October 01, 2009

10/1: Getting Grayson's Back

Liberal bloggers are leaping to the defense of Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) after he was criticized by House GOPers and the NRCC for declaring: "If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly." Lefty bloggers think it's hypocritical for the GOP to demand an apology from Grayson, considering that various GOPers have made similarly hyperbolic remarks without having to apologize. Josh Marshall writes: "I'm not going to defend [Grayson's comments]. But is this really a controversy when half the Republican elected officials in the country have been saying for the last couple months, as a statement of purported fact, that the Democrats want to institute 'death panels' that will euthanize or deny care to people who can't justify their lives on utilitarian grounds?" Meanwhile, other lefty bloggers are praising Grayson for being "fearless" and are urging their readers to donate money to him. Grayson wrote his own fundraising diary on Daily Kos, asking readers to "help me speak truth." He has already raised over $90K on ActBlue in the past 24 hours.

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) held a conference call with conservative bloggers (Johnson, Erickson, Morrissey) this morning to announce the creation of his Freedom First PAC. Many observers see this announcement as a sign that Pawlenty is running for Pres. in '12. However, Jim Geraghty wonders if Pawlenty's lack of charisma could impede his WH ambitions.
• Liberal bloggers (Morrill, Dayen) are criticizing Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) for joining their GOP colleagues on the Finance Committee in voting for an amendment that provides "tens of millions of dollars to fund abstinence education programs for teens." Meanwhile, Markos Moulitsas declares that "it'll be good riddance" if Lincoln loses her Senate seat to a GOP challenger next year.

GRAYSON: Apologize? Are You Serious?

Liberal bloggers argue that House GOPers are hypocritical to complain about Grayson's remarks, considering that various House GOPers have made similarly hyperbolic statements:

• digby: "So, let me get this straight: the same party that's been saying the Democrats are planning to pull the plug on Grandma for months is having an epic fit of the vapors because Alan Grayson said that the Republican Health Care plan is 'Don't get sick and if you do get sick, die quickly?' Really? How do they live with this much gall?"
• Daily Kos' BarbinMD: "Why don't these outraged Republicans get back to us after they line up to apologize for the garbage they've been spewing about health care reform in an effort to pander to their teabagging base?"
• Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher: "It's insane that this has reached this level, and that progressives are being once again sacrificed to a right-wing hissy fit when Republicans regularly engage in the most extreme eliminationist rhetoric with absolutely no consequences."
• TPM's Marshall: "Rep. Alan Grayson delivered a speech last night in which he made some really over the top comments -- namely that the Republican plan for health care is a) don't get sick and b) if you do get sick, die quickly. I'm not going to defend that. But is this really a controversy when half the Republican elected officials in the country have been saying for the last couple months, as a statement of purported fact, that the Democrats want to institute 'death panels' that will euthanize or deny care to people who can't justify their lives on utilitarian grounds? Really? And what reporters are stupid enough not to point this out?"
• The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen: "[I]sn't it a little late in the game for congressional Republican to feign outrage about death-related rhetoric? [...] Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) said Dem plans would tell seniors to 'drop dead.' Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) said Democratic plans for a public option would 'kill people.' Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said Dems' proposals might 'put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.' Plenty of other House Republicans have made similar remarks, and not one of them has every apologized. House Democrats haven't even asked. Grayson may have been deliberately provocative to highlight a larger point, but if 'die quickly' is beyond the pale, the GOP should probably start lining up now, asking for forgiveness for months of dishonest fear-mongering."

GRAYSON II: Defend Alan!

Many liberal bloggers are praising Grayson's defiant approach:

• BarbinMD: "How refreshing to have a Democrat who doesn't cave to Republican whimpering."
• AMERICAblog's Joe Sudbay: "We need more Democrats like Alan Grayson. He's fearless, in addition to being right. As I said last night, I'm loving Grayson these days -- and all the more because he's offended the very delicate George Stephanopoulos and enraged the Republicans. I had a chance to spend some time with Grayson at Netroots Nation. The guy really is brilliant. His work on financial issues, especially his focus on the Fed, has really changed the course of the debate in Congress."
• Open Left's Chris Bowers: "Republican lies, double-standards for progressives, backstabbing Democrats, Congressional leaders who won't stand by us -- if we don't stand up for one of our own at a time like this, no one will. We have to defend our champions when the right-wing smear machine comes after them, and Democrats help that smear machine out. Donate to Alan Grayson now, and defend a Better Democrat who made it to Congress."

Liberal bloggers were particularly impressed by Grayson's performance on CNN's "The Situation Room," where he refused to back down from his remarks:

• Oliver Willis: "This is what you do. You don't kowtow to the 'journalists' and conservatives begging for an ethics panel or whining about incivility when a Dem speaks up."
• Sudbay: "This is the kind of behavior that should be rewarded. We don't see enough of it from people on the Hill. You can donate to Grayson here. It's one way to show Grayson's colleagues that while "the Villagers" may be appalled, the rest of are ecstatic."
• dday: "Republicans seriously don't know who they're dealing with when it comes to Alan Grayson. [...] This just does not compute for Republicans, who are supposed to wail and moan and collect their scalp for their hissy fit. They don't understand a Democrat taking ownership of his actions and throwing it right back at them."

BooMan likes Grayson's "aggressiveness" but worries that he's putting his House seat at risk: "Personally, I think Grayson should adjust his message slightly. I like his aggressiveness. I like the substance of what he's saying. But he's probably making himself more a lightning rod than he needs to to get his message across. He's putting his seat at risk. That's good and bad. It's good that he's willing to lose and unafraid to stick up for people in need. But there might be a degree of recklessness involved, too, that isn't necessary."

GRAYSON III: Holocaust?

Conservative bloggers are blasting Grayson for calling the plight of uninsured Americans a "holocaust":

• RedState's Erick Erickson: "Continuing his descent into insanity, Alan Grayson went back to the floor of the House of Representatives today to apologize for saying Republicans want people to die -- oblivious to his own support for euthanasia and abortion on demand. Instead of apologizing, Grayson said he wanted to apologize to Americans for this 'holocaust' in health care. Grayson, who thinks the Anti-Defamation League is 'a crazy racist institution', can neither see the irony or shame in his statement. The holocaust was real with a real meaning. Roping it into the health care debate cheapens what it was all about. And what is truly ironic is Grayson champions a system that actually would compel people into terminating their elderly relatives' lives as the elderly suffer at the back of a rationed health care line withering and dying. The National Republican Campaign Committee is collecting money, the sole purpose of which will be to defeat Alan Grayson. I suggest we all give."
• NRO's Geraghty: "I realize you can apparently set your watch to the regularly occuring foolish and obnoxious outbursts from Alan Grayson, the man who represents Orlando in the House of Representatives, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that 'holocaust' is really not a word you can throw around casually when you're a congressman from Florida. So, just to follow the comparison, doctors, nurses, and our medical community are the Nazis in this metaphor, right?"
• The Weekly Standard's John McCormack: "How bad of a year was 2008 for the GOP? This guy narrowly defeated a four-term Republican incumbent in Orlando, Florida. [...] The good news: after saying on the House floor that the GOP health-care plan is for Americans to 'die quickly' if they get sick -- and then doubling-down today, calling the current health-care system an ongoing 'Holocaust' -- Rep. Alan Grayson will almost certainly be thrown out of office in 2010."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Bush > Obama?

Right Wing News' John Hawkins:

"Although I think Bush did a much better job on national security issues and foreign policy than people give him credit for, he was a huge disappointment on the domestic front. Yet, horrible approval rating and terrible messaging aside, Bush was a much better, more competent, and skilled President than Obama. That's even the case if you set aside ideological issues. Bush was more transparent, worked better with the other side, was a much more skilled diplomat, had a much better idea of what government could accomplish, and was several orders of magnitude more honest.

Bush was not a great President. On the domestic front, he wasn't even a good one. He also did great damage to the Republican Party by being so stubborn, obtuse, and by making so little effort to get his message out. But, all that said: When you get beyond the hyperbole and polling data, it's Obama, not Bush, who suffers when the two men are compared."

LEST WE FORGET: The Golden Rule?

From Overheard in New York:

Girl #1: Yeah, so my new boyfriend peed my bed the first night. After the second time, I broke up with him.
Girl #2: Good move. My motto is: "Pee my bed once, shame on you. Pee my bed twice, shame on me."

Posted by Ian Faerstein at October 1, 2009 12:47 PM