by Tina Grazier
Democrats were shocked…shocked I tell ya…when Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) failed to restrain himself and yelled out, “You lie” as President Obama insisted before Congress that his plan did not make provisions for coverage of illegal aliens. The President graciously moved on after the outburst and later also graciously accepted Rep. Wilson’s apology for the breach in decorum.
For their part the oldie media spoke in predictable unison:
ABC: “It was the shout heard ’round the world.” CBS: “It was the shout heard ’round the world.” NBC, slightly creative: “The outburst heard ’round the world” and the “heckle heard ’round the world.”
The President was not above calling his detractors liars and “bickerers”. His assertion that concerns expressed by Republican leaders and Tea Party protesters were “bogus” shows an incredible lack of respect for the legitimate questions and criticisms we on the right have about the health care reform proposals. On the specific issue of illegal aliens, for instance, Republican leaders insist that Wilson is technically accurate because there is a loophole in the language of this incredibly muddy legislation. The language does state, as the President insists, that health care reform will not cover illegal immigrants but, the language does not require proof of citizenship.
Is the President fibbing about certain aspects of the bill? Is he just uninformed or is he purposely deceitful? What about other lies in the speech? Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner has discovered five such problems relating to taxes alone. Follow the link for all five tax errors…I offer one as an example:
This is according to the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR): 1. Middle class tax hikes: “The middle class will realize greater [health] security, not higher taxes.” *** FACT: This would be a big departure from the House bill and the Baucus draft. The House bill has four tax increases on families making less than $250,000. President Obama himself endorsed another when he called for an individual mandate with a tax penalty. Earlier this week, he floated the idea of a “soda tax.” The Baucus draft, like the House bill, contains a new tax on over-the-counter medicines purchased with an FSA or HAS
Makes me wonder, has the President bothered to read and comprehend this bill? Does he realize what he’s saying and does he care that it’s inaccurate? This speech made him sound like a teenager running for class president, promising the moon with no idea of the consequences or what it would take to deliver. His veiled contempt for the people who disagree with his overly ambitious designs on America’s health care industry are also troubling and were not taken lightly by this protester. The disingenuous shock about Wilson’s outburst was laughable. Democrats have a less than civil record of their own when it comes to badmouthing the president. They made loud booing and hissing sounds as President Bush addressed the Congress and many of them made vile public statements about Bush regarding the war.
Given these revelations I’m of the opinion that Rep. Wilson’s outburst was not all that unusual and may in fact have been quite appropriate. Many of us believe he deserves our thanks. He stood up for those of us who think this bill is bad for America at a moment when the President was holding our concerns in contemptuous disdain.