Shocked at Seeing a Democrat with Guts
Many Republicans have expressed shock and outrage at Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL) for his recent talk and display on the floor of the House of Representatives while discussing health care reform. The Congressman, using posters, mocked the Republican's plan as 1. "Don't Get Sick" and 2. "If you do get sick, Die Quickly!" Sounds a lot like the Health Insurance Companies' policies. Could there be a correlation here?
I was stunned too but for different reasons. I found myself applauding Congressman Grayson's gumption. Later when he was asked by GOP leaders to apologize, he wouldn't back down, saying he would only apologize to the 44,000 dead this past year for lack of health care.
In my opinion, he went a little too far in using the word "holocaust" to describe the health care catastrophe. That term evokes harsh images, and references to Nazism have been used much too loosely on both sides of the political spectrum lately. Arianna Huffington and Keith Olbermann agree with me, having expressed their views on Olbermann's MSNBC show. Rachel Maddow's shoe, the Rep. Grayson admitted that he could have used a different word.
However, Rep. Grayson expressed no regrets to Ms. Maddow for what he said about the GOP. In fact he went further by calling Republican lawmakers "knuckle dragging Neanderthals."
How refreshing from a Democrat! I know President "No Drama" Obama has called for civility in our debate on health care reform and Congress often reminds me of kids fighting on the playground. Many Americans are fed up with Washington and all its bickering. But somehow after months of the Republican minority trying to stop Obama's programs at all costs without having any plans of their own, it was a relief to hear someone call them on it in their own House.
As Rachel Maddow pointed out, several Republicans in the House and Senate have falsely evoked the "death" word in their assessments of the Democratic health care reform bill.
The fact that Republicans seem to winning the "war of words" in this debate may be attributed to their ability to communicate simple concepts that people understant, no matter how untrue or scary. Many in the public still believe in Sarah Palin's "death squad" claim, no matter how many times it has been refuted.
The thing that often discourages me is that it seems the Democrats are as controlled by the Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Companies as the Republicans are. Otherwise, why would Democratic lawmakers bail out on the "public option" even though over 70% of Americans are for it?
That may be why it was so refreshing to hear a Democrat assert the simple truth. Sometimes it seems the Dems still feel like they are the minority party. Maybe eight years of being bullied by Bush and Company has not worn off yet and they still have a "victim" mentality. Even after they gained the majority in 2006, President Bush blocked them at every turn. It is no wonder why Congress' approval rating has been so low for years, and continues to tank.
I find myself craving a Representative or Senator of any party that has principles that he or she stands for, who is not manipulated by lobbyists and special interests groups, and who truly represents the people who elected him or her. Is that too much to ask for? And having guts helps too.
Cenk Uygur: How Alan Grayson and Michael Moore Changed the Conversation
Now the conversation we're having is whether the health care system leads to killing people for profit. This is an old trick of lobbyists. You change the conversation to a battle you can win.
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Rep.Grayso
Praise be to his noodlyness for sending us this prophet of truth! So many of his Liberal brethren are so broken by years of being the minority or having to contend with that prophet of evil (and killer of Pirates) W. He shall lead them to the light of hutspah and "git er done" attitude and this country will finally be back on the path his noodlyness had intended us to be on!
Grayson obviously has a personal relationship with FSM to be so enlightened. Let's see if we can get him elected to House Speaker-call your rep today!
RAmen!
As an Independent, I have to say that all of this soap opera stuff by the Dems and the Reps , trotted out to impress constituents, doesn't impress. me. When are we going to get REAL health care reform without caving in to the corporate interests of the insurance companies, or going Canadian or English health care reform in which people die on waiting lists? Maybe with the money we save eliminating fraud from Medicare, and instituting tort reform, we could actually provide decent health care to ALL who need it!
Wow, for an independent you sound an awful lot like a left-leaning moderate Democrat.
Not that that's a bad thing IMHO.
'Course it could be that you're right, and us on the middle left just happen to be right with ya-great minds think alike y'know.
... guts is having $31 million in the kitty!
It those poor Congressmen who don't have any guts!
Actually folks we need both kinds of Democrats. Bulldogs and Conciliators. When they are all Bulldogs, you have--the Republican party. We can see where that got them.
ah yes. the high-school grads are at it again. THE HOLOCAUST --- must be talking about nazi germany.
nope. A holocaust is a s#$t storm on the weak resulting in the death of innocents administered by an entity with tremendous (translate life-or-death) power.
it's a really bad idea to try and retire words like Jones retires football jerseys just because someone REALLY showed us how the holocaust game is played. Nope. What was said was "An American Holocaust" (or just "a holocaust"). It was just fine as a description of the facts surrounding the administration of American health care under the watchful, judgmental eye of the private insurance companies.
Oh. And debate is what the floor of the house is all about, except when being addressed by the President in a joint session. In that case, debate comes after the address. Get it? Good.
See Joan E. Dowlin's Profile
My dad agrees with you. He even had me check the dictionary definition of "holocaust". It said "a great destruction" but then it had it with a capital H: the Holocaust: the slaughter of European Jews by the Nazis. The problem to me is most people associate the word with the capital H.
My sympathies are with the Jewish people, but you can't have the word holocaust for your own. It belongs to everyone. It describes not just those dying from the American health care system, but the entire American bought-and-paid-for "democracy".
It didn't hurt him to retract the word. The general public conception of that word relates to all the nastiness that we're trying to show is just B S spewing from the Right. Taking the High road doesn't hurt him here. Public perception is at least 50% of the game he's playing, so he did the right thing for the message he wants to get across.
While I agree with Rep. Grayson's fundamental complaint, I thought his method and language were completely out of order, and I e-mailed him to that effect, just as I did Rep. Joe "Let's Keep-the-C
I'm pretty much a middle-of-the-road person. White guy, grew up on a ranch in Texas, first little burg a mile in the road all-white (to this day), and so on. Never voted a straight ticket in my life, as I'll criticize (and praise) the Left and the Right alike, when I think they are wrong (or right) in their thinking. Voted for more Republicans over the years than Democrats, but moderate to liberal ones, or what passes for moderate to liberal in Texas anyway.
But back to the point. Though I *do* agree with Rep. Grayson's complaint, I am getting mighty tired of all the high drama, especially the fiction-based "realities" being spewed out by the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, & Co. What they just don't get that a lot of us will defend their right to say what they wish, even when we disagree with them, defend them this side of their screaming "FIRE!" in a crowded theater, that is.
Of course, there are plenty of Democrats who've been, and continue to be, disappointing as hell.
Sigh . . .
Where do I get one of those health care pins?
Oh, I don't know, "holocaust" sounds about right to me.
It's a little snappier than "casualties in the ongoing war on the poor"
tm
You're definitely not seeing a Democrat with guts in the White House as President.
It should have been Hillary. We'd have universal healthcare by now.
Hillary 2012
That's a laugh.
Oh, crap. Nothing against Hillary, but you are naively -- or selectively -- overlooking the stranglehold that lobbyists have over both houses of Congress. Reps and Senators are so beholden to special interests for re-election dollars that they serve corporate interests, not the interests of "We, the People." Breaking through this mess to service to the people is daunting. Hillary probably thinks she ducked the worst job when Obama won.
I'm not overlooking anything.
President and HIllary Clinton got plenty done for ordinary Americans over the 8 years they were in office.
I don't need excuses from the White House.
Thanks for writing this article. I agree wholeheartedly. We need democrats with a spine.
Hooray for Grayson. He is a true representative of the people.
He hasn't been around long enough for the lobbyists to sink their teeth into him. I'm hoping his integrity will never be compromised by all the devilish temptations in D.C.
Horray for coingressman Grayson. The man is in a republican district and needs all the help he cna get:
http://www
Yes. It is good to see a Dem with guts. They are spineless EXCEPT for my favorite Dem.......
Nothing, and I mean nothing, peeves the right like a big sticker saying I heart Nancy Pelosi or Pelosi for President! I am filled with glee every time my teabagger neighbor scowls at my stickers! She's better than Obama at irritating their ulcers!
After all the bullying by republicans in and out of congress, a champion has arisen to take their full measure and return some of the rhetoric that they dish out daily on talk radio and in congress. Hopefully he has set the example for Democrats to follow to display the courage and fortitude and commitment to their beliefs and aspirations.
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