Mob Rules
Wingnuts continue to win major concessions on a health care bill they will never vote for while smearing the president as a racist, muslim and socialist--quite an amazing feat when you think about it.
Most Americans have a knee-jerk reaction to providing health care to illegal immigrants. Why should people who work 50 hours a week in jobs we consider beneath us get the luxury of chemotherapy? Democrats seem to agree.
Joe "You Lie" Wilson wants to go further and deny them emergency room care. Imagine the scenario: An illegal immigrant is working in construction, building things for rich white people, when suddenly some heavy machinery slices his abdomen open. He is rushed to the emergency room where an orderly demands to see proof of citizenship from a dying man holding his guts in his hands. When he can't provide any, he is left to die on the floor. No matter how long it takes for him to bleed out--10, 12, 48 hours--he will not be given treatment.
Sounds a whole lot like the inhuman tyrannical system of uncaring bureaucrats the tea bagging right claims to oppose.
For a great column in defense of Joe Wilson--and what Democrats should have been yelling--see Dave Lindorff here.
posted by Matt Bors at
5:55 AM
8 Comments:
I'm try to be as fair as possible when looking at these stories.
I can't help but think that Obama was wrong, which could be interpreted as a lie, when he said illegals wouldn't get health coverage. Otherwise he wouldnt have changed the wording of the bill the very next day.
I can't help thinking that calling someone a liar is not a bad thing, because ten second before Wilson's outburst Obama said he was adressing the flat-out lies that republicans were spreading.
I can't help thinking that passing a bill to condemn the words 'liar' and 'hypocrite' are just a form of censorship to hide the fact that every politician in that room is a liar and a hypocrite.
Not to mention the absolutely hate filled rhetoric that democrats used against Bush for years and years.
And the thing that makes me the most angry is the assumption that every man who dares to disagree with Obama must be a racist. Or that all 'whites' are intrinsically racist, because that statement is itself racist. I hate 'hypocritical' double standards.
Anyway, with all this said, Joe Wilson's outburst was disrespectful. If that's all it was then so be it. If you can't beat him with ideas and policies don't attack his character. Oh well, this is just the opinion of one individual.
I just can't believe that only NOW politicians are shouting out 'Liar!' during a presidential address ... where have these people been the last 8 years?
So Anonymous (if that's your real name) which member of Congress has EVER shouted at the President during a speech to the nation?
We the people talked sh!t about W all the freaking time, and he deserved it for being such an anti-American douche, but the floor of Congress has RULES OF DECORUM. Wilson broke those rules. That is why he was chastised formally by the whole House regardless of his personal apology to Obama.
If Jim Webb had told Cheney to go fuck himself during a major speech the right would've crapped their pants... and rightfully so.
And somehow WE get called the moral relativists. Get a clue.
btw... my message was going to be:
Matt --
Love the wailing and gnashing of teeth in the background! Great touch.
It's pretty well-established nobody gives a fuck what anyone from South Carolina thinks anyway. 'Yew lah!' isn't even a sentence. They're just mad they can't destroy their schools as well as Mississippi.
I live in a country with socialized health care - and we even skip the insurance part (the hospitals are run by the state - it's all fine, except for the euthanasia all people above working age have to go through...), and I don't think the emergency room expenses for illegal immigrants and fugitive (and we have quite a few) are anything to worry about.
I think the right has realized the majority of people want cheaper health care, but if they keep throwing in details into the discussion that are on the edge of being red herrings, the public will get the impression that the new health care system will be one large mess - and hopefully, they will turn back to supporting their for-profit health care agenda.
I do have a clue, and it leads me to believe that Congressional Democrats are hypocrites who are stifling free speech. I voted for Obama and I'll probably vote for him again, but that doesn't stop me from being intellectually honest and asking serious questions.
I noticed that you didn't bother to answer any of my points, you just conveniently say that it never happened to Bush in the past so it shouldnt happen now. I guess saying that Bush enjoyed seeing US soldiers have thier heads blown off was in line with proper decorum?
Good lord, trying to have an honest debate on the internet is impossible. I've never met anyone who will actually answer questions without insults. You have a chance to change someone's mind and you give them the finger. Good luck with that.
Anonymous, I believe the point Lyle was trying to make is just how absurd a situation it really is. Granted he did it in a rather poor and stupid manner, but the point remains somewhat valid: the structure of these events is not that of the British Parliament. An outburst while the president is giving a public speech is simply something that is not done. Though you do mention that it is disrespectful, you seem to be making apologies for Wilson.
Anyway, that's just my reading of what he was attempting to say, and it is quite possible that I am incorrect. Oh and please don't say that it is impossible to have an honest debate on the internet. It is just as lazy as the many sportswriters who say that all blogs are terrible. Just because a large majority fall under that distinction, it does not mean that they all do.
Oh, and I didn't choose the name Kyle to correspond with Lyle...just sort of happened that way.
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