Quiet No More...

Here we go -- it's time to fight the real battles, beginning with this ridiculous healthcare bill (or bills; there are currently 5 bills floating around in committee).

Last night's speech was a great sales presentation. As usual, President Obama delivered a passionate, well-written speech about the "dire" need for healthcare reform in America. It was nothing more than a sales pitch, however, and I don't believe Americans are buying it. But perhaps the biggest news to come out of the speech was not even part of the speech itself, but a seemingly insignificant jeer from a Republican Congressman.

Representative Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) had the audacity to shout "you lie" in response to the President's assertion that illegal immigrants would not benefit from the new bill. I'll save the details of this half-truth for another post, but suffice it to say that illegals would not be denied insurance for the same reason they are currently not denied ER care.

Was the President lying? Well...let's just say that I'm sure his words were chosen carefully. I think he was telling us what was written in the bill, but I also believe that he knows that the actual consequences that will follow are going to be quite different. I learned in Sunday School that a lie is "any intent to deceive." But I digress...

The Wilson incident (that took all of 7 seconds, max) was headline news today. Again, we stopped focusing on the real debate in lieu of this ancillary story. So, to put the issue to rest, let me give you my take of the outburst.

First of all, I think it was probably wrong to yell what he did during a Presidential speech. It crossed the line of congressional demeanor as we know it. While I would love to have a "House of Commons" approach to presidential speeches, it hasn't ever been a part of our culture. We got rid of that along with driving on the left side of the road and having afternoon tea.

That said, I understand Rep. Wilson's frustrations. During the 40 minute speech, the President drew applause after every partisan comment he made (which were abundant). Nancy Pelosi et al. can stand and clap when they agree with the President, but the opposition's only recourse is to sit quietly when they don't agree with the outlined tenets. I ask: what is more of a distraction; a two word statement or a 30 second round of applause? He felt the need to voice his opinion, and since he didn't sit on the left side of the aisle, this seemed like his only option.

As a side note, I truly enjoyed watching the outrage and sheer disdain on Pelosi's face immediately following the comment. As I watched her reaction, I imagined her telling V.P. Biden that she wanted that man in jail before the speech was over. How dare he speak up? She is the Speaker of the House, after all.

In the end, Rep. Wilson rightly apologized to President Obama for the outburst. President Obama graciously accepted the apology, as did Pelosi (allegedly). It was time to move on with the debate, right? Wrong.

Left-wingers wasted no time hopping on the anti-Wilson bandwagon. Thousands of dollars were immediately sent to his opponent in the next election, courtesy of moveon.org intellectuals.

Here's the captivating new home page content for their website:

Last night, President Obama challenged Congress to "meet

history's test" and fix our broken health care system.

Republicans, led by Joe Wilson, responded by heckling,

booing, and hissing. We can't afford to let right-wing extremists

hold health care reform hostage.

Since when is the Congressman from South Carolina (that only people from South Carolina had ever heard of before last night) the "leader" of the Republicans?

I now patiently wait for the inevitable boycotts. I'm sure that by this weekend there will be grad students and ACORN employees out picketing Wilson sports equipment, the movie Cast Away, all Dennis the Menace episodes that include Mr. Wilson, and any future reunion concerts of Wilson-Phillips (which, admittedly, I would boycott as well).

Let's really "move on" and learn from this experience. Wilson's comment was merely a symptom of a greater problem. Here is the real crux of the issue:

For weeks, Democrats have ignored Republican ideas, intimated at ideas like reconciliation, and subscribed to the notion that they could do this by themselves -- without a single Republican vote. As a result, Republicans are starving for a voice in this process, and it came to a boiling point last night.

The American public, similarly, may feel that they have lost their voice. The liberals in Congress have drowned us out with their standing ovations for too long. I hope that the polls, town hall meetings, and petitions will serve as an outburst of sorts that will ring loud and clear to the President and Congress.

I long for the day when Nancy Pelosi stares at me with as much vitriol as she did to Rep. Wilson last night. Then I'll know that I'm on the right track.

Reason Must Prevail (part 1)

At the risk of getting too political, I decided to write a few blog posts about what I have been thinking lately. So here is my view on point 1:

Czar Schmar

There has been a lot of talk about the so-called "czars" in the Obama Administration. It seems like some talk show hosts and activists have recently dedicated their lives to exposing the true men behind the president. Sounds innocent enough; but I believe the unrelenting focus on the President's advisors is making us lose sight of what is really important.

First of all, there is nothing we can do about the czars. They are not up for senate confirmation and it's the President's prerogative to listen to whomever he wants. We already lost that battle...back in November (actually, I think we lost it in the primaries when we didn't vote for Romney, but I digress). Note to talk show hosts: if you want to spend a few minutes of every show talking about what these guys said in California in February, great! I'm good with that. But I can't even watch Glenn Beck because he has become the "czar Czar" himself -- it completely consumes his show.

I'm glad that the information came out...thank you. I'm over it. I know these guys are radical. I knew it during the election. The horse is dead, let's go beat something else...like the Congress!

The President isn't going to empty his advisory board at our request, but we do have a chance of convincing the blue-dog Democrats that the healthcare bill is bad for America and bad for freedom. I'm pretty sure the "green jobs" czar doesn't have a vote in the House of Representatives, but Heath Shuler and Brad Ellsworth sure do. Let's focus on getting the message out to them.

We do have a say in this representative democracy of ours. Our (nation's) voice was heard in Novemeber, and it said that we will let President Obama live in a cool house with an underground bowling alley. Oh, and he could appoint judges and his own staff. That election is over.

There is, however, going to be a vote on some pretty important healthcare legislation. Our voice must be heard loud and clear -- we don't want it. This is a battle we can still win.

Here's a rough analogy -- let's say that a certain football coach* has been accused of being a cheater. It is well documented in the press that his assistant coaches believe you should be allowed to play with 12 players, regardless of the rules. If we spend all of our time exposing these coaches, we may forget to watch the game.

While our focus is on these assistant's past histories, we fail to see them sneaking a 12th player onto the field right in front of us. If our cameras are focused on the sidelines, we miss the game - and the game is what counts.

Those coaches needed to be exposed...and I applaud Beck and others for bringing the "czar" details forward. We know what they want to do -- heck, we knew during the election last year what President Obama stood for. It's time to get over it. Now we need to "watch the field." Let's make sure they don't cheat or change the rules on us (i.e. destroy the Constitution).

They have to go through congress to get stuff done...let's focus our attention there - where we do still have a voice. In 2 years, when the presidential election is heating up, then we can discuss President Obama and his band of merry men (and women).

Until then, I think we should focus most of our energy on discrediting these ludicrous bills coming from Pelosi and Friends.

*I am not implying that the coaches in the photo are under suspicion of any malfeasance. They were merely the best image available on Google.