You Lie, I Lie

Let's talk about the outburst and around the speech. I haven't seen the speech. I haven't read a transcript, so I don't know how I feel about it. I hear from Democratic congresspeople, by and large that it was a "gamechanger" and I hear from Republican congresspeople by and large it was more empty campaign rhetoric.

So, I know what the middle ground is, but I don't know if that's a truthful or accurate barometer of the speech. I have heard, fourth hand that in a Congressional bill (it's unclear who'se and if its even been voted on) somewhere there is a provision that limits doctors pay to $60,000 a year. That seems unlikely, but I think it's something that's indicative of what the American public knows about the process, which is not terribly much.

It sounds like there's wild speculation going on and honestly, trying to read any one of those things puts me to sleep and I'm used to reading dense, hard to penetrate documents. If you want accurate information on the process of health care reform, well, that's why you have a representative for your district (however gerrymandered it may be), spend some time, find their number, call up their office and don't settle until you have someone who tells you they are your congressperson.

Ask them specific questions and my guess is they'll be able to help you. In fact, avoid phrases like "socialism", "radical right" and so on. You'll get farther that way.

(At this juncture, it's important to note that a statesman is a public official who does things you like and a politician is a public official who does things you don't.)

Let's go to the outburst. Joe Wilson, a representative from the *ahem* great state of South Carolina yelled out "You lie!" when Obama said that the health care plan would not cover illegal immigrants. Mr. Wilson's outburst was based on the fact that illegal immigrants do slip through the cracks of American bureaucracy and acquire social services based on the mistaken belief that they're American citizens.

I'll indulge in a tangent about that soon.

But. Wilson is likely right and Barack Obama is likely wrong. That said, it seems unlikely that the President of the United States is going to be loose with benefits beyond stabilization at hospitals and a drivers license to those undocumented aliens. That's the obvious part. The less obvious part comes next.

One of the important things in politics, aside from a thick skin is an incredibly robust selective memory and there are a lot of left-leaning pundits that engaged it when they called the "You lie!" outburst an outrage. In 2005, Democrats booed and heckled President's George W. Bush's State of the Union address and my guess is those same pundits didn't call it an outrage then. I'm not going to commend Joe Wilson for yelling the President was a liar in front of a well-televised speech. I think it was embarrassing and unflattering, but no more outrageous than heckling at the State of the Union four years ago.





P.S. I don't endorse any of the sites that put up the youtube videos I'm linking to, I haven't heard of either, but figured I should say something just in case.

And there were very high-ranking members of the Democratic Party (read: Harry Reid) who called Bush a liar when he went overseas. I happen to agree with Mr. Reid. It wasn't outrageous then, so it shouldn't be outrageous now, even if it does feel, somehow, more obnoxious at the time.

It's worth taking a closer look at what inaccuracies were being verbalized.

Bush was promoting a falsehood about the safety of Iraq, which had deadly consequences daily for its citizens and Obama said something he had to know was technically incorrect, which if enacted, will have consequences that don't end up in civilians getting killed by roadside bombs or becoming victims of collateral damage. In short, I don't believe these lies are equivocal, but there are parallels that must be acknowledged if we're going to be intellectually honest with ourselves and possibly have a worthwhile conversation.

Remember the earlier comment I made about the tangent? Here it comes.

What's maddening to me is that there is so called "principled" objections to the Democratic bills because the system might get scammed by illegal Mexican immigrants fleeing poverty and a civil war based on cartel allegiance. (Before I begin, I'd like to note that stabilization for patients in critical care is a different thing than having health insurance.) Let's be clear: the argument, so far as I understand it, goes like this:

"I work hard for my money and I don't want said hard-earned money being taken from me by the government to deliver lower-cost medical services to people who aren't citizens of this country."

Okay, these people don't want their money being spent on a wasteful bureaucracy. Fair enough. My response is simple.

"I work hard for my money and I don't want said hard-earned money being taken from me by the government to be distributed to war profiteers to spend on extravagant vacations, private jets and lobbyist junkets."

See also: I had the same problem with the War in Iraq and almost everything the Bush administration touched, but I paid my federal taxes when I disagreed. Now it's your turn. Too bad.

Now, here's where my affectation comes in. I believe, in the grand scheme of things, that it is better to have government largess benefit people who aren't its citizens getting medical attention than to have that same largess continue to employ the services of KBR, Haliburton and Blackwater (now Xe) during wartime at cost plus.

Yes, the money is not going to be used for what it is supposed to. That's going to happen no matter who is in charge and what their perspective is. I'd rather that money go to "waste" healing people (who odds are, don't have access to much back home and aren't related to the vilified Reagan "welfare queens" ) than paying for the help of Xe, Haliburton and KBR to fight our wars. If we are going to fight those wars, I'd rather we pay the Army to do it.

The principle at play here appears to be "until the bill is written to absolutely forbid (and mandate heavy penalties if violated) anyone who might be an illegal alien from scamming the system, I'm going to withhold my support, while acknowledging that Americans from coast to coast are being bankrupted right now by the current system." This principle does not impress me.

If I've learned anything from this (what, maybe 28 hours removed from the outburst) it's how important thoughtful commentary from a distance of at least one sleep cycle is. The point is to go beyond the news and try to place current events in a context that is truthful and paint a full picture of the events and the people making them. The point is not to be spending hours finding the best ammunition for a partisan hackjob.

Sadly, that's all we're getting.