Representative Alan Grayson, a no-name Democrat from Florida, was momentarily subject to the national spotlight because of a little rant he went on while on the floor of the House of Representatives.
He didn't say anything particularly outrageous, but that doesn't stop the GOP from freaking out. His initial claim is that the Republicans don't have a plan, so as a result, their strategy for health care is two-fold:
- Don't get sick.
- If you fail at step one, die quickly to lower costs for the rest of us.
GOP opposition to ANY reform seems to indicate that 46 million people being without insurance is not a priority. Their failure to enact any solution when they had the White House and majorities in both Houses would seem to indicate that, as well.
By failing to put forth any meaningful effort to expand access to affordable insurance, the Republican message to millions of Americans is adequately expressed in Representative Grayson's summary: Don't get sick.
If you're too weak to stay healthy, Republicans certainly don't want people just going to the emergency room because that's going to raise prices for everyone else when they can't pay. As Senator Barasso, Republican from Wyoming, said:
“When I talk to high school groups about this, I kind of refer to it as just like a store where there’s a lot of shoplifting. The owner of the store has to raise the prices for people who pay their own bills, or pay their own way, to make up for what they lose in shoplifting.”
“Now, these folks in the emergency rooms aren’t shoplifting in terms of stealing things, but they are using services and getting bandages and casts and all sorts of different things. And they’re not paying for it.”
While Republicans are throwing a tantrum over Representative Grayson's comments, his assertions do seem to be in line with Republican opposition to any meaningful change in increasing access to health care.
I take no issue with Grayson's comment in the above clip, the next day, he did draw a comparison to the Holocaust. Just as with the Bush/Nazi and Abortion/Holocaust comparisons, I don't feel like it does anything other than distract from the debate. But since Republicans were up in arms demanding an apology before he brought in the Holocaust, it stands to reason that's not what they are taking offense to.
However, I do applaud his refusal to apologize to Republicans for his initial comments. Additionally, I wholeheartedly agree with Nancy Pelosi when she pointed out that Republicans who were spreading lies about pulling the plug on grandma should not be trying to hold Democrats to an entirely different standard.
After years of Democrats immediately bowing to the tantrums thrown by Republicans, it's great to see one grow a pair and actually stand his ground.
If you're up for it, you can donate to his 2010 campaign here.
Alan Grayson also put in a great performance on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. I think his refusal to apologize might have a bigger effect on the Democrats than his original comments did:
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