Thursday, September 10, 2009

It was a game winner...

The President took to the lectern and gave a serious pep-talk to the progressives and moderates of his own party on Wednesday. He not only laid his plan but also told American's what his plan is not. He tried to dispel the myths and untruths, while the Republican party sat, disrupted and at one point heckled the President by calling him a liar.

While the hissing, sometimes the jeers is expected at these sort of events, the heckler who called him a liar did something that has never been done at an event where a President has spoken to Congress. This wasn't just a heckle, it was a disrespectful act against the President by a member of Congress who just happens to be a member of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans organization. This act alone will not only do damage to the congressman's effort to run for re-election but it will undoubtedly do irreparable harm to the Republican Party. The Party was seeing a surge as of late but now that millions of Americans saw what the party has become--on national TV--that surge is over.

The approval rating for the President's health care plan went from 49% to 63% and the approval for the Republicans went from 36% to 29%...all of this in one night, after one powerful speech and after one hideous display of childishness.

Representative Joe Wilson apologized later but admitted that he was forced to. He also never admitted he was wrong about what he was accusing the President of and in fact continued to perpetrate the untruth. Wilson claims that HR 3200, the Health Care Reform Bill approved in one of the house committees allows for illegal aliens to take part in some of the benefits of HRC when the truth is--there is a provision which specifically says Illegal aliens do not get to take advantage of the benefits. He, however, continues to deny that this is true.

While Wilson and his colleagues want to kill health care reform by promoting such vitriol and untruths, 18000 Americans will no longer have health care by end of the day tomorrow. By the end of the year, more than 8-thousand will die due to lack of quality coverage and more than 1-million will go bankrupt due to the cost of health care.

These are the facts that the President said make this a national imperative. Every day we delay the problem gets worse. So far this year, more than 300-thousand American's lost their health care.

While the Republicans were content to jeer, wear signs, stand and waive their Health Care Proposals, which are more about protecting the status quo--the situation over health care in America grows worse. The Republican response to the Presidents speech is to ask for a "do over". A "do over" is not a solution or a realistic proposal of any sort. It's a delay tactic they want to use to kill reform.

They complain about not being at the table of negotiations but they are the ones who entered 168 amendments to the House Bill and they are the ones that have been saying if the bill says "public option" we won't support it. They in essence took themselves away from negotiations.
It's too late to reset the debate or the bills. American's can't wait.

The President assured his base, moderates, Americans and conservative (if you want to call them that anymore) Republicans that he will not stop. He held his hand to the other side of the isle and they called him a "liar". You can't negotiate with people who won't hear or listen to you while they are crying to be heard.

The President's speech brought a lot of people together last night. Meanwhile, the Republican's and their supporters decided to isolate themselves and showed the world who they really are...the party who only party with themselves, no one else is invited.

The game has been changed and the President is winning, while the Republicans are content to just keep whining.

Tomorrow: When does it make sense to stop.

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