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Matt Finkelstein

Matt Finkelstein

Posted: October 30, 2009 02:33 PM

Rep. Foxx Cites Fake Quote, Claims Obama Campaigned on Making the Country Worse

What's Your Reaction?

For months, Republicans have justified their opposition to real health care reform by claiming that America has the "best health care system in the world." As the argument goes, Congress can make changes to improve the system, but the plans proposed by Democrats could "destroy" what we have now.

Last night, however, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) suggested that you can't improve something if it's already the "greatest." Speaking on the House floor, Foxx -- herself a recipient of government-run Medicare -- blasted the public insurance option. Then, she looked back on President Obama's campaign platform of "change" and said, "To me, that meant take what's good about this country and change it into something that's not good."

You may all remember that the president said in his campaign, "We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change it." To me, that meant take what's good about this country and change it into something that's not good.

Watch it:

First of all, the quote Foxx references doesn't appear to be real. It comes from an anti-Obama poem called "The Pied Piper," which went viral in the right-wing blogosphere earlier this year:


There was a Pied Piper who said We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change it!


*And the people said, Change is good!

Then he said, We are going to tax the rich fat-cats,

*And the people said, "Sock it to them!"

and redistribute their wealth.

*And the people said, "Show me the money!"


Moreover, the notion that change necessarily means change for the worse is, frankly, pretty stupid. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) also promised to bring "change," as has pretty much every other candidate in recent memory. For a backward-thinking conservative to believe that America should be finished making progress may not be a huge surprise, but it's a stance that most of the country wholeheartedly rejects.

Crossposted at Media Matters Action Network

For months, Republicans have justified their opposition to real health care reform by claiming that America has the "best health care system in the world." As the argument goes, Congress can make chan...
For months, Republicans have justified their opposition to real health care reform by claiming that America has the "best health care system in the world." As the argument goes, Congress can make chan...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Jimboy17
12:11 PM on 11/02/2009
Virginia Foxx is a near-illiterate embarrasment to the human species. She continually refuses to fact check and apparently believes that everything on teh intrawebz is true. She consistently treats her opponents with an incredible lack of respect (does anyone recall her appaling outburst in the house when Matt Shepard's mom was there?).
10:40 AM on 11/02/2009
"Moreover, the notion that change necessarily means change for the worse is, frankly, pretty stupid."

Of course it is, because those comments are directed at stupid people, or to quote George H.W. Bush, the "blockheads and dummies."

Remember the people who used to disrupt class, thought school was for suckers, and spent all their time trying to get out of work? Well, it turns out that those people didn't receive their due, and are now a sought after voting bloc and they are still making the lives of the smart kids miserable.
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24hourrifle
A time comes when silence is betrayal
08:46 AM on 10/31/2009
whats particularly infuriating is the way the media-y'know,the "liberal media"-is tripping all over themselves to point out how "radical" and irresponsible and crazy etc...alan greyson is.they repeatedly misquote him regarding what he said about republicans wanting americans to "die quickly" and the rest.

but just for the sake of argument,lets say that greyson is a bad,bad,horrible man.whatever.no rational person,no one being honest can say that he has said anything more offensive than what foxx has said.

her quotes about the dems healthcare bill were far more hyperbolic.where gryson was essentially being tongue in cheek while using actual facts which no one has ever disputed,foxx merely preyed on fears of senior citizens,claiming that seniors would be "put to death by their government".
as well as insisting that nobody really goes w/out healthcare.

but all that is mild compared to foxx insisting that mathew shepperd wasnt actually murdered for being gay,but that it was merely a regular ol' sorta robbery......

oh,and she made these vicious,disgraceful,hateful remarks in front of shepperds mother.

where was the "liberal media" when she said this?

absolutely no coverage other than olbermann and maddow.

why is it the word "radical" only seems to apply to democratic members of congress and progressive/lib types in general?

if this shameful buffoon isnt radical,then i have no idea who the word actually applies to.
02:35 PM on 11/01/2009
The myth of the liberal media was created to distract people from who really controls the media. Mega powerful right wing corporations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYlyb1Bx9Ic
04:58 AM on 10/31/2009
See you next Tuesday.
04:52 AM on 10/31/2009
Big surprise...another Republican misquoting Obama. Have any of our elected Reps even bothered to actually listen to what he says or do all of them only pay attention to right-wing nonsense? Don't bother answering...it's a rhetorical question.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
notsopc
03:58 AM on 10/31/2009
Whenever this woman speaks you can see the hatred in her eyes as the venom drips from her lips. She personifies meanness. What a sorry human specimen.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Rogan
07:34 AM on 10/31/2009
It's funny, how you can tell that the creepiest politicians, are as creepy as they are, without even hearing what they're saying, isn't it? Bad character is writ in their faces like screaming headlines. You don't have to speak English, to be able to hear when they're lying, either... it's just that obvious.
02:16 AM on 10/31/2009
I assure you ...not everyone in NC-5 is an idiot like Mrs. Foxx.
01:13 AM on 10/31/2009
Perhaps what makes our country the greatest country in the world is our ability to change course, to evolve as a nation. Why do I care what Rep. Foxx thinks? I care because I am tired of the hubris and the misleading rhetoric. I care because we have real issues that need to be addressed. I care because there are social justice issues that are being ignored while our leaders play rhetorical games. A reasonable person may think we live in the greatest country in the world while, at the same time, holding the thought that our nation is in desperate need of social reform.
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24hourrifle
A time comes when silence is betrayal
09:42 AM on 10/31/2009
perfectly stated.
10:36 PM on 10/30/2009
Read what Wikipedia has to say about Foxx:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Foxx

Opposed to the Voting Rights Act
Fought against sending aid to Hurricane Katrina victims
Opposed the Matthew Shepard Act
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Matt Osborne
09:29 PM on 10/30/2009
Foxx is one of the most consistently wrong members of Congress. Her research team must consist of a monkey and a parrot reading Hot Air. She claimed that Matthew Shepard's murder was not a hate crime, but a robbery; on what planet do robbers take you to the middle of nowhere, beat you unconscious, and prop you against a fence? In what DIMENSION does that make sense?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dersankt
11:22 PM on 10/30/2009
And North Carolinians put her in office!
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
ncmom54
11:36 PM on 10/30/2009
just as the entire country didn't vote for 'W'
all of NC did NOT vote for the Foxx!
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SocialistBoy
No pix no reply
01:53 AM on 10/31/2009
Hey! I resemble that remark!! Well Matt, she's grandmotherly, NC can be proud of her. What other civil thing, about her, can a chimp say?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
GrizzlyBowman
Undergrad Psych Student
09:01 PM on 10/30/2009
Republicans are like the "best battery in the world:"

The battery that loses its spark before it's even out of the package.

The battery that leaks acid everywhere.

The battery whose wires are crossed.

The battery that comes at a premium over their competitor, yet offers less.

The battery made out of hot air.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
minerva117
This space for rent. Cheap!
10:20 AM on 11/03/2009
Well said, Griz....faved!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
EdBradly7
05:32 PM on 10/30/2009
Rep Fox longs for the days when white folk owned slaves. I lived in NC for three years in the late nineties and early 2000 and racism was still rampant. I don't think much has changed since then.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
RachelMc
04:52 PM on 10/30/2009
the problem i have with this is how is she allowed to just stand there and make s h i t up. is there not a law against slander? and even if there wasn't, she's a US rep and should not be allowed to tell blatant lies esp while on the floor giving a sppech. i mean i cant just make s h i t up and speak about it in none of my classes. i would need proof with references. wtffff.
06:02 PM on 10/30/2009
As long as she keeps it on the floor of the House and/or related to legislation, the Speech and Debate Clause shields her legally. However, she's not protected from it when she uses lies to campaign or sends misleading information to her constituents or speaks as a private individual. Plus in politics few people are willing to claim defamation at this level, since it's very hard to prove against a public figure and makes the party suing look petty.

Ms. Foxx seems especially factually challenged, so I suspect she'll eventually do something that gets her in severe trouble with her constituents - or she represents some real winners.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Smithn
Different strokes for different folks.
06:30 PM on 10/30/2009
Michelle Bachmann--need I say more? Also, I read that most of the time these people are all alone with just the cameraman. apparently, going on record for the benefit of fulfilling promises to get money from lobbyists, etc,
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dfranz
With Liberty and Justice for all
03:30 PM on 10/30/2009
Rep Foxx yearns for the good old days of George Bush when thumbing your nose at liberals and laying waste to individual rights always got a good laugh.

We never have any new wars anymore.
02:54 PM on 10/30/2009
Fox should go on Fox really soon. Imagine the confusion on both sides!