Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had an, um, interesting take a few minutes ago on Obama’s health care speech to Congress last night. Appearing on FNC, the GOP Senator called the President’s speech "a disaster" and "combative." "If his goal was to try to unite the Democratic Party and the hard left, maybe he succeeded," Graham said. But what Obama did not do was "create consensus and bring people together."
Just like Obama’s speech, the public option would be "a disaster," Graham said, and Obama’s explanation of it is "not credible."
"I wanna work with Democrats," he added without any apparent sense of irony. "I want a bipartisan bill."
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) has posted this YouTube address, as part of his new fundraising appeal to help defend him from liberal attacks in the wake of his “You lie!” outburst:
“On these issues, I will not be muzzled. I will speak up, and speak loudly, against this risky plan,” Wilson proclaims. “The supporters of the government takeover of health care, and the liberals who want to give health care to illegals, are using my opposition as an excuse to distract from the critical questions being raised about this poorly-conceived plan. they want to silence anyone who speaks out against it. They made it clear they want to defeat me, and pass the plan.”
“Health care is a matter of life and death for so many,” he later adds. “I choose life, with health-insurance reform.”
You were right Mickey – this guy is unrepentant, his apology meaningless and insincere. I wish the law permitted me to file a defamation lawsuit as a friend of the court. I tried to send him a chastisement at the House but his website is down due to exceptionally high traffic.
Preston Brooks represented the state of South Carolina in the U.S. House when he decided that a Senator from Massachusetts needed a comeuppance for unflattering things the Senator had speechified involving the institution of slavery and even a fellow Senator who was in some way kin to Rep. Brooks. Brooks entered the Senate chamber armed with a cane and a couple of peckerwoods armed with guns (for the purpose of preventing interference with a planned assault and battery). The cowardly attack was “successful” in that the object of their enmity was beaten within an inch of his life and put out of commission for 3-4 years. Not surprisingly, there was a move to expel him from the House of Representatives, but Brooks resigned while loudly defending the root causes of his actions. His constituents sent him lots of new canes and their heartfelt congratulations. The Richmond Enquirer editorialized, “We consider the act good in conception, better in execution, and best of all in consequences. These vulgar abolitionists in the Senate must be lashed into submission.” Brooks’ constituents promptly returned him to the House at the next election. I’m unable to ascertain why he did not face criminal charges or why the guy who got assaulted did not seek damages.
If you can bear with me here for a second, I’m getting to the point.
The unrepentant Joe Wilson, admittedly has not committed a criminal act of such severity but his public defaming of the President of the United States seems very serious to me and warrants censure at the least, (expulsion seems appropriate) and I also think that he should resign just like Preston Brooks did and we’ll see if his constituents return him promptly. That would be unfortunate in my view but at least the people of South Carolina could speak to whether they are really down with such inexcusable behavior and such a weakly controlled individual representing them.
Carl are you Irish? People always blame my long windiness and passion on my being Irish. Anyway Carl I love your passion.
Hey Joy,
My last name is Mahoney and my potato famine driven forebears were mostly from Cork and Kerry. I wonder if you could make an income from your perceptive capabilities. Thanks for the kind words.