Cry all the way to the bank

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

More on childish behavior

A letter in the New York Times evoked a satisfying fantasy:

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.
. Richard Rosenthal, New York.

Wouldn't that have been lover-ly?

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

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:

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

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

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

Priorities

Citizens for Tax Justice, a non-partisan, non-profit research and advocacy group, has a report out that says newly revised estimates show that the Bush tax cuts cost almost $2.5 trillion over the decade 2001-2010.

Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office put the cost of the Democrats' health care reform at $1 trillion for the decade 2010-2019.

Bush tax cuts cost 2 and 1/2 times as much as decent health care.

Add in the Iraq war at $1 trillion, and Bush cost us 3 and 1/2 times as much as decent health care. And yet the same people who voted for tax cuts and war are the ones yelling that we can't afford health care for our people.

Of course, this should be no surprise. Tax cuts and wars drain the treasury so that the beast of big government starves and there's no money for domestic programs.

No surprise. That was their plan.

Ralph

Ominous

Here's something that is really scary.

President Obama faces 30 threats a day !!! This is a 400% increase over threats to George Bush.

Further, according to Ronald Kessler, an investigative journalist and a conservative who has recently authored a book on the Secret Service, funding cuts have left the Secret Service short of agents and cutting corners to a level that has some of them worried about their ability to protect the president.

Kessler said in an interview on Canadian TV: "There's a tremendous feeling within the Secret Service that they are risking an assassination." And request for more funding apparently have fallen on deaf ears.

Ralph

Obama's school speech

Despite the hysteria about Obama's talk to the school children, whipped up by you know who, it seems that even some Republicans are thinking their fringe went too far (demonstrably so, I would say.)

Both Newt Gingrich and Laura Bush have come out as supportive. Gingrich was particularly complimentary and recommended that all teachers and parents listen to it too.

Of course. What did they really expect? The whole thing was silly -- but it only adds to the dangerous image the crazies are trying to construct of Obama in people's minds.

I went to a Labor Day party in Big Canoe (north GA mountains). My host, who has an Obama bumper sticker on his truck, showed me a note someone put on his windshield at the grocery store. "Thank you for ruining our country by voting for Obama."

This really gets frightening when you realize the number of death threats coming out of all this.

Ralph

Obama on health care reform

Obama's Labor Day Speech was given at a labor rally in Ohio and in it he touched on health care reform. Saying he didn't want to give away what he will say on Wednesday to Congress, he did reaffirm some broad principles:

We've never been this close. We've never had such broad agreement on what needs to be done. And because we're so close to real reform, the special interests are doing what they always do-trying to scare the American people and preserve the status quo.

But I've got a question for them: What's your answer? What's your solution? The truth is, they don't have one. It's do nothing. And we know what that future looks like. . . .

But that's not the future I see for America. I see reform where we bring stability and security to folks who have insurance today. Where you never again have to worry about going without coverage-if you lose your job, change your job or get sick. Where there is a cap on your out-of-pocket expenses, so you don't have to worry that a serious illness will break you and your family. Where you never again have to worry that you or someone you love will be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

I see reform where Americans and small businesses that are shut out of health insurance today will be able to purchase coverage at a price they can afford. Where they'll be able to shop and compare in a new health insurance exchange-a marketplace where competition and choice will continue to hold down cost and help deliver them a better deal. And I continue to believe that a public option within the basket of insurance choices would help improve quality and bring down costs.

I see reform where we protect our senior citizens by closing the gaps in their Medicare prescription coverage that costs millions of older Americans thousands of dollars every year out of their own pockets; reforms that will preserve Medicare and put it on a sounder financial footing by cutting waste and fraud and the hundreds of billions of dollars in unwarranted public subsidies to an already profitable insurance industry.

I want a health insurance system that works as well for the American people as it does for the insurance industry. They should be free to make a profit. But they also have to be fair. They also have to be accountable.

Security and stability for folks who have health insurance. Help for those who don't-the coverage they need at a price they can afford.

Finally bringing costs under control. That's the reform we need.

I'm trying to accept that we probably are not going to get the public option this go round. I think that's unfortunate, because without it we lose a major way of reducing costs. But when I review what we probably will get, it is certainly better than we have now.

And it will be historical and a major change. I'll try to think of it as a victory and not a cave-in to the Republicans and their gorilla warfare to defeat Obama.

For a while, I was even thinking we would be better off not passing anything now and come back later with a better bill. But that wouldn't happen for several more years; and in the meantime millions would continue without insurance, others would be dropped from what they have, and it would only get worse. This way it will get better, even though insurance companies will make obscene profits, our overall health care costs will go up.

Let's hope the next go round will see a single payer plan as the solution rather than concluding we can't afford health care. To do so, we have to elect even more progressive Democrats.

Ralph

Listen to the people

Listen to the people -- not just the noisy ones who disrupt town hall meetings, but the quietly concerned folks who try to be responsible about their health care and are having trouble with a dysfunctional system.

It should be simple -- if the conservatives would just give up their ideology of government-is-the-problem and their determination to defeat Obama at all costs. That's a tall order, I know. But if approached rationally, their arguments just don't hold up.

In today's AJC were two opinion pieces, one by the president of the Medical Association of GA, Dr. Todd Williamson, and one by conservative columnist Kyle Wingfield.

Williamson has two main arguments against the public option plan:

(1) It "will result in government-run health care. . . . Medicare . . . illustrates this danger -- having effectively evolved into the only health insurance option for seniors."

Yes, and why is that a problem? Polls indicate that seniors are largely satisfied with Medicare. In fact, one of the rallying cries from even the radical anti-Obama fans is, "keep your hands off my Medicare." Polls show that the type of health care plan that people are most satisfied with are the Veteran's Administration Health Care and Medicare, both government run programs.

(2) "We are opposed to the "public option" because it is tantamount to having our patients relinquish those freedoms (choice about their health care and doctors) to cost savings-driven bureaucrats."

Now this one is just plain ludicrous. It sounds good. But here are the facts. Medicare allows patients to choose their own doctors, limited only by doctors who choose to opt out of the system and not take any Medicare patients. And who is it that limits what care people can get and which doctors are on their panels? Private insurance companies. Most of the horror stories we hear about health care are not about Medicare but about private insurance that denies claims and cancels policies -- get this -- decisions made by "cost savings-driven" clerks.

Just look in the mirror, Dr. Williamson. Read your own words, and THINK !!

Kyle Wingfield is no more reflective about what he writes:

"But Democrats have all the votes they need for health reform if they can convince the public -- not to mention all of their own members -- that a government-run "public option" for health insurance is about pragmatism and not ideology."

Well, he has a point about "all of their own members," aka Blue Dog Democrats.

But convincing the public?

Two recent polls asked the question:

"Do you favor creating a public health insurance option that would compete with private insurers?"

CNN/Opinion Research poll of Aug 28-31: favor 55%, oppose 41%.

CBS News poll of Aug 27-31: favor 60%, oppose 34%.

Those are pretty huge margins in favor (14% and 26%) for an issue on which opponents claim we are sharply divided. Apparently we are not.

What we are is drowned out by loud, lying louts.

I'd say the public is not only on board but eager. It's the politicians and the moneyed interests who need convincing. But let's at least be honest about what the public wants. You can't gauge that by whipping up people's fear and anger, and then measuring how much time the video clips of their antics play on 24/7 cable tv.

Ralph