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Who better for Bill O'Reilly to get a "fair and balanced" opinion from following President Obama's speech to Congress than serial liar Karl Rove? Media Matters has the run down on this one.

Rove advances "glaring misstatements" and "distortions" in criticizing Obama speech:

Purporting to examine President Obama's health care speech, Karl Rove claimed that while discussing "the so-called lies and misstatements about his proposal," Obama "made a series of very glaring misstatements or distortions." In fact, it was Rove who was advancing falsehoods and distortions.

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Rove distorts "what people were concerned about" regarding "panels to kill off senior citizens".

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Contradicting CBO, Rove suggests "most companies" will "dump the coverage" under House bill.

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Rove distorts Obama statement to claim he is "not shooting straight" on deficit.

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Eric Cantor clutches his pearls and repeats the Republican's latest talking point du jour; the President's speech was too partisan. That's rich coming from Mr. Party of "No" Eric Cantor. These statements didn't sound too partisan to me.

OBAMA: Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care.

[.....]

OBAMA: Finally, many in this chamber – particularly on the Republican side of the aisle – have long insisted that reforming our medical malpractice laws can help bring down the cost of health care. I don't believe malpractice reform is a silver bullet, but I have talked to enough doctors to know that defensive medicine may be contributing to unnecessary costs. So I am proposing that we move forward on a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first and let doctors focus on practicing medicine. I know that the Bush Administration considered authorizing demonstration projects in individual states to test these issues. It’s a good idea, and I am directing my Secretary of Health and Human Services to move forward on this initiative today.

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OBAMA: But those of us who knew Teddy and worked with him here – people of both parties – know that what drove him was something more. His friend, Orrin Hatch, knows that. They worked together to provide children with health insurance. His friend John McCain knows that. They worked together on a Patient’s Bill of Rights. His friend Chuck Grassley knows that. They worked together to provide health care to children with disabilities.

Newshounds has more on the segment- Hannity And Cantor Complain About Partisanship In Obama’s Health Care Speech, Ignore GOP Heckling And Disrespect:

Sean Hannity and Republican Congressman Eric Cantor last night (9/9/09) blithely accused President Obama of being too partisan in his health care speech to the Joint Session of Congress while they just as blithely ignored the heckling and disrespect from Republicans that included booing, holding up antagonistic signs, using Blackberries during the speech and, in one case, shouting out that the president is a liar. With video.

Hannity opened his post-speech show last night with a commentary that accused Obama of delivering “an attack speech that could have been written by James Carville.” He forgot to mention that the Republicans’ reaction would have been scripted by middle schoolers.

Hannity went on to complain about Obama’s “cynicism and intimidation… Everyone disagrees with him is either a liar or a thug.”

Yet Hannity made no mention of Republican Congressman Joe Wilson yelling, “You lie!” during the speech.

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Transcript below the fold.

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Rachel Maddow talks to Congressman Barney Frank about the President's speech, the Republican response and whether there's any point in negotiating with them given how far to the right the Republican party is now.

Some of the better parts of this interview- Frank on Joe Wilson’s outburst:

I’d say what Wilson did was a mark of their frustration and you know, Barack Obama is a big boy. I think I must say that any Republican, particularly a Joe Wilson who’d want to get into a debate with Barack Obama is tugging on Superman’s cape and pulling the Lone Ranger’s mask, but if that’s what he wants to do… free country.

On bipartisanship:

The Republicans represent an extremely conservative faction and the notion that those of us who won the election with a solid majority should compromise 50/50 with those who won’t… well then why have elections?

[…..]

[T]his annoys me a little bit, this kind of like, I’m above the battle. I think the President underestimated when he came into office exactly how right wing the Republicans are and I’m glad he asked them today to join. I have no great hopes for it because they are in the control of the most conservative, knowing how right wing the Republican party has become, my only bad moment with Barack Obama during the campaign was when he said he was going to be post-partisan, and I got post-partisan depression, because I knew that that meant dealing with these people.

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Again, I think they forced him to get to the basics. I think he may have thought that they were more reasonable than they are. This collection of loons that you scrolled down there, I’ve got to say those people, if anybody needs a health plan in America, it’s those people who are in severe need of mental health services.

On some Republicans now complaining about their party's fringe:

I noticed last week in the New York Times that the responsible conservatives are starting to complain now that the arguments against the Obama plan and against our effort to do health care are being dominated by the crazies. Well, that’s their fault. They were very happy to have the crazies getting out there doing Hitler stuff and etc. But I think the Republicans, they don’t have good arguments. When people make ridiculous arguments against something, it’s because that’s all they’ve got.

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Bill O'Reilly is apparently really worried that we're going to become a "nanny state" if cancer screening procedures like mamograms and colonoscopies are forced upon the poor insurance companies.

O'Reilly: Now the president also stayed completely away from the feds dictating medical decisions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: To my progressive friends, I would remind you that for decades the driving idea behind reform has been to end insurance company abuses and make coverage available for those without it. The public option, the public option is only a means to that end. We should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

All right. So the public option, there it goes right out the window. And the government-mandated day-to-day care is not going to happen.

So the president was also very clear about the insurance companies. They are going to be forced to accept Americans who are ill and they can't boot you off the policy if you get sick. That's good. "Talking Points" likes that.

But the president goes further. He wants to order the insurance companies to cover certain procedures like mammograms and colonoscopies. Now we are getting into the nanny state stuff. If the feds have the power to run private health care industries, some of them are going to get out of the business, which is what the liberals want.

However, I like the idea of a national insurance marketplace where companies compete nationwide and offer lower premiums based upon more customers. I like that idea. But I'm not sure how it's going to work without the feds ordering the companies to do stuff.

Are you getting the picture here?

President Obama is correct in trying to downsize medical insurance premiums, and increased competition is the way to do that, not government meddling. There should be, however, federal oversight on health insurance companies. They must play fair or get fined big. But the rules must be crystal clear.

And finally it may be unconstitutional to force Americans to buy health care insurance, although Mr. Obama wants that and compares it to mandatory auto insurance. With auto insurance you have a machine that can do damage. It could be unconstitutional to force you to buy this stuff. But if Obamacare passes, you will be on somebody's policy. That is certain.

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Countdown's Worst Persons for Sept. 9, 2009 with winner Rep. Joe Wilson. Runners up mean Jean Schmidt and the Orange County Register.

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During what I thought was one of the better parts of the President's address to Congress tonight was the last portion of his speech where he reminded everyone that health care is not just a policy issue, but a moral issue and a matter of social justice.

Whether the legislation he signs ends up reflecting that is another matter. When you're starting from the position that it's important to keep the insurance companies in place I'm not sure how you get there myself.

That is why we cannot fail. Because there are too many Americans counting on us to succeed – the ones who suffer silently, and the ones who shared their stories with us at town hall meetings, in emails, and in letters.

I received one of those letters a few days ago. It was from our beloved friend and colleague, Ted Kennedy. He had written it back in May, shortly after he was told that his illness was terminal. He asked that it be delivered upon his death.

In it, he spoke about what a happy time his last months were, thanks to the love and support of family and friends, his wife, Vicki, and his children, who are here tonight . And he expressed confidence that this would be the year that health care reform – “that great unfinished business of our society,” he called it – would finally pass. He repeated the truth that health care is decisive for our future prosperity, but he also reminded me that “it concerns more than material things.” “What we face,” he wrote, “is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.”

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Olympia Snowe says she urged the President to take the public option off the table during his speech tonight "so it could provide, I think, a momentum of a different kind in moving this issue forward overall." Snowe is still insisting that the President wants a "bipartisan" agreement.

A watered down version of health care "reform" which ends up being a give away to the insurance industry isn't going to solve our problem with the health care and it isn't going to get any "broad support" as Snowe claims the President is looking for.

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Rachel takes on the screechers at Fox News' hypocritical freak out over Obama's "czars".

MADDOW: Do you remember Gilda Radner‘s brilliant “Saturday Night Live” character, Emily Litella? Our culture‘s best-ever human demonstration of the art of misunderstanding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GILDA RADNER, COMEDIENNE: What‘s all this stuff I keep hearing about violins and television? Now, why don‘t parents want their children to see violins on television? Why, I thought the Leonard Bernstein concert was just lovely.

Now, if they only sold violins after 10:00 at night, the little babies would all be asleep and they wouldn‘t learn any music appreciation. They‘ll end up wanting to play guitar and bongo drums and go to Africa and join these rock ‘n roll outfits. And they won‘t drink milk. I say there should be more violins on television and less game shows. It‘s terrible the things - what, what?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Ms. Litella - Ms. Litella, that was violence on television, not violins. Violence.

RADNER: Oh, well, that‘s different.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Yes.

RADNER: Never mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: Emily Litella railed against violins on television, against the endangered feces acts, against the eagle rights amendment. She thought we shouldn‘t worry so much about youth in Asia. Then all her skits ended with “never mind.”

Of all the millions of reasons to miss the great Gilda Radner, the most recent is that that character, Emily Litella, may be really the best way we have to understand the current right-wing connection about czars in government.

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If it weren't Lou Dobbs saying it and knowing he always likes to take a shot at the Obama administration ever since the black man got elected and his brain exploded, I'd almost be inclined to agree with Dobbs on this one. I don't think it's "authoritarian" to want everyone to have to pay into a system that makes sure everyone is covered and has health insurance of some sort. I do agree that what Baucus is proposing looks like nothing less than making sure all of us are going to pay into the health insurance industry monopoly whether we like it or not with no assurance they're not going to still rip everyone off on premiums since there is not at least a public option in his plan.

And why in the hell is Baucus at this late date still pretending that any Republicans are going to vote for any of this? They already had the Democrats take all of their amendments and then still said they wouldn't vote for what the Democrats compromised on with the bill.

All I can say is, let me in a poker game with any of these guys since I'd go home with a pocket full of money. Never show your hand or let the other person call your bluff until you have to. And as a twenty some year union member, I can also say that the Democrats obviously haven't learned what the term "bargaining in good faith" means. They could use a few of our Business Reps showing them how not to be played for suckers when you negotiate.

I'm not sure just what Max Baucus' game is here, but I've grown tired of it. He's had months to get something done and what he's come out with is a sell out to the insurance industry. I hope to hell the Progressive Causus in the House isn't going to stand for this.

And surprise, surprise it turns out that "just when you thought the Baucus revolving door couldn’t spin faster: the Senate staffer responsible for devising the tax policies at the heart of the Baucus plan is a former lobbyist for health insurance and pharmaceutical interests, including an insurance industry front group".

Color me not shocked. Obama needs to decide which side he's on in this debate whether he cares about keeping his base. As John has said, he's going to lose the left if he sells us out.

Transcript below the fold.

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When is MSNBC finally going to show Pat Buchanan the door? Even after admitting that the "death panels" are not in the bill, Buchanan still wants to defend his girlfriend Sarah Palin and pretend like the Democrats want to kill grandma with the language in the health care bill.