Thursday, September 10, 2009

#Obamacare and what Joe "The Heckler" Wilson Really Represents

What a night! I can't remember the last time I watched the guy in the White House talk and didn't immediately feel like leaving the country right after. @siskita suggested the last time might have been 9 years ago.

But regardless of what you say about Obama and his plans for health care reform, one thing really bugged me last night and it was that moment where Republican "Representative" from South Carolina Joe Wilson heckled Barrack Hussein Obama in the middle of his speech.

No, it's not the obvious disrespect the act showed the duly elected President of the United States that bothers me. I think Wilson had serious guts and passion to heckle the leader of the free world on international TV.

I don't necessarily disagree with what Wilson was thinking when he blurted out "YOU LIE!" either. As I listened to Obama speak last night I was reminded of my deep distrust of all politicians. Just because he's black doesn't make Obama uniquely honest and of course it doesn't make him a liar either. But where was the logic in accusing Obama of lying in the middle of him accusing Republicans of lying?

"I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I?" he might as well have yelled.

If Wilson had an actual point, that'd be one thing, but it seemed like passion and guts were all he had to back up his accusation and that got me thinking. What made an inside-the-beltway guy like Wilson think that it was OK to heckle the guy who currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave? Would he have done the same if Bush had been speechifying?

Or was the fact that Obama is black or that he has a Muslim-sounding middle name or that he's so young and different, subconsciously make Wilson think that Obama didn't deserve the respect of having a decent argument lodged against him?

Maybe that's my mistake, expecting a decent argument from a bunch of frothing-at-the-mouth Republicans who would do anything to keep their jobs, even see people die in Iraq or at home (Iraqis and USGIs die in Iraq/Americans who can't afford health care die at home). Because, to me, that IS the irony to all of this. Check out this WSJ.com editorial Karl Rove wrote from the future (check the date on the screencap below and compare it to the first sentence in the piece):



What's more telling than the fact that Rove clearly wrote this editorial before Obama even gave his speech is that fun little subtitle there "Red-state Democrats are being asked to risk their seats."

So, let me get this straight:

1) Americans are dying because they can't pay for the health care they need to survive

2) Political risk is more important than American lives

Clearly, Karl Rove hates America.

Haha, OK, that's an unfair statement, but clearly, when you react, preemptively, as Rove did, and when you react with such emotional, disrespect in the middle of your opponent explaining himself, it shows the level of fear the Republicans are dealing with right now.

I think America is starting to fall apart. Even putting the economy aside, I think we're seeing a real "pulling aside of the curtain" here. The man behind said curtain hates the idea of equality.

He HATES it.

The idea that this guy, with a different opinion from him getting to stand up and speak to America without interruption was just too much for Joe Wilson.

The veil has come down and we're looking at the rich, white face of "I'm better than you."

That's what this country is all about and it's what it has always been about.

From Columbus' journal entry way back in 1492 when he spoke of how perfect the natives would be as slaves, right up to the now where we modern-day wage-slaves blow the overwhelming majority of our lives working for other people barely finding the money to survive on our own.

God forbid we should have a system that keeps us healthy without us having to pay on top of everything else.

Oh no, rich white men who wear suits to work every day and alternate between private sector jobs and public sector jobs know what's best for all of us.

Sorry, we can't all work together to pay for health care for everyone.

Forget that we all work together to make capitalism work. Forget that the reason those rich white guys got rich is because we all agreed to buy their cars, their drugs, their line of crap in the first place.

So, we can all pitch in to keep capitalism going but try to encourage a system that takes a bit of cash from most and makes sure everyone gets health care and you're as good as Karl Marx.

God bless America? Which America? The one in all the sales brochures? Or the actual one that says free health care is bad for everyone but the military and politicians.


Orignal From: #Obamacare and what Joe "The Heckler" Wilson Really Represents

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