhetoric -- shouting down and intimidating opponents -- a willingness to break the rules and say anything that serves their purposes with a complete disregard for consistency or intellectual honesty. . . .
As children grow up, one of the measures of increasing maturity is their willingness to begin focusing on the long term -- on saving for the future -- on getting a good education -- on the long-term welfare of their family. Instead of throwing a tantrum because they want an ice cream cone now, they start savings their nickels and dimes for the bicycle they want to save up to buy in the future.
But you won't find the Republicans dealing with the affects of global warming on the next generation, or reforming the health care system so it won't devour our economy in the future, or regulating investment markets to prevent reckless investors from wrecking the economy in the years ahead. No, instead of the needs of the next generation, the Republicans want to squander our treasure on short-term tax cuts for millionaires, and short-term profits for large corporations.
Republicans used to have a reputation of staid "conservatism" like they were your stingy old rock-ribbed grandfather. Today's Republican leaders behave like a bunch of teenagers who got their inheritance too early and can't find enough ways to indulge their short-term desire for "more." They no longer reflect the values of middle class families. They reflect the values of reckless, "go go" Wall Street speculators who think anyone who isn't rich like them is a "chump" and that the purpose of our society is to let them indulge their own self-centered, jet-set fantasies.
There's more, but that's the gist.
Creamer is calling it just right. And this may be the best response to their antics: ridicule. If they act like children, call them children.
And, by the way, besides being crassly rude and insulting to the President of the United States in the most august of occasions, Rep. Wilson (R-SC) was just plain wrong in his accusation. He is the one who lied.
Ralph
Civility and irony
What irony !!!!
Unlike the British Parliament, where shouting and rancor are considered the rule, our Congress prides itself on being, for the most part, a civil institution. Members call each other "my distinguished colleague from X."
And never is this decorum more august than in a joint session with the President speaking -- until last night. Not even at the height of George Bush's lies did he receive the disrespect that Republicans showed for Obama last night.
Through much of the speech, there was rudeness from the Republicans. I don't mean remaining seated and not applauding. I mean holding up copies of their bill in defiance, laughing, booing at one point -- and then culminating with the "undistinguished colleague from South Carolina" calling out "You lie !!"
Everyone, including other Republicans, were shocked at this breach of respect and decorum. Rep. Wilson later apologized.
But what irony that, following this, Obama ended his speech with these noble words:
Ralph
Unlike the British Parliament, where shouting and rancor are considered the rule, our Congress prides itself on being, for the most part, a civil institution. Members call each other "my distinguished colleague from X."
And never is this decorum more august than in a joint session with the President speaking -- until last night. Not even at the height of George Bush's lies did he receive the disrespect that Republicans showed for Obama last night.
Through much of the speech, there was rudeness from the Republicans. I don't mean remaining seated and not applauding. I mean holding up copies of their bill in defiance, laughing, booing at one point -- and then culminating with the "undistinguished colleague from South Carolina" calling out "You lie !!"
Everyone, including other Republicans, were shocked at this breach of respect and decorum. Rep. Wilson later apologized.
But what irony that, following this, Obama ended his speech with these noble words:
We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. I still believe we can act even when it's hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility, and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things, and that here and now we will meet history's test. Because that is who we are. That is our calling. That is our character.That is our character. I'm afraid last night some of the members of Congress showed the flaw in their character.
Ralph
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Excerpts from the Speech
Here are some particularly choice lines:
"I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last."
"Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action."
"Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple."
"Without competition, the price of insurance goes up and the quality goes down. And it makes it easier for insurance companies to treat their customers badly . . . Insurance executives don't do this because they are bad people. They do it because it's profitable."
"Add it all up, and the plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over ten years - less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration. Most of these costs will be paid for with money already being spent - but spent badly - in the existing health care system. The plan will not add to our deficit."
"I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen. My door is always open. But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than improve it."
"You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. . . . But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little . . . And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter - that at that point we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves."
Ralph
"I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last."
"Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action."
"Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple."
"Without competition, the price of insurance goes up and the quality goes down. And it makes it easier for insurance companies to treat their customers badly . . . Insurance executives don't do this because they are bad people. They do it because it's profitable."
"Add it all up, and the plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over ten years - less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration. Most of these costs will be paid for with money already being spent - but spent badly - in the existing health care system. The plan will not add to our deficit."
"I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen. My door is always open. But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than improve it."
"You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. . . . But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little . . . And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter - that at that point we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves."
Ralph
The Speech
I thought it was Obama's finest hour as president thus far.
He was forceful and determined. He called the lie about pulling the plug on old folks for what it is: He said, "It's a lie, plain and simple."
He was respectful, giving credit to all who had worked on the bills, including parts of the plan he has taken from John McCain's campaign, as well as some other Republicans.
But he didn't pull any punches in citing those who would rather kill the reform for political gain rather than provide health care for the American people.
He gave just enough of the key points of the plan, without going over into wonkish details.
He included the public plan option and made a strong case for it -- without saying it was a must have item.
He added in measures to improve the malpractice insurance costs, something that has been largely missing from the proposed bills and which may bring in a few more moderates.
He framed health care reform as a moral issue and as being about the character of the American people.
And his ending with bringing in Ted Kennedy's vision and his work through the years was moving.
It was masterful. I'd put it on a par with his Philadelphia speech on race, at least.
Ralph
He was forceful and determined. He called the lie about pulling the plug on old folks for what it is: He said, "It's a lie, plain and simple."
He was respectful, giving credit to all who had worked on the bills, including parts of the plan he has taken from John McCain's campaign, as well as some other Republicans.
But he didn't pull any punches in citing those who would rather kill the reform for political gain rather than provide health care for the American people.
He gave just enough of the key points of the plan, without going over into wonkish details.
He included the public plan option and made a strong case for it -- without saying it was a must have item.
He added in measures to improve the malpractice insurance costs, something that has been largely missing from the proposed bills and which may bring in a few more moderates.
He framed health care reform as a moral issue and as being about the character of the American people.
And his ending with bringing in Ted Kennedy's vision and his work through the years was moving.
It was masterful. I'd put it on a par with his Philadelphia speech on race, at least.
Ralph
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