You'd have a good point if there were a valid "disagreement". Instead, we have a douchebag yelling at the President and calling him a liar when in reality:posted by boo_radley at 10:24 PM on September 9, 2009 [11 favorites]H.R. 3200: Sec 246 — NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENSEither Joe Wilson hasn't read the bill and is simply ignorant, or he's the liar.
Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.
posted by Mikey-San at 10:05 PM on September 9
* Ends discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.... Under the President’s plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny coverage for health reasons or risks.But...
. . . .
* Eliminates extra charges for preventive care like mammograms, flu shots and diabetes tests to improve health and save money.
* Immediately offers new, low-cost coverage through a national "high risk" pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created. For those Americans who cannot get insurance coverage today because of a pre-existing condition, the President’s plan will immediately make available coverage without a mark-up due to their health condition. This policy will offer protection against financial ruin until a wider array of choices become available in the new exchange in 2013.
"You were heard in silence, so some of you SCUMBAGS on the front bench should wait a minute until you hear the responses from me."posted by Fiasco da Gama at 10:48 PM on September 9, 2009 [30 favorites]
"What really amuses me and almost makes me spew..."
"They have no ideas, no integrity and no ability."
"Damn them for being the cheats they are."
"You are frauds."
"...votes for coalition members who have always been cheats, cheats, cheats and will always be cheats, cheats, cheats and will always defend cheats, cheats, cheats."
"Honorable Members opposite are a joke."
"They are irrelevant, useless and immoral."
"...they insist on being mugs, Mr Speaker, absolute mugs."
"I'm not running a seminar for dullards on the other side."
"Those opposite could not operate a tart shop"
"These intellectual hoboes"
"This rabble opposite"
"...for the benefit of the blockheads opposite"
"If the dummies opposite will just shut up"
"Shut up for a moment. If you ask questions and want to hear answers, shut up."
"How thick these people are"
"These dummies and dimwits"
"Talk about desperadoes"
"These are the absolute gutter tactics of a mindless, useless, idealistic, unprincipled Opposition."
"The Opposition is such a motley, dishonest crew"
"...the cowboys on this front bench"
"It is just a slight of hand by a dingy party"
"The Opposition crowd could not raffle a chook in a pub"
"We will be rejecting the opportunist claptrap coming from the Opposition."
"Honorable Members opposite squeal like stuck pigs"
"...small time punk stuff coming from a punk Opposition."
"The animals on the other side"
Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. The "ideas" or "cognitions" in question may include attitudes and beliefs, the awareness of one's behavior, and facts. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, or by justifying or rationalizing their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.[1] Cognitive dissonance theory is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology.posted by boo_radley at 11:44 PM on September 9, 2009 [1 favorite]
Dissonance normally occurs when a person perceives a logical inconsistency among his or her cognitions. This happens when one idea implies the opposite of another. For example, a belief in animal rights could be interpreted as inconsistent with eating meat or wearing fur. Noticing the contradiction would lead to dissonance, which could be experienced as anxiety, guilt, shame, anger, embarrassment, stress, and other negative emotional states. When people's ideas are consistent with each other, they are in a state of harmony, or consonance. If cognitions are unrelated, they are categorized as irrelevant to each other and do not lead to dissonance.
Boustany sued two con artists after paying them $18,500 to become a British noble and attend the Queen Mother’s birthday procession.Lord Boustany, what fools these mortals be!
In 1996, Congressman Boustany and his wife sued two British men and their fake company for an amount “in excess of $50,000.” According to their complaint, the couple had paid Stefanos Kollakis and Martin Lewis $18,500 on December 20, 1994 for a fraudulent title. In April 1995, Kollakis and Lewis had pleaded guilty to forgery in a London court for carrying out the con on several unsuspecting Americans. Using false passports, bogus companies, Latin mottos and a nonexistent “Institution of Heraldic Affairs,” they had promised to turn Americans into official lords and ladies. One of the promised rewards was an opportunity to ride in the Queen Mother’s annual birthday procession.
INT. U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTIN'President Barack Obama strides up to the podium like a professional wrestler. Rock music plays in the background. Obama pauses before getting serious.OBAMA Shit. President Obama looks around the room.OBAMA I know shit's bad right now. With all that healthcare bullshit. We're runnin' out of french fries and burrito coverin's. But I got a solution. Camera focuses suddenly on a pack of hecklers in the House, one of whom clearly has swagger that his friends lack and something on his mind. Here enters Representin' JOE WILSON, who points his finger at President Obama.WILSON YOU LIE! South Carolina, what's up, yo!(*) Wilson high-fives his Republican colleagues, laughing smugly. President Obama reaches for an automatic rifle underneath the podium and starts firing into the ceiling. Representin' Wilson shuts up quickly.OBAMA That's what I thought! The President throws his rifle to the floor.OBAMA Now I understand everyone's shit's emotional right now. But I've got a 3 point healthcare plan that's going to fix EVERYTHING. CONGRESSMAN #1 Break it down, Obama! On former Labor Prime Minister, Bob Hawke:Basically, you're given a free run to what you can say in the well of a House, with the understanding that there are consequences for heckling the President or PM or the Leader of the Opposition or anyone.
"Now listen mate," [to John Browne, Minister of Sport, who was proposing a 110 per cent tax deduction for contributions to a Sports Foundation] "you're not getting 110 per cent. You can forget it. This is a fucking Boulevard Hotel special, this is. The trouble is we are dealing with a sports junkie here [gesturing towards Bob Hawke]. I go out for a piss and they pull this one on me. Well that's the last time I leave you two alone. From now on, I'm sticking to you two like shit to a blanket.
“As President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, the nation's rapidly deteriorating discourse hit yet another low.posted by ericb at 7:32 AM on September 10, 2009 [1 favorite]
…The national debate, already raw for years, had coarsened over the summer as town hall meetings across the country dissolved into protests about ‘death panels’ and granny-killing. Guns were brought to Obama appearances. A pastor in Arizona said he was praying for Obama to die.
But even by that standard, there was something appalling about the display on the House floor for what was supposed to be a sacred ritual of American democracy: the nation watching while Cabinet members, lawmakers from both chambers and the diplomatic corps assembled.
Wilson was only the most flagrant. There was booing from House Republicans when the president caricatured a conservative argument by saying they would ‘leave individuals to buy health insurance on their own.’ They hissed when he protested their ‘scare tactics.’ They grumbled as they do in Britain's House of Commons when Obama spoke of the ‘blizzard of charges and countercharges.’
When he asserted that ‘nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have,’ there was scoffing and outright laughter on the GOP side. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Tex.) shook his head in disbelief. Several Republicans shouted ‘What plan?’ and Rep. Louis Gohmert (Tex.) waved at Obama a handwritten poster he made on a letter-size piece of paper: ‘WHAT PLAN?’ Gohmert then took that down and replaced it with another handmade poster that said ‘WHAT BILL?’
The irony was that Obama had used his speech to offer a significant concession to Republicans and to break with liberals in his own party. There was a cool silence in the chamber as the president told ‘my progressive friends’ that the ‘public option’ they treasure as part of health-care reform could be sacrificed in favor of other ideas….[more].”
Right-wing activists seek to reward Rep. Joe Wilson with campaign donations.posted by ericb at 8:02 AM on September 10, 2009 [1 favorite]
"On Fox Business News, Karl Rove and host Neil Cavuto thought Wilson shouting at the President was hilarious. 'Joe Wilson, good guy,' said Rove. 'Lovely,' agreed Cavuto"*
"....But the thing is: Obama wasn't lying. Illegal immigrants are explicitly barred from the provisions of the legislation.posted by ericb at 8:07 AM on September 10, 2009 [3 favorites]
Here's what I find fascinating. There's been a ton of viral emails floating around the right-wing making the claim that the bill covers illegal immigrants, and talk radio has been whipping up the fervor as well. Wilson clearly thinks that is, indeed, the case. But he's a sitting member of Congress! One would imagine he gets his information about pending legislation from reading it itself or being briefed by his staff, not from viral emails in his inbox.
But that sums up the House GOP caucus. By and large it's made up of absolute and total wingnuts, people who are in ideology disposition and even function much more like talk show hosts or RedState commenters than they are legislators."
"The Birthers, the Deathers, and now the Schoolers all have one thing in common. They have found ways to undermine the President, creating an alternate universe where Obama is not the Commander in Chief. These anti-Obama groups know that they will not be taken seriously if they discredit President Obama merely because of his race. Instead, they mask their antagonism toward America's first Black President as partisan differences. They have not accepted that President Obama is our President."posted by ericb at 9:05 AM on September 10, 2009
"A Democratic operative with experience in South Carolina said Wilson’s treatment of the commander in chief could cost him among the district’s sizable military population.posted by ericb at 11:03 AM on September 10, 2009
'You have a lot of military folks who, even when they don’t agree with the president politically, have a lot of respect for the institution itself,' the operative said. 'Before the speech, I would have said Joe Wilson had that.'"*
"Wilson is a major recipient of contributions from the health care industry.posted by ericb at 11:15 AM on September 10, 2009 [3 favorites]
In fact, over his entire congressional career, health professionals represent Wilson’s top industry contributors, donating a total of $244,196 to his campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics OpenSecrets.org database. He received another $86,150 from pharmaceutical companies, $73,050 from insurance companies and $68,000 from hospitals and nursing homes.
Among Wilson’s top contributors are the American Hospital Association, a lobby group that represents the interests of hospitals and health networks, and the American Medical Association, which represents physicians."
Well, he spelled both words rightYou're assuming that he meant to write "WHAT BILL?".
'a speech before Congress', as required by the Constitution
It's like any sense of purpose crumbled with the World Trade Centre and whatever was salvageable was washed away by Hurricane Katrina.
But it isn't the first time for Wilson. Back in 2003, not long after the death of Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC), Thurmond's bi-racial, out-of-wedlock daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, came forward to say that Thurmond was her father. (Thurmond, who spent most of his career as a staunch proponent of segregation and Jim Crow, had supported the family financially for decades.) Wilson made headlines for telling The State newspaper that Washington-Williams should have kept the shameful secret to herself.But obviously race had nothing to do with this.
In 2008, Wilson was able to outspend Miller by a 2-1 margin, but still only eked out a narrow 53.7% victory in his conservative district. Until last night, the 2010 race was shaping up the same way. Wilson had raised $211k by the end of June, against Miller's $49k.Right now we're up to $388k. Still, I don't know how great this new Dem will be. I'd rather see that money spent on real progressive candidates who would support a public option. This "bitch-slap fundraising" can be fun but is it really a good use of resources? Remember all the money spent against Michelle Bachman, who still won?
How quickly things can change. On ActBlue alone, a host of small donors appalled by Wilson's conduct have given $105k overnight, tripling his year-to-date tally. At that rate, he'll overtake Wilson's fundraising sometime around noon today. Even without any further donations, he's already a quarter of the way to what he raised during the entire 2008 cycle.
As a society, we police reprehensible conduct by imposing steep social costs. I think that Rep. Wilson is going to find his outburst very costly, indeed.
I see a lot of commentary that compares Joe Wilson's "You Lie!" outburst with the ruckus that often happens in the House of Commons. But one thing you are not allowed to shout in the Commons is that another speaker is a liar. A lot of circumlocutions evolved to bypass this - "terminological inexactitude" is my favorite (Churchill, of course) - but the ban is for a reason. Once the opposition starts yelling "You lie!" they have essentially abandoned the deliberative process, by questioning the good faith of a speakerposted by delmoi at 12:50 PM on September 10, 2009 [5 favorites]
Yes, the GOP of 2009 is the party of torture and fiscal recklessness. But as Joe Wilson's outburst last night made clear, it is every bit as much the party of the College Republicans.posted by octothorpe at 12:59 PM on September 10, 2009 [2 favorites]
...
Optics, not reality, is what matters. Everything can be massaged with a Mission Accopmlished banner, a sympathetic interview on Fox News, or a whisper campaign that your opponent is a faggot.
Remember all the money spent against Michelle Bachman, who still won?I remember all the money raised against Michelle Bachmann, but spent? No, not really. I believe that Tinklenberg (her opponent) was actually unable to spend all the money donated to him, because it came too soon to election day.
"A Serjeant at Arms (also spelled Sergeant at Arms) is an officer appointed by a deliberative body..."posted by ericb at 2:29 PM on September 10, 2009
There's one other notable exception to Wilson's tough-on-government record: In July, when the health-insurance debate just started heating up, he offered an amendment that would exempt TRICARE from any system of employer mandates in a health-care bill. It's not clear whether this is necessary, since most such bills in Congress keep government benefits exempt from the rules as a matter of course. But Wilson took the opportunity to make his stand.posted by Artful Codger at 2:33 PM on September 10, 2009 [1 favorite]
"As a 31-year Army Guard and Reserve veteran, I know the importance of TRICARE," he said in a press release. "The number of individuals who choose to enroll in TRICARE continues to rise because TRICARE is a low cost, comprehensive health plan that is portable and available in some form world-wide." He went on to call TRICARE "world class health care," concluding on a personal note. "I am grateful to have four sons now serving in the military, and I know that their families appreciate the availability of TRICARE," he said.
Subject: Shut up Joe?posted by brundlefly at 5:39 PM on September 10, 2009
The Democrat opponent to Congressman Joe Wilson has raised over $100,000.00 since last night.
What have you given to Joe Wilson. The man spoke for America. And now we need to open our wallets for Joe.
It does no good to pat Joe on the back or give him an "atta boy." Joe Wilson needs us to open our wallets and checkbooks. Joe Wilson is now a serious threat to Barack Obama because he dared point out that the Emperor has no clothes. The left will target him. The left will target his family. The left will try to destroy Joe Wilson.
We can stop the left. But we must give generously to Joe.
Prove that conservatives are not pathetic activists. Put your money where your mouth is.
Give to Joe.
Sincerely yours,
Erick Erickson
Editor, RedState.com
$591,270!*sigh*
Holy cow, it looks like Miller is going to break $600,000 in 24 hours.
It's simply not true. It will cover undocumented aliens. Now, it may not specifically say so in the bill. But we have to know that what's coming is amnesty. They're going to be made legal. We're going to have all of this. If Obama gets his way we're going to legalize 12 to 20 million illegals, and they're going to become citizens and they're going to get coverage. And they're, at the end of the day, going to still be illegal regardless the law and amnesty and everything else. It's coming, there's no question, this is the point. This is precisely what Obama wants to accomplish.Now, after sifting though that vile man's filth, I need to go shower.
I think I love that the picture of Rob Miller on the act blue page looks slightly surprised. I am imagining that is his reaction to this whole thing. Or maybe he doesn't even know about it yetNo, he knows. He has issued a statement.
"The controversy over Republican Rep. Joe Wilson's shouting out 'You Lie!' at the President over his claim that illegal immigrants wouldn't benefit from health-care reform apparently sparked some reconsideration of the relevant language. 'We really thought we'd resolved this question of people who are here illegally, but as we reflected on the President's speech last night we wanted to go back and drill down again,' said Senator Kent Conrad, one of the Democrats in the talks after a meeting Thursday morning. Baucus later that afternoon said the group would put in a proof of citizenship requirement to participate in the new health exchange — a move likely to inflame the left."*posted by ericb at 8:50 AM on September 11, 2009
Obama said that his proposal would not cover illegal immigrants, a remark that prompted Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina to shout ‘You lie!’posted by ericb at 9:05 AM on September 11, 2009Obama: There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.The president is correct: The House bill contains a section (Sec. 246) titled ‘NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS,’ which states: ‘Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.’
However, conservative critics object to a lack of specific enforcement measures in the bill. They argue that the lack of a specific verification mechanism constitutes a loophole that would allow illegal immigrants to get benefits despite the legal prohibition. Republican Rep. Dean Heller of Nevada proposed an amendment to the bill that would have required the use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program to check the citizenship of anyone applying for federal coverage or affordability credits. SAVE is the program used by Medicaid and similar entitlement programs. That amendment was voted down along party lines by the House Ways and Means Committee.
Republicans have a point here: More could be done to enforce the ban. But it’s worth remembering that, as a spokesperson for the American Immigration Lawyers Association told us, attempting to get a health care credit would have legal repercussions. ‘Making a fraudulent claim to an entitlement program when you’re not actually entitled to it would have serious consequences for any person,’ the spokesperson told us, ‘but especially if it’s considered a false claim to citizenship, that would have serious immigration consequences that could ultimately lead to deportation.’ And Rep. Wilson certainly was out of bounds to call the president’s statement a ‘lie.’ He later issued a statement apologizing for his ‘inappropriate and regrettable’ comments.”
Think about it. If you were one of the (probably) dozen press photographers in the chamber last night, generally taking pictures of the Congressmen and Senators during the speech, and if you suddenly heard a two-word, one-second outburst coming from somewhere in the chamber, uttered by one of the 535 members of Congress (okay, one of the Republicans), there is no way you could take a (well focused and neatly centered) picture of the culprit during the second word of the outburst. Whoever took the picture must have anticipated the outburst.Reaction shot: a single tear.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) told reporters today that while non-citizens won’t be barred, under Senate Finance Committee legislation from entering health insurance exchanges, the exchanges themselves will require all consumers to show proof of citizenship, in order to insure that undocumented residents don’t receive any federal subsidies.--
“You can’t prevent someone from being able to purchase insurance,” Conrad said. “They would not get any government assistance…. What we’re trying to prevent is anybody who is here illegally from getting any federal benefit.”
"One of the most enthusiastic endorsements of Wilson’s histrionics came from the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), a group that Wilson has belonged to according to his own biographical materials.posted by ericb at 2:15 PM on September 15, 2009 [1 favorite]
...Who are the SCV? A once-proud organization of Confederate history buffs and Civil War re-enactors that traditionally spent its money to restore battlefields and Confederate cemeteries. By 2006, however, the SCV had been substantially taken over by an organized cadre of white supremacists who sought to turn the nation’s oldest Southern historical society into what the veteran white supremacy activist Kirk Lyons called 'a modern, 21st century Christian war machine capable of uniting the Confederate community and leading it to ultimate victory,' had seized much of the SCV’s leadership positions, the Southern Poverty Law Center released an extensive list of SCV officials who belonged to 'hate groups.'
Lyons, a key member of this new leadership, had harbored dreams of creating a seemingly benign front group for a more sophisticated version of the Ku Klux Klan. 'I have great respect for the Klan historically, but, sadly the Klan today is ineffective and sometimes even destructive,' Lyons told a German neo-Nazi magazine in 1992. 'It would be good if the Klan followed the advice of former Klansman Robert Miles: "Become invisible. Hang the robes and hoods in the cupboard and become an underground organization."' With the SCV, Lyons discovered he didn’t have to go underground after all...."
"The Office of the House Historian said the resolution, which passed 240-179, marks the first time in the 220-year history of the House that a member has been admonished for speaking out while the president was giving an address. A resolution of disapproval is less severe than other disciplinary action available to the House, including censure or expulsion.posted by ericb at 2:48 PM on September 15, 2009 [1 favorite]
The resolution said Wilson's conduct was a 'breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House.'"
Proclaiming Sept. 16 'The American Legion Day'.posted by ericb at 6:17 PM on September 15, 2009 [2 favorites]
Recognizing the region from Manhattan, Kansas, to Columbia, Missouri, as the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, and for other purposes
To amend title 39, United States Code, to provide clarification relating to the authority of the United States Postal Service to accept donations as an additional source of funding for commemorative plaques.
"Yeah ... we should'a let theposted by ericb at 6:22 PM on September 15, 2009veiled racist tantrumunprecedented breach in decorum and protocol slide ... let it go unnoticed, go undocumented."
"The former president tells a crowd that the 'You lie' outburst to Obama was part of a disturbing trend."posted by ericb at 9:14 PM on September 15, 2009 [1 favorite]
"Wilson’s home-state colleague, Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC), said Joe 'broke House rules.' Inglis added, 'That problem could easily be fixed by an apology to the House. In the absence of an apology, the House could choose to police itself through a resolution of disapproval.'"posted by ericb at 9:41 PM on September 15, 2009 [1 favorite]
"Last week, Sen. George LeMieux (R-FL) said Wilson 'should be censured.'"*
"...I have no problem with any of the substantive criticism of President Obama from the right or left. But something very dangerous is happening. Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into delegitimation and creating the same kind of climate here that existed in Israel on the eve of the Rabin assassination....
What kind of madness is it that someone would create a poll on Facebook asking respondents, 'Should Obama be killed?' The choices were: 'No, Maybe, Yes, and Yes if he cuts my health care.' The Secret Service is now investigating. I hope they put the jerk in jail and throw away the key because this is exactly what was being done to Rabin.
Even if you are not worried that someone might draw from these vitriolic attacks a license to try to hurt the president, you have to be worried about what is happening to American politics more broadly.
Our leaders, even the president, can no longer utter the word 'we' with a straight face. There is no more 'we' in American politics at a time when 'we' have these huge problems — the deficit, the recession, health care, climate change and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — that 'we' can only manage, let alone fix, if there is a collective 'we' at work.
...And Mr. Obama is now having his legitimacy attacked by a concerted campaign from the right fringe. They are using everything from smears that he is a closet 'socialist' to calling him a 'liar' in the middle of a joint session of Congress to fabricating doubts about his birth in America and whether he is even a citizen. And these attacks are not just coming from the fringe. Now they come from Lou Dobbs on CNN and from members of the House of Representatives." [more]
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posted by stavrogin at 10:10 PM on September 9, 2009 [13 favorites]