A congressman says “you lie!” to Obama during a speech and becomes a bigger story than the speech he was interrupting. Yup, thats American politics for ya.
President Obama made an address to Congress last night to try and and squeeze an approval rating bump out that he could ride into passing his Government run healthcare bill plan thingy (Sarah Palin calls it the Bureaucratization of Health Care”). I played the Obama drinking game while watching it: you take a sip every time a black guy says something. – so I had to go to bed early. I do remember though that some guy I assumed was from the Republican side yelled something at some point. Turns out it was Republican congressman Joe Wilson from SC and he yelled “You lie!” at point when Obama claimed that his legislation would not offer benefits to illegal aliens.
Barack reacting to the congressman’s outburst…
John McCain denounced him, his daughter Meghan McCain called him a child, blah blah blah.
He deserves the scolding, but it’s pretty vomit-worthy to watch the hippies freak the hell out over this disrespect toward the Obammessiah. The guy running against Wilson in the next election is getting donations streamed in even though it seems a bit of a waste (his district has voted Republican for the last 44 years), Wilson is bucking back, and its open season for smear-timez as some wonder if he’s a drug addict.
Listening to Democratic histrionics about civility in response to this, you’d almost think they hadn’t booed and yelled “no” at President Bush during his 2005 State of the Union. Or…wait a tic…
Okay, but was Wilsons rude comment at least right? Did Obama lie? Well… The bill available online in PDF form expressly says: “HR 3200 SEC. 246. NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS: Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.” Which would sorta kinda suggest – ehno, he didn’t.
But there was a loophole that apparently is being fixed now due to Wilsons outburst (great. just what we need: public admittance that uncivil yelling will get you what you want):
Indeed, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service study found that the House health care bill does not restrict illegal immigrants from receiving health care coverage.
House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner amplified the complaint that without proof of citizenship, illegal immigrants could be insured.
“There were two opportunities for House Democrats to make clear that illegal immigrants wouldn’t be covered by putting in requirements to show citizenships,” he said. “Both of those amendments were, in fact, rejected.”
In the Senate, Democrats in the so called “Gang of Six,” a group of bipartisan senators on the Senate Finance Committee which is the last panel yet to release its bill, began moving quickly to close the loophole that Wilson helped bring greater attention to.
“We absolutely assure that those who are here illegally would not get the benefit of any of these initiatives,” Sen. Kent Conrad said.
Congressional Research Service: H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on non-citzens participating in the Exchange–whether the non-citizens are legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently. Nonetheless, only aliens who could be classified as resident aliens would be required under the bill to have health insurance.
I think Wilson thought the Republicans would back him up and start hootin’ and hollerin’ with him. May be he thought it was a townhall.
BTW, how do you feel about Senator Al Franken?