Alan Grayson: Time For Democrats To Grow A Pair
This must-watch video of Dem Rep. Alan Grayson on CNN last night gets at the real reason why outbursts like his — he claimed that Republicans want people to “die quickly” — have so much appeal to the Dem base.
Grayson — aggressively unapologetic and clearly relishing his newfound notoriety — seemed to turn the guns on his own party a bit, calling on Democrats to show some “guts.” The whole thing is worth watching, but the key moment comes around four minutes in:
“Democrats have to have guts and now we have to have the guts to take the majority that the American people have given to us and we have to do something with it,” Grayson said, adding that he received a call from an AIDS survivor who told him: “God bless you for fighting for health care.”
Grayson has received an outpouring of support on the left for his claim about Republicans, and the common Beltway explanation for why this kind of stuff has so much appeal is that partisans just want their leaders to say mean and nasty things about members of the other party. But that’s a fundamental misreading of the dynamic.
What’s really going on is that the Dem rank and file, radicalized by years of watching Dems cowed by Republican rhetoric on patriotism, national security, and many other issues, just want to see Dems show some fight and some fearlessness, and not back down every time Republicans say “boo.” It’s really that simple. The specifics of what he initially said are almost incidental.
Indeed, Grayson’s refusal to apologize for his outburst despite Republican demands that he do so, and his demand that members of his own party grow a pair, are likely to garner him even more support from the base than his initial claim did.
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Indeed, what the country has been lacking for so many years is combativeness and hyper-partisan, vicious rhetoric from Democrats.
Greg, you do understand that Grayson had to do the grandstanding because the gotcha media has been giving platforms only to loud mouths, rabble-rousers and other freaks from the repugs side, don’t you ?
The difference is that Grayson speaks the truth in his stunt while the repugs spread only lies, innuendos and outright treasonous actions by their yelling and stage managed townhowls.
Calm and reasoned debate in politics has been dead for years in US.
It’s about time!! I have been saying this for months now… and the way Dems. have been folding to repub. pressure is almost embarrassing.
amk
“Calm and reasoned debate in politics has been dead for years in US.”
That’s something we can all agree on I hope. I don’t necessarily agree with Grayson’s choice of words or even the lightening rod status he has elevated himself to, sort of the Bachmann of the left. But, he has brought attention to the insurance industry’s disregard for human suffering.
I prefer the approach of Jay Rock, but as someone who’s lived through the nightmare of bottom line insurance industry decisions I will accept just about any approach to combat. That’s what it feels like when you live through it, a war.
The insurance industry is selling health care but don’t have any real desire to provide health care once someone needs it. People need to be reminded every day how many people are dying because of it.
We’ll see how this plays out. I know sgwhite will be pleased to see a rhetorical move like this and there’s reason to suppose it might be both effective and necessary.
One thing I’ve noted over the years in watching movements take shape and advance is that they have some component which is loud, even extremist, and which kind of spearheads the larger effort and forces public recognition of the movement’s complaints or ideas. The environmental movement, for example, would surely be less advanced without Greenpeace’s activities over the years. Republicans (who took tips from the civil rights and other 60’s movements’ successes) understand this quite well and (together with long-developed corporate marketing techniques) have become expert at pushing their narrative into media and public view (townhalls). The downside is the label of “extremism!” but that downside is very often of minimal importance in the longer run.
I can understand the Democratic tendency to hide under a rock when making “partisan” statements like… the GOP doesn’t want reform and so is promoting the status quo where 40k+ die every year for want of insurance. For the past 24 hours, every hour, on the hour I have seen a clip of Grayson and people tut tuting about how far things have spiraled out of control (on CNN and MSNBC, the supposedly liberal ones mind you).
You know what I haven’t seen? News about an article from a right wing outlet that publically speculates that military coup is not only being contemplated by our top brass but that is the “only” solution to the “Obama problem”. You know, the one where we elected him by a pretty blow out majority (by modern standards). Nope, it would seem that that kind of talk is par for the course and so doesn’t need any push back. It’s downright disgusting that they can’t even take the time to defend the elected institutions of these United States against rhetoric that should have no place in a country that has gone over 200 years without military intervention in our democratic system.
Here is a section of the Republican backed constition for Iraq. Is it just me?
“chapter 2, article 9 of the Iraq constitution:
Iraqi citizens have the right to enjoy security and free health care. It is the responsibility of the
central Iraqi state and the regional, provincial, local, and municipal governments to provide [health
care] and to expand [it] in the fields of prevention, treatment, and protection of children, pregnant
women, school students, workers, the disable, and the aged.”
I had never heard of the guy until yesterday and he has my support. I’m liking what I’m hearing from him. He says some of the very things I’ve been writing on my blog for months now.
The highlight of all this, though, is the Republican reaction. Apparently it’s perfectly acceptable to say the president wants to kill and intern people but to turn the tables on them and sensationalize it right back, falls into the same category as disagreeing with George Bush. Watching them squirm is worth it.
i like what bernie said about movements often needing to express the conventional wisdom through outrageous behavior.
What Grayson has going for him is that he is is apparently quite smart and a new public face. Also the fact that Matt Stoler is advising him doesn’t hurt.
When the polls show that a majority of Americans think there is something terribly wrong with our health insurance system and support reform…..you know that we are all just waiting for someone to put into words what we are feeling.
Grayson is doing a good job of normalizing this issue….something Obama wasn’t able to do…I hope he keeps it up.
I agree with what you said about why he’s getting the outpouring of support. But I don’t think we should underestimate the extent to which he’s also deliberately setting out to goad the people on the right who talk like this all the time into the false position of condemning him for doing the same. If that wasn’t his original intent, I certainly think it’s part of the reason he’s been so unapologetic since the R’s introduced their resolution of condemnation.
wsj – Gates has second thoughts
In an interview Wednesday, a senior defense official said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates now worries that counterinsurgency might no longer be a viable approach for countering the Taliban violence roiling once-stable parts of north and west Afghanistan.
Mr. Gates, a Bush administration holdover, has emerged as one of Mr. Obama’s most trusted advisers, so his views carry significant weight in the deliberations.
“Even 40,000 more troops don’t give you enough boots on the ground to protect the Afghans if the north and west continue to deteriorate,” the official said. “That may argue for a different approach.”
A shift in Mr. Gates’s thinking would be particularly striking because he has long been a major advocate of counterinsurgency, which is credited with helping to sharply reduce Iraq’s once-unrelenting violence.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125435650569454583.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories
Grayson’s apology to the 45,000 who have died annually because they had no health coverage was exactly the right apology but none is needed for anyone else.
Joe Wilson lied when he called the president a liar. Alan Grayson told the truth when he pointed out the result of the Republicans simply wanting to continue receiving huge donations from health insurance companies and protect their obscene profits.
Finally, a Democrat is responding in a manner the Republicans can understand and summed up their immoral position superbly.
IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES…. In August, MSNBC’s John Harwood mentioned something to Paul Krugman that stood out for me: “I gotta tell you what a White House official told me today: ‘Our problem right now is, if we tell some of the Republican opponents in the Senate, ‘You can have everything you want in the bill,’ they still won’t vote for it.’”
***Yesterday, the Republicans’ Senate leader conceded that this is largely true: no matter the circumstances or concessions, Republicans will oppose health care reform.
The Senate Republican leader made clear on Wednesday that his party, despite all its griping over the public health insurance option, abortion-funding or health care for illegal immigrants, is simply and flatly opposed to the “core” of the Democratic health care reform proposal.***
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/
Yup.
Satisfying every Republican demand short of scrapping the entire project, said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), would still not capture GOP support.
On most of the liberal comment boards that I’ve seen, folks appear to be reacting in the same manner that Grayson originally accused the Republicans, like they’re in junior high school watching a fight break out.
“Hey, don’t let him get away with that! Hit him back harder! Now hit him again! That’s it! Beat the sh*t out of him!”
Wonderful discourse.
To hell with my own representatives – I’m sending Grayson my money!
I was wondering when the whining repugs will show up here.
Former Marine commandant Charles Krulak and former Marine general Joseph ****, who succeeded Schwarzkopf at Central Command, dress down former VP Cheney on the issue of torture.
… we never imagined that we would feel duty-bound to publicly denounce a vice president of the United States, a man who has served our country for many years. In light of the irresponsible statements recently made by former Vice President Dick Cheney, however, we feel we must repudiate his dangerous ideas — and his scare tactics.
…
What leaders say matters. So when it comes to light, as it did recently, that U.S. interrogators staged mock executions and held a whirling electric drill close to the body of a naked, hooded detainee, and the former vice president winks and nods, it matters.
The Bush administration had already degraded the rules of war by authorizing techniques that violated the Geneva Conventions and shocked the conscience of the world. Now Cheney has publicly condoned the abuse that went beyond even those weakened standards, leading us down a slippery slope of lawlessness.
http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/09/15/marine_generals_to_cheney_knock_it_off_mac
How long before the repugs here and everywhere start dissing these ‘heroes’ ? 5.4.3…
I would just as soon have the ‘ritual apology’ disappear from our vocabulary altogether. The whole reason that free speech was enshrined into our bill of rights in the first place was so that we could all speak freely. To insist that certain word choices are ‘out of bounds’ is to cheapen debate and render political engagement ineffective.
That goes for Newsmax too. Letting people say what they mean is a perfect way to allow them to reveal who they actually are.
“falls into the same category as disagreeing with George Bush”
Remember, what you euphemize as disagreeing with George Bush includes accusing him of genocide, ethnic cleansing, Nazism, treason, etc. Stop pretending Democrats haven’t been engaged in hyper-partisan, vitriolic attack politics for years and years. It is basically all your side does.
Reality check time.
Whether from the left or the right, statements like Grayson made just drive “middle of the road” independants like me away. We can all agree that reform is necessary, just not what is being proposed by the Dems at this time.
We are deeply suspicious of our government, with good reason. That is why all the polls show steep drops in approval ratings for this proposal. What we see is an insistance that it be government run, and that is why we are deserting you.
Just give us tort reform and competition across state lines and we will all vote for it. This is a win-win for all except those whose real agenda is government control.
amk,
What we can say with certainty about those retired generals just from reading the article is the same thing I said two weeks ago: They didn’t even bother to get their facts right in cobbling together that melodramatic hit piece. It is completely detached from the actual facts, which I know folks here don’t care about either. You just want to shout about Cheney and torture and war crimes. Retired officers can be just as partisan and off base as anyone else. These guys didn’t let the facts get in the way of their strident attack. Their fake regret about “having to” denounce a former VP is pretty transparent and disgusting. Note that they don’t even bother to identify the irresponsible statements.
That REPUBLICAN TERRORISTS are whining like pathetic children about DISCOURSE is absolutely making my month.
Whine some more party of greed, terrorism, and false-flag patriotism. Whine some more QB. I can’t wait.
What qb really thinks the country lacks is the desire to go all out and be a torturing country like Egypt.
And he’s ashamed of us for that.
I should add that THIS is what you have reduced yourself to. Defending the fact that your anti-American policies KILL PEOPLE.
It’s HARD WORK but you’re doing a HECKUVA JOB proving how thoroughly damaging you are to our society.
Aaand here comes the troll and wingnut and dishonesty personified, qb, rising to the occasion.
As usual, you guys have name calling and unsupported accusations, nothing else. Way to keep proving my point.
oh stop the wah, wah, qb. Pathetic.
Grayson is right but there’s no need for anyone (on either side) to engage in ridiculous accusations.
I’m waiting for AJAX to show up here. Talk about about a wingnut!! All he does is tell everyone how knowledgeable he is and call everyone who doesn’t toe the Dem party line a whole string of juvenile names. Just watch what happens when he sees this post.
This one’s for you QB. THIS is YOUR party:
Bachmann on the House floor Wed night:
“[T]he bill orders that these clinics protect patient privacy and student records. What does that mean? It means that parents will never know what kind of counsel and treatment that their children are receiving. And as a matter of fact, the bill goes on to say what’s going to go on — comprehensive primary health services, physicals, treatment of minor acute medical conditions, referrals to follow-up for specialty care — is that abortion? Does that mean that someone’s 13 year-old daughter could walk into a *** clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night? Mom and dad are never the wiser.”
The nonpartisan PolitiFact, which provided the archeology, found the assertion baseless, giving the charge its lowest rating “Pants on Fire.”
Lying terrorist GOP.
I regretted that both KO and Rachel zeroed in on the “Holocaust” part of Grayson’s comment. I *in no way* want to trivialize the Holocaust, but I think the intent of his use of the term is that we are systematically killing people in this country because they have no health insurance. I agree that it was an unfortunate word choice, but IMO both KO and (especially) Rachel made way too much of it.
First we couldn’t do anything because there was a Republican majority. Then we couldn’t do anything because the Democratic majority was slim and tenuous. NOW, with a super-majority, we STILL can’t do anything! I swear, we could have 99 Democrats and John Boehner in the Senate and absolutely no Democratic initiative would pass!
Other than keeping fingers crossed that Republicans continue their deth-embrace with the crazy, exactly what it the rationale going to be for continuing to vote for Democrats in 2010 and 12???
“death”
“is”
I know, I know…
amk,
Not whining at all. I enjoy it when you guys make fools of yourselves and I get to point it out. As I’ve said many times, your curses are welcome. I consider them blessings.
Note, for example, this passage in the generals’ screed:
“What leaders say matters. So when it comes to light, as it did recently, that U.S. interrogators staged mock executions and held a whirling electric drill close to the body of a naked, hooded detainee, and the former vice president winks and nods, it matters.
The Bush administration had already degraded the rules of war by authorizing techniques that violated the Geneva Conventions and shocked the conscience of the world. Now Cheney has publicly condoned the abuse that went beyond even those weakened standards, leading us down a slippery slope of lawlessness.”
That passage contains assertions that are objectively, indisputably false. And they should know it. You should care, too, but you don’t, because it would get in the way of your demonization of those you hate.
If you disagree, then please document how and when Cheney condoned “abuse” that went beyond authorized interrogation methods. Otherwise, you, like the generals, are just trafficing in libel.
qb, he’s right. Cheney said so on Fox News. I watched it both live and a review.
He was asked specifically do you approve of methods that possibly went above and beyond what was approved by the DOJ and he said yes.
What makes qb any more of a troll than Ethan or amk?
Was there an explicit or implied ideology affirmation sign-in somewhere that I missed?
The Republicans never introduced Health Care Reform, for the 12 years under Reagan and Bush one. Next, they blocked Democrats from passing Health Care Reform, for the Eight years that Clinton was President.
After that, for the past eight years, When Bush/Cheney were in charge, they again did not even attempt to pass comprehensive Health Care reform.
For twenty out of the past twenty eight years, the Republicans did not make any attempt to provide health care coverage for all, and for the eight years that President Clinton was in office, The Republican blocked any attempts by the President, to provide universal health care coverage.
Now, during the first nine months of President Obama’a first term, the Republicans are playing their same old obstructionist games.
Twenty eight years, and nine months of the Republicans doing nothing about providing universal health care coverage, and of blocking any attempt by Democrats to do so.
And people wonder where Congressman Grayson could have gotten the notion that Republicans do not care that many Americans are dying each year, because of the lack of universal health care.
Republicans only care about making sure the very wealthiest stay the very wealthiest.
That’s their domestic policy.
It’s short-sighted in the extreme, but hey, what’s to worry? We’ll just cut taxes and keep spending.
It’s called the Mugabe governing style.
Out of money? Just make more!
(Just make sure you blame it all on the Democrats.)
What makes qb any more of a troll than Ethan or amk?
Advocating the adoption of war crimes as a tool of the state, for one.
larbo is funny.
he calls himself a centrist, but he advocates GOP talking points. why do these people spout such nonsense? am I just unaware of the states in this country where private health insurance is really cheap? these same idiots keep trying to make people believe that the public option is a “slippery slope to single payer”, while their preferred solution is a slippery slope to even more market consolidation and monopoly for the big health insurers. this tort reform nonsense is just that, nonsense. tort reform is short for letting people get off with ruining people’s lives because, well, because trial lawyers, thats why!
this is really why nothing is ever solved here: the status-quo always wins because the Right shouts down the opposition. Read Joan Walsh in Salon today about the Branch book on Clinton, and you’ll understand how the world really works with the left/right in this country past the spin and the namecalling. the Repubs are free to say any horrible thing they think of, disagree with obvious factual information, change their minds back and forth on any issue, have coverage provided for them by “centrist” (who realistically in our skewed right-ward discourse are right-wingers themselves), while Democrats cower in the face of horrible insults and we all are just supposed to take it.
Wolf Blitzer makes me sick! What a Republican syncophant. Just disgusting. He wouldn’t let it die, that what Grayson said was SUCH an insult to the Republicans. BUT…I never heard him say a word about what an insult the Republicans have been delivering on a regular basis to the Democrats and Obama.
CNN…what a joke.
and you are right oddjob, they will just accuse Democrats of “bribing their voters with entitlements”.
but I have to ask, is it more evil to say stuff and advocate for things you know aren’t true and will be hurtful for the majority of people to win your battle, or to acquiesce to things you know aren’t true and will be hurtful to others because people are bullying you and you just want to make it stop?
Bernie:
…is simply and flatly opposed to the “core” of the Democratic health care reform proposal.
Apart from the public option, can anyone here provide a brief overview of what that “core” is? I am genuinely curious as to what people here see as the core policy(s) of the Dem health care agenda.
Freehold:
Was there an explicit or implied ideology affirmation sign-in somewhere that I missed?
I’ve been wondering the same thing for some time.
freehold – qb makes the cut because of his constant spouting of rethugs’ talking lies, innuendos and smears.
As for me, I love insulting and name-calling the repugs. I take great pleasure in it.
Nationalized health care will not pass a 10th Amendment challenge, so Congress is wasting it’s time on this. This is something that is reserved to the individual states.
The discussion is really about the limits of Federal power.
I believe you have the dynamic absolutely right. When did any Democrat stand up to the Republicans like this? I can’t remember one. We just roll over every time they lie and create ugly false phrases. I actually think Grayson may be a bit over the line with his “Neanderthal” stuff, but I applaud him for his courage and have already contributed to his campaign. It’s not that I want all-out mud-slinging. It’s just as you say: I’d like the Democrats to stop buckling and making the Republican (and Fox) attacks work. Thanks for your comments, and stick with it.
p.s. Years ago, when Bill Bradley got such a shock from NJ Voters who voted for Christie Wittman, I always felt the pundits never got it right. I was a Bradley devotee, but I voted for Wittman that year because I wanted to send a message to the Democratic party, and then I was horrified when he almost lost! He never got over it, and he never understood it wasn’t about him. Now I live in NH and am convinced the pundits who think the NH presidential primary was about racism also got it completely wrong. NH is about independence, and voters were sending a message.
@Irv,
Nonsense. Medicare is a Nationalized health care plan.
Again:
The Republicans never introduced Health Care Reform, for the 12 years under Reagan and Bush one. Next, they blocked Democrats from passing Health Care Reform, for the Eight years that Clinton was President.
After that, for the past eight years, When Bush/Cheney were in charge, they again did not even attempt to pass comprehensive Health Care reform.
For twenty out of the past twenty eight years, the Republicans did not make any attempt to provide health care coverage for all, and for the eight years that President Clinton was in office, The Republican blocked any attempts by the President, to provide universal health care coverage.
Now, during the first nine months of President Obama’a first term, the Republicans are playing their same old obstructionist games.
Twenty eight years, and nine months of the Republicans doing nothing about providing universal health care coverage, and of blocking any attempt by Democrats to do so.
And people wonder where Congressman Grayson could have gotten the notion that Republicans do not care that many Americans are dying each year, because of the lack of universal health care.
I don’t think Republicans want you to die, and I don’t think it’s accurate to compare the insurers with the Nazis.
But, as Greg says, the actual words don’t matter, rank and file Dems just want someone with some juevos. I think words DO matter and this sort of garbage – from either side – is precisely what Obama had hoped to reduce with his victory. Ain’t working out that way, unfortunately.
I think Grayson is simply an opportunist. He saw the fundraising/PR bonanza that was Joe Wilson and decided he wanted to get in on some of the action. In other words, he hopes to use gullible partisan Dems to increase his own coffers and a gullible media to get air time. It’s working. Will it change any votes? Not at all.
One of the BIG problems here is that the Dems take more healthcare PAC money than the Repubs do, so it’s awfully hard to argue that the guys you willingly take money from are Nazis.
Eight years under Reagan, four under Bush One, and eight under Bush 2. Twenty years total. The Republicans never tried to provide universal health care.
Eight years under Clinton, and now 9 months under Obama, the Republicans have campaigned against providing universal health care.
For the past Twenty Eight years, and nine months, The Republicans have done nothing about providing universal health care, even though more that forty thousand die each year, because of not having such health care available to them.
It matters not to those hundreds of thousands of dead people, what the motives of the Republicans were, when they let them die.
Republicans have made no attempt to prevent it from continuing to happen. I do not care what is in their hearts, because for the past twenty eight years, the Republicans made sure that more than a million Americans died, that did not have to die.
Right to lifers, MY ARSE!
Ed Kilgore gets it right…
“If you haven’t been following the dust-up over Rep. Alan Grayson’s (D-FL) take-down of the GOP health care “plan,” do check out this clip, posted by Open Left’s Adam Green. Grayson responds con brio to GOP outrage over his recent remarks saying “the Republican plan is don’t get sick. And if you do get sick, die quickly.”
Natch, the Republicans got all hufty-pufty and bent out of shape about it and are demanding an apology. But rather than cave in and grovel, Rep. Grayson is turning the brouhaha into a teachable moment, shrewdly using the media attention to hammer home the fact that the GOP really doesn’t have much of a plan, other than obstruct and crush all reform. (Also check out Grayson’s earlier refusal to apologize here). Even when CNN Situation Room anchors Gloria Bolger and Wolf Blitzer try to nail him for being uncivil, Grayson refuses to back off, and attacks the GOP’s do-nothing approach to health insurance. They try to make him eat the false equivalency of his remarks with Rep. Wilson calling the president “a liar,” but Rep. Grayson ain’t having it, and uses the opportunity to deliver another broadside against the GOP’s non-existent health care plan.
Grayson’s response to GOP protests against his remarks is instructive. First time I heard Rep. Grayson’s remarks, I winced, thinking it was a tad over the top. Dems who are squeamish about incivility and such may have problems with Grayson’s attacks. But the GOP has been getting a lot of coverage with their incivility. The way Grayson has handled it turns the controversy into a net plus. What he is doing is deploying the GOP’s media manipulation tactics to good effect, using a controversy to make a case for Democratic reform in stark contrast to Republican obstruction. It translates into more coverage for the Dem reform proposals, which have gotten squeezed off TV by various GOP bomb-throwers, like Sarah Palin. Grayson’s media strategy is don’t spend much time defending yourself; Instead, use every opportunity to attack, and that’s a good lesson for Democrats. Well-done, Rep. Grayson.” http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/
As to the use of the term “holocaust”, just type ‘abortion’ and ‘holocaust’ into google and you’ll get a quarter million hits.
Nationalized health care will not pass a 10th Amendment challenge, so Congress is wasting it’s time on this. This is something that is reserved to the individual states.
The discussion is really about the limits of Federal power.
Medicare has existed as the precedent for over fourty years.
I don’t think Republicans want you to die
Probably not, but they aren’t interested in fixing a system that is imploding for all but the very well to do, either.
Wolf Blitzer is a Blitzering Idiot.
He recently appeared on a Celebrity Jeopardy program, for charity. He could not answer any of most simple common knowledge questions in practice, or on the actual taping of the show. He finished up in the red.
Wolf Blitzer is more qualified to appear on that Jay Leno panel for Jay Walking Imbeciles, than he is to be a TV interviewer.
Amen, Greg. I am sending Grayson $50 today!
This independent centrist is happy to see a member of the Democratic party name the reality of the Republican party so clearly and articulately. There are many different flavors of independents, but one of the reasons I voted solid Democratic last election was to try and get health care reform done. How the Congressional Republicans have continued to stonewall and lie needs to be called out.
I’m sending some money Grayson’s way today too. He was honest and courteous whilst speaking to the reality. And Alex Castellanos is a poor excuse for a pundit, all he said was lies lies and more lies.
Best Line Ever:
“We need to care about people even after they are born!”
And I applaud Grayson. Don’t know if that makes me the “left” or not but it’s time someone started fighting back against the GOP school yard bullies. Now let’s listen to the “no empathy” party whine and cry. Truth hurts!
It is incredible to me that Wolf and the rest of the traditional media have such reading and listening comprehension issues.
Grayson never said he wanted anyone to die, he said that the Republican healthcare plan is “dont get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly”, which even the slowest of Limbaugh sycophants must understand that if you get sick and die slowly, the insurance companies will bleed you of all your money, so in is in your best interest to die quickly rather than give the insurance companies all your money before you die.
Not only is this obvious, but it has the added bonus of being 100% true.
If you get sick and don’t have insurance (or do have insurance, but the insurance co. denies claims) then all you will do is pay all of your savings (and your children’s) until you go into bankruptcy.
It’s not only not difficult, it’s patently obvious to anyone who has been paying attention.
Oh, and quarterback: give us 1, just 1 example of a national Democrat referring to Dubya as a nazi or a socialist or whatever else it is that the Republicans in the house and senate and local government are calling the current President. You have a serious issue with facts and proof, and appear to be allergic to links or sites, choosing to do as Beck does, assert something nonsensical and hope people aren’t paying attention.
http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18665
Grayson has raised over $100,000 in 24 hours from the netroots and progressive online community.
Rewards are for winners.
Go Grayson.
Nancy Pelosi, two weeks ago:
“This kind of rhetoric was very frightening and it created a climate in which violence took place.”
“Regaining control, she expressed a wish that “we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made” and “take responsibility” for what is said.”
mmm mmm mmm
Question for sbj and quarterback and the rest of the non-progressives here:
What do you do if you do not have health insurance and you do not qualify for medicare or medicaid and you get cancer?
Well, here is a person who has cancer, and had Health Insurance, and look what has happened to them.
This is heartbreaking.
# rocket | September 30th, 2009 at 03:43 pm
As someone diagnosed and ‘living’ with terminal cancer, it would be almost amusing to watch this all take place if I didn’t have children and grandchildren and friends who will have to live with the outcome. My insurance company has pretty much decided I’m a lost cause and don’t have the energy to complain (and they’re right) so they’ve quit paying for anything at all. I just don’t have the juice to spend hours on the phone each time I see a doctor to bust the insurance company for refusing to pay, so I have a lot of doctor/hospital debt and can’t do much about it. I’m declaring bankruptcy WITH insurance.
If Obama was serious about public option, his joint session speech would have been about corps taking over the gov through contributions and lobbying and he would have itemized exactly how much each major congressperson received from which health care company and divulged his own receipts from same. That would have made headlines. Instead he’s palling around with people like Billy Tauzin. It’s a front to get votes while giving insurance companies big heaps of my grandkids tax dollars, just like he did for Wall Street. Just sayin’. And yes, Kudos to Rockefeller
@ajax:
What type of cancer?
Why don’t I have insurance?
(BTW, I am not opposed to health insurance reform – you should understand that no one has promised universal coverage.)
Ajax, I’ll give you the answer those shills refuse to give.
YOU DIE.
@sbj no clue whatsoever what your 2 questions have to do with anything. please clarify. also, please let me know if you do not understand the connection I am making between my question and Grayson’s “die faster” comment.
Well, for starters, did I choose to not carry health insurance because I was of means to cover healthcare costs independently? Some cancers are treatable (and affordable).
Do you not understand that the Democratic proposals do NOT provide for universal coverage? The Dem HR3200 proposal leaves a gap where 8 million persons will be penalized for having no coverage but will not receive the subsidies to pay for coverage.
Are the Dems asking them to die faster?
The Dem proposals don’t provide subsidies for illegal aliens to purchase the so-called public option.
Are the Dems asking them to die faster?
This is silly. The Dem proposals leave plenty of people uninsured. Do you understand hypocrisy?
sbj: can’t tell if you are being tongue in cheek or are being serious with your nonsensical clownish straw men “depends if I have tons of cash and the cancer is not so bad” twaddle, but either way, if that is the best you guys got (and you are clearly one of the sharper Pubs left out there), you guys have a 9 high and you’re trying to bluff a full house who has already put you all in.
Wolf blitzer is a phukking moron. keeps hanging on grayson’s comment. frikkin idiot.
This is some really information, I just finished my paper for school and wish i would had found this article sooner. You may have just made me a regular