9/11: Joe Wilson's War

In a mere 36 hours, a relatively obscure GOP congressman from South Carolina has become the most discussed figure in the blogosphere. When Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted "You lie!" in response to Pres. Obama's claim that the Dem health care plans wouldn't cover illegal immigrants, he instantly became a hero to conservatives and a villain to liberals. Lefty bloggers are urging their readers to donate money to Wilson's Dem challenger, Rob Miller (who has already raised over $700K online). They're also digging up past instances of Wilson saying controversial things and taking controversial positions.

Liberals aren't the only ones on offense, however. Wilson held interviews with sympathetic bloggers and recorded a fundraising video urging supporters to "contribute to my effort to defeat the proponents of government-run health care." And conservative bloggers are urging their readers to donate money to Wilson and "prove that conservatives are not pathetic activists."

WILSON: No, Congressmen, You're The Liar

Liberal bloggers are arguing that Wilson, not Obama, has his facts wrong on the illegal immigration issue (the fact-checkers at PolitiFact call Wilson's claim "false," although they're a bit more nuanced in their analysis of the GOP argument as a whole):

• Daily Kos' Jed Lewison: "Congressman Wilson, take note: President Obama was correct. You were wrong, as the actual legislative language of HR 3200 makes clear. [...] Wilson has already apologized for his childish outburst, but what he really should have apologized for is lying. [...U]nless we fight back against the kinds of lies that Joe Wilson and his Republican colleagues are spreading, we'll never get meaningful health care reform. And that's what really matters."
• dday: "The plans on the table would provide more security for those with insurance, and provide exchanges for those without coverage. The undocumented can access those exchanges, because it would require them to pay for coverage with their own money. The bill would also provide subsidies to people who cannot afford coverage. The undocumented would not be eligible for those subsidies. It says that in every single bill draft. Rush Limbaugh, being a little more honest than usual today, says 'It will cover undocumented aliens. Now it may not specifically say so in the bill... ' He's talking about enforcement and verification statutes, which is a red herring, because some form of ID is typically required at point of service if you have an insurance card. It's also a total lie, because there is a provision to implement enforcement in the bill."
• Think Progress' Matthew Yglesias: "[T]hough the bills would prevent undocumented immigrants from receiving any taxpayer assistance in purchasing health insurance, the proposals on the table don't do anything special to prevent an undocumented immigrant from buying health insurance with his own money. To characterize this as 'insur[ing] illegal immigrants' strikes me as about on a par with claiming that Obama's health care plans give ibuprofen to illegal immigrants. After all, nothing in the bill stops illegal immigrants from buying ibuprofen in a store! And the very same FDA regulations that assure citizens and legal residents and tourists of the safety of ibuprofen will also benefit illegal immigrants."

Not surprisingly, conservative bloggers are arguing that Wilson was correct:

• Erick Erickson: "The Democrats have blocked specific Republican attempts to require citizenship verification to get on the government plan. Why? The State Medicaid agencies are given the ability to set eligibility standards for the low income subsidies that will be used for the plan. And they have no incentive not to enroll illegal aliens, particularly since it's a 100% federal match. So doctors are not required to verify citizenship because they and the states will get greater allotments the faster the rolls grow. H.R. 3200 claims to block illegal aliens from the plan, but provides incentives to ignore citizenship. It is like telling a kid that it is against the law to drink, but then specifically not enforcing the law, nor providing any money or manpower to enforce the law."
• Hot Air's Allahpundit: "Wilson's biggest advantage: He was right. The One does lie, and never more so than when he's talking about health care. Even the GOP House leadership, while scolding Wilson for shouting, is using it as an opportunity to tout the Congressional Research Service report on ObamaCare's impact on illegals."

WILSON II: So Joe Gets His Way, After All

Liberal bloggers were upset when Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) reacted to Wilson's outburst by pledging to insert a "proof of citizenship requirement" in their bill:

• AMERICAblog's John Aravosis: "First off, congratulations for once again caving to the teabaggers and telling them that all they need to do is go crazy and Democrats will run scared and cave. Second, why would anyone think that Wilson, or any of the extremists he represents, will support Baucus and Conrad's plan, regardless of the changes? Have we learned no lessons from the stimulus debate, where the Obama administration and Democrats gave the Republicans 40% of the bill as tax cuts, and almost every single Republican in the Congress (save three) voted against it?"
• Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher: "As John says, if Wilson's outburst turns out to be successful, it'll keep happening over and over again. And it will work every time."
• Yglesias: "The policy rationale for declining to provide subsidies to people who are in the country illegally is fairly clear. But the new Wilson-Baucus line is really nuts. They're saying that people should be required to provide proof of citizenship before they buy health insurance on the individual market with their own money. This will have a direct cost to taxpayers since some verification mechanism will need to be put into place. It will also have an indirect cost to you and me and everyone we know -- the vast majority of people, after all, aren't undocumented immigrants but we're all going to need to go through a citizenship check hassle before we buy health insurance. It will probably also make average premiums higher, since the exchanges will be left with a smaller risk pool and there's no real reason to believe that the subset of undocumented immigrants who are capable of affording an unsubsidized insurance policy are below-average health risks. Last, of course, this will make the undocumented immigrant population sicker with negative public health consequences for their coworkers, friends, family, and the customers of the businesses they walk at. That's a mighty high price to ask U.S. citizens and legal residents to pay all for what amounts to spite."

WILSON III: Don't Apologize, Joe!

Most conservative bloggers are defending Wilson:

• The Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb: "Joe Wilson offered the most succinct and effective Republican response to Obamacare since Sarah Palin attacked Obama's 'death panels' -- and, like Sarah, he did it in just two words: 'You lie.' It is also incontrovertibly true that Obama was lying. Illegal immigrants will get health care for free under the Obama system just as they get health care for free now. Except under Obama's system the American taxpayer will foot the bill instead of the hospitals and insurance companies. Liberals have reacted as one might have predicted based on the Democratic response to town hall protesters this summer -- by questioning Joe Wilson's patriotism and honor and civility. Let them question all those things, and let them send all that money to Wilson's challenger in 2010. It won't make a bit of difference. That district is as safe as [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi's, and Joe Wilson's constituents were probably more bothered by his apology than anything else."
• Townhall's Meredith Jessup: "I was pretty disappointed this morning when I found out South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson had apologized for his outburst last night during the president's address before the joint session of Congress."
• Townhall's Jonathan Garthwaite: "It may be arguable that Wilson's outburst will help the Democrats unite and thus was ill-advised, but this is a political battle against government control of 1/7th of the nation's economy. The Democrats' vision is very different than the Republicans'. Who wins this battle will have major consequences on our country's health care system. It won't always be a cotillion ball. So pardon me if I don't join in the condemnation of Congressman Wilson."

Conservative bloggers are also arguing that Wilson's verbal outburst will ultimately help the GOP:

• Right Wing News' John Hawkins: "Wilson's 'You lie' outburst is a political plus, not a minus because the discussion over it, even from people criticizing or disagreeing with him, will focus an inordinate amount of attention on the fact that Obama is lying and that illegal aliens will be able to get coverage under the bill."
• Power Line's John Hinderaker: "The main consequence of the Democrats and their allies focusing so much attention on Wilson is that it detracts attention from Obama's speech. It is hard to understand how this can be a good strategy. Moreover, it is hardly good publicity for Obama to repeat endlessly the fact that a Congressman called him a liar, and that the subject was whether the Democrats' health care bill will confer benefits on illegal immigrants. It surely will, as the Congressional Budget Office, for one, has pointed out -- a fact that Obama tries hard to keep quiet."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Immigrants And Health Care

Yglesias:

"[C]ontrary to Rep Wilson, the bills under consideration really won't give health insurance to undocumented immigrants. But like Alexandra Gutierrez this seems regrettable to me -- undocumented immigrants are people, too!

Obviously, it's politically impossible for elected officials to take any other stand on this immigrant issue, but it's a really unfortunate and inhumane posture they've adopted. Hopefully someday soon we'll get an immigration reform measure that directly deals with the multi-faceted problem of the presence of a mass community of undocumented people in the United States. Until then, I'm still waiting for the moment when conservatives realize that 'illegal immigrants might use it!' actually works as an argument against basically all public sector endeavors. Illegal immigrants benefit from the cops catching murderers! They ride the bus! They drive on highways! Better just eliminate all services to make sure no one from Mexico takes advantages of any of them."

LEST WE FORGET: Who You Callin' A Leper?

From Overheard in the Office:

Female worker #1: As a smoker these days I really feel like a social leprechaun.
Female worker #2: You mean "leper"?
Female worker #1: What?