"You Lie!"

Last night, President Barack Obama gave an excellent speech. He was clear; he was passionate. I did not expect him to draw a line in the sand regarding the public insurance option. That would only have given his opponents a clear target. The decision about the public option will be made at the very end of this process when the House and Senate bills are reconciled. There were no real surprises in the president's speech. What stood out was the reaction to what he said:

"You lie!"

Rep. Joe Wilson's (R-S.C.) unprecedented outburst underlined the extraordinary hostility that Obama faced last night.

Last night, Wilson was responding to the president's assurance that illegal immigrants will not be insured. The truth is that no one--including the president--has suggested covering immigrants who are here illegally.

There was absolutely no basis for Wilson's claim. But that did not deter him. His goal was to confuse and to create uncertainty and fear. As the president noted in his speech, this has been the conservative strategy throughout the health-care debate.

Virtually everyone denounced Wilson--and yet he was not the only person in the room who showed a complete lack of respect for the president. Stone-faced Republicans expressed open contempt by scanning their BlackBerrys or holding up copies of GOP bills during the speech.

And following the speech, the Associated Press took it upon itself to publish a "Fact-Check" of the president's speech. Once again, we are told that the president lies. AP insisted that health-care reform will add to the deficit--even though the truth is that neither the Congressional Budget Office nor anyone else can measure how much health care reform will cost--and how much it will save over the next ten years. Inevitably, these 10-year projections are, at best, "informed wild guesses."

AP then quoted the president saying, "Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have," and again, suggested that the president was distorting the truth: "That's correct, as far as it goes. But neither can the plan guarantee that people can keep their current coverage. Employers sponsor coverage for most families, and they'd be free to change their health plans in ways that workers may not like, or drop insurance altogether."

Of course employers will be free to drop or modify benefits--as they are now.

Why are so many people so quick to insist that our president is not telling the truth? For eight years, President George W. Bush misled us--about weapons of mass destruction, about the war, about the economy--yet in all of those years I don't think he was "called out" as often as this president has been in the last few months.

Each day, it becomes clearer. Those who oppose health-care reform have but one goal: to destroy this administration.

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First off Ms.Mahar, there is nothing in the bill that says illegals get free healthcare, but there is nothing in the bill that will force the govt to distinguish an illegal from a US citizen. I mean, look at the upcoming census! California is expecting to get several more seats in the house from the high number of illegals that live in that state. And the Census Bureau has no authority to demand verification from them to make sure they are a citizen. Trust me, my mother works in the census bureau and can talk all day about how politicians, specially the Democrats, are manipulating this system to their favor. You don't know your a## from a hole in the wall because you have your head so far up Obama's. You are purposely pointing fingers at all that oppose, even ones with legitimate reasons, because you are an idealogue that is unwilling to confront your own party. I am very conservative, but I disagree with all those who just say no to say no and those that are so far right that they are out to lunch. But most of them are no more of a loon then Harry, Nancy and Barbara.

Posted by: Oz1303 | September 10, 2009 4:23 PM
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Maggie Mahar

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"You Lie!"

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