Former Vice President Dick Cheney appeared on Fox News earlier this week, and as usual, he couldn't resist denigrating President Obama. Wednesday, Democrat Alan Grayson appeared on Hardball and when asked for his response to Cheney's absurdity, he had a short, and not-so-sweet message for Dick:
Matthews: ..."How far is this guy gonna go so he gets to speak at the next Republican convention? Dick Cheney is unbelievable lately!"
Grayson: I don't know, you know, on the internet there's an acronym that's used to apply to situations like this, it's STFU. I don't think I can say that on the air, but I think you know what that means."
I couldn't have said it better myself. I must admit that I'm jealous of Rep. Grayson getting the opportunity to say those words on national teevee. Matthews turns the discussion to the right wing hissy fit over President Obama following tradition and bowing to the President of Japan and Grayson came back with this:
..."I remember Bush Jr. kissing Prince Abdullah on the cheek and then holding his hand for an extended period of time. Maybe if he let him get to second base then gas would be a dollar a gallon."
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Sally Quinn went on The O'Reilly Factor to announce that she and all the other Villagers are just all a-flutter over the Obama White House's puzzling decision to stand up to its an organization that clearly declared war on his administration from its outset, i.e., Fox News.
But first she had to stop and sniff disdainfully in the direction of Alan Grayson for his gauche style of political rhetoric:
O'Reilly: Do you know this guy? He sounds like a loon.
Quinn: I don't know him. But guess what? Here we are talking about him. And I think that's what this is all about -- he's obviously getting the attention she desperately needs.
O'Reilly: OK, there could be something to be said for that. He represents the Orlando area. But he's certainly kind of unhinged. When you hear rhetoric like that -- you know, the Dick Cheney shooting the guy in the face, and this and that -- doesn't it sound a little immature?
Quinn: Well, I think that it's worse than immature. I mean, what he said was so completely over the top that it sounds like -- it reminded me a little bit of Blagojevich, you know. I mean --
O'Reilly: No, that's good. That's a good -- yeah. Kinda unhinged.
Quinn: Yeah, unhinged. It made no sense. So I don't think you can take it seriously. And I also think that if he -- I can't imagine the Democrats feeling good about this. Or the White House feeling good.
"If you consider the life of Bill Clinton," she said on "60 Minutes," "whenever he leaves the White House, he's going to get on a plane, and where is he going to go?"
"What do you mean?" a baffled Mike Wallace asked.
"Well, he -- he doesn't even have a home," she sniffed. "I mean, when you think about it, he's homeless. I mean, they've lived in sort of government properties all their lives."
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There really wasn't a lot of substance to Alan Grayson's appearance on Hardball yesterday, but it is always pretty delightful to watch Grayson in action anyway. He just says what he thinks and lets the chips fall where they may.
The end got a little over the top, in fact:
Matthews: Dick Cheney—and that‘s how you pronounce his name—was out last night in black tie, along with his—well, his felon former chief of staff, who I think took the bullet for him in that whole matter, perjury and obstruction of justice.
And he wasn‘t out robbing gas stations. His behavior was right there in the office under Cheney‘s leadership. Anyway, the prosecutor in that case said there was a cloud over Cheney‘s head. The—the prosecutor obviously brought the justice to that guy Scooter Libby. He got convicted of a number of counts of perjury and obstruction of justice.
The president even held his nose and would not pardon these guys, wouldn‘t pardon Scooter Libby. Here‘s this guy, with all his inglorious background, out trashing the president of the United States for dithering.
Your response?
GRAYSON: Well, my response is—and, by the way, I have trouble listening to what he says sometimes because of the blood that drips from his teeth while he‘s talking.
But—but my response is this. He's just angry because the president doesn't shoot old men in the face. Oh, by the way, when he was done speaking, did he just then turn into a bat and fly away?
MATTHEWS: Oh, God. We have got to keep a level here.
Even if this kind of talk horrifies you, the fact that it's coming from a Democrat is actually a relief for those of us who've watched the party perfect its Village-approved Harvey Milquetoast routine the past couple of decades.
It's one of the traits that has really harmed the Democratic brand over that time, because it's led people to believe that they don't really have the courage of their convictions, that they won't stand up and fight for anything, that they don't really believe in anything.
Alan Grayson leaves no such impression. Even if other Democrats go fleeing in horror, he's doing them -- and us -- a real service.
How many politicians would walk onto a set of a TV show out of the blue and eviscerate the entire pundit panel? Alan Grayson strolled out onto the stage of CNN's The Situation Room and took on their crew including Blitzer, Carville, Johns and that whack job Alex Castellanos over his remarks about the non-existent GOP health care. He started by saying "they have no plan!" and by not having a plan, they are hurting Americans. Blitzer was so shocked that Grayson actually said something nobody in the media wants to talk about.
Grayson: They just want to stop everything.
Blitzer: Has any Democratic leader asked you to apologize to the republicans.
Grayson: No and you know why? Because I'm saying what everyone else has been thinking, but no one else has been saying.
Blitzer: And so you have no intention of apologizing?
Grayson: Of course not. Apologize? I'm not the one who should be apologizing, they should be apologize to America.
Johns: Wasn't it over the top though? I mean won't you at least admit that?
Grayson: Well, Look I'm 6, 4 so it takes a lot to get over my head.
Castellanos: I'm a republican congressman and I have a question. Which particular Americans do you think I'd like to die? Can you name some?
Listen, Do you want to make sure that people have affordable universal comprehensive health care in this country, do you?
Castellanos:: Yes
Now what have you done about it?
Castellanos: Republicans have a very different approach than the democrats do but it's very concrete. Instead of a big government gamble...
Oh, please...That's amorphous nonsense
Do you really think that Tort reform is going to take care of 47 million people not having....
Borger tries to talk, but Alex cuts her off...
Shopping across state lines..
Oh and you really think that's going to solve
Letting individuals have the same advantages of buying insurances that business have
Grayson: You know, that's just helping the people who give republicans money...Let's concentrate on helping this country, saving lives and saving money and not the usual cliches.
--
Grayson: These are foot dragging, knuckle dragging neanderthals who think they can dictate policy to America by being stubborn and I think the time is over. We had an election, that's it. Now we have to move ahead in just the way the president wants us to.
I couldn't write the entire transcript, but Gloria Borger was so worried that Alan was not being civil to the poor, weak republicans and they would object. He comes right back at her, telling Borger that we are stalled and nothing is happening and he's getting us back on track while people are dying. 44,000 a year are dying; 4000 a month. And these nattering nabobs of negativism are blocking every single thing that we try to do.
And the blogosphere is chiming in and letting the congressman know that we support him.
Johns tries to say he acted like Joe Wilson and he said that he didn't insult the president in front of 40 million people. The panel said that he insulted every republican and he said that republicans are insulting every American during this health care debate.
Alan Grayson hit back today at the Republicans who said he should apologize for his biting attack against them. He got honest about the Republican plan for health care reform: "Don't get sick. That's right, don't get sick." That has them screaming.
Well, how quickly they forget what they've been saying about Obamacare. Stuff like the phony death panels and let's kill Grandma. That kind of stuff. Here's what Grayson had to say in response to the whining.
Grayson: Last night here in this chamber I gave a speech. I’m not going to recount every single thing that I said, but I will point out that immediately after that speech, several Republicans asked me to apologize. Well, I would like to apologize. I would like to apologize to the dead. And here’s why. According to this study, “Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults” which was published two weeks ago, 44,789 Americans die every year because they have no health insurance. That’s right, 44,789 Americans die every year, according to this Harvard study called “Health Insurance and Mortality in U.S. Adults.” You can see it by going to our website, grayson.house.gov. That is more than ten times the number of Americans who have died in the war in Iraq.
It’s more than ten times the number of Americans who died in 9/11. But that was just once: this is every single year. That’s right: every single year. Take a look at this. Read it and weep. And I mean that – read it and weep because of all these Americans who are dying because they don’t have health insurance.
Now I think we should do something about that, and the Democratic health care plan does do something about that. It makes health care affordable for those who can’t afford insurance, and it saves these peoples’ lives. Let’s remember that we should care about people even after they’re born. So I call upon the Democratic members of the House, I call upon the Republican members of the House, I call upon all of us to do our jobs for the sake of America – for the sake of those dying people and their families. I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America.
By contrast, charges that the opposition's health care plan will kill people have been about as common on the House floor lately as resolutions naming post offices.
Take Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.), who said in July: "Last week, Democrats released a health care bill which essentially said to America's seniors: drop dead."
Or Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), a doctor, who reviewed the public health insurance option in July and diagnosed that it is "gonna kill people."
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), not one to pull punches, suggested on the House floor that Congress "make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government."
July was a busy time for House floor death sentences. Also that month, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), noted: "One in five people have to die because they went to socialized medicine...I would hate to think that among five women, one of 'em is gonna die because we go to socialized care."
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) had a similar assessment. "They're going to save money by rationing care, getting you in a long line. Places like Canada, United Kingdom, and Europe. People die when they're in line," he said on the House floor in July.
So far, none of the members of Congress who made such charges have apologized.
The Republicans had eight years of uninterrupted rule to overhaul our health-care system and did nothing except help the rich and start wars. And now, when the chance finally comes for them to step up and help American families, they just say no.
Alan Grayson has been a big Blue America fave ever since we first met up with him in January, 2008. He was our first endorsement that year and one of our most celebrated victories, having beaten an entrenched, useless incumbent in a traditionally Republican district in central Florida. Since being elected, Alan has been a progressive leader, primarily in financial regulations through his committee position on House Financial Services. But he also was one of 32 Democrats in the House who stood up to demands from the Obama Administration that a supplemental war budget be approved last June.
It was a ballsy move, especially for Democrats in Republican-leaning districts, like Alan, Eric Massa and Carol Shea-Porter. I doubt Alan ever wavered from his commitment to the voters in his district to not approve any more supplemental budgets. But you can ask him yourself when he joins us for a live blogging session here at C&L, 3pm PT (6pm back East). Alan will be helping us launch a new Blue America Initiative to help draw attention to the situation in Afghanistan and figure out what progressives can do to effect change.
Alan is prepared to work even harder this year to head off an escalation of war in the 8th year of occupation of the country. "We are using a 19th century strategy to fight a 14th century opponent, " he told me yesterday. "Does anyone seriously believe that the best way to defend our borders is to send a quarter of a million Americans 10,000 miles beyond them?" He also told me he thinks we can change Obama's mind and turn this thing around. "He's too smart," said the congressman, "to let someone else's war ruin his presidency."
And with Republican Tim Johnson of Illinois promising to introduce legislation to withdraw American troops, an idea that some other Republicans, like Walter Jones (R-NC) and Ron Paul (R-TX) seem to be embracing, Alan is ready to work across the aisle -- as he has been doing with his crusade to force an audit on the Federal Reserve -- and help focus more Democrats and more Republicans on what he calls "the senselessness of war without end."
If you haven't visited it yet, today is launch-day for Blue America's new ActBlue page, No Means No!. We're asking anyone who can afford to, to contribute-- even if it's just a few dollars-- to the Democrats who have already shown their willingness to draw a line in the sand and not break their pledge. Today, everyone who donates-- regardless of how much-- will have their name put in a hat and 6 random winners will get the new book by New York Senate candidate Jonathan Tasini, The Audacity of Greed. Jonathan donated the books for this event and he autographed each one.
Meanwhile, please take a look at the first segment in the BraveNewFilms movie, Rethink Afghanistan, something that every member of Congress needs to see-- at least as much as the briefings from the Pentagon and spy agencies.
