Was President Obama distorting the truth in his speech? Yes, over and over — so badly that even the AP did some real live journalism and highlighted what Obama had to have known was false. It was one partial truth after another. Yes, the bill doesn’t have the words “death panels” but the concept is there. Same thing for the abortion, illegal alien and other hot topics.
President Barack Obama used only-in-Washington accounting Wednesday when he promised to overhaul the nation’s health care system without adding “one dime” to the deficit. By conventional arithmetic, Democratic plans would drive up the deficit by billions of dollars.
The president’s speech to Congress contained a variety of oversimplifications and omissions in laying out what he wants to do about health insurance.
OBAMA: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits either now or in the future. Period.”
THE FACTS: …The long-term prognosis for costs of the health care legislation has not been good.
OBAMA: “Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.”
THE FACTS: …The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the health care bill written by House Democrats and said that by 2016 some 3 million people who now have employer-based care would lose it…
OBAMA: “Don’t pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut. … That will never happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare.”
THE FACTS: Obama and congressional Democrats want to pay for their health care plans in part by reducing Medicare payments to providers by more than $500 billion over 10 years…
So I can see why Wilson would have been frustrated and wanted to yell out, “You lie.” But I was glad to see that he apologized. There is a time and a place for such things and that is not a good precedent to set. A little self control is in order.
Oh, and here’s a friendly reminder of an example of what Democrats did to President Bush. Maybe they apologized afterwards for the catcalls about his indisputably true statements.
Filed under: Politics | Tagged: health care, joe wilson, obama, Politics, representative wilson
So you are saying I shouldn’t have fist pumped when Wilson yelled out?
Oh, I’m not saying it was unnatural to release a few endorphins . . .
Think if we got rid of Pelosi we could get somewhere?
I support the outburst.
Obama was blatantly lying. Someone called him on it.
If he didn’t lie he wouldn’t have these problems.
Wilson would have had plenty of time to “call him on it” later. $250,000 from the health care industry probably convinced him to speak out of turn. Good work if you can get it, I suppose.
What about speaking truth to power?
If what Obama said was a lie, then what the man did was correct.
Do you dispute that Obama is a liar?
Yeah, I understand that, and I made that clear in a post below this. The correct thing to do would be to honour protocol, and speak when he is allowed to speak. The protocol exists for a purpose, and if we allow anyone to violate that protocol any time he or she is “correct”, we will simply be arguing about who is correct, and who is not. You know very well he spoke out of turn.
It doesn’t bother you a bit that Wilson’s outburst happened to be about an issue that stands to hurt the companies that provided funding for his campaign? These are the things you guys bring up when somebody stand up for homosexuals or environmentalism. It’s all about money.
I’m not going to bother disputing that Obama lied. It’s hard to lie about the future though. Time will tell if he keeps his promises.
I could take any speech from any president and call it a lie. That’s not difficult.
It doesn’t bother me a bit.
Especially since Obama had JUST FINISHED accusing others of lying.
If the criteria for a politician being permitted to speak is that they can’t have taken campaign donations for interests, then Obama himself should not have been permitted to speak. Clearly that standard isn’t the standard we should be using.
If the POTUS is going to lie to the American people before a joint session of congress on national television, he deserves to be called out.
Well then, did Bush deserve to be called out for knowingly lying over and over about Iraq? I think being elected president gives you the right to get through a speech before being called a liar.
As for campaign donations, I see your point. Myself, I think they should be illegal.
When your response to arguments about Obama lying are “BUSH DID SOMETHING 6 YEARS AGO!” it’s really hard to take your argument seriously.
Obama is his own man. He is President, not Bush.
Obama lied.
The solution to Obama lying is for him to stop lying. The issue is Obama lying, not Rep. Wilson pointing out that Obama lied. To put it another way, the issue is that the Emperor is Naked, not that someone finally pointed it out.
Just trying to see if you’re consistent, as you do with me ALL THE TIME. If Obama is lying, and you’re over the age of 10, the solution is not to yell “You Lie!” while he is speaking.
I don’t think he is lying. The worst you could accuse him of doing is being overly optimistic.
He is definitely not telling the truth, and he knows it is not the truth. It is word twisting to deceive at best.
Does the bill specifically say it doesn’t cover illegals or abortions? No, but he knows it will be used to do both.
Call it what you like, but one word you can’t use is “honest.”
Well, current plans cover illegals and abortions using the same arguments. Is it really fair to put that on his shoulders, when every health care reform that has ever been passed could be accused of the same thing?
LOL
I love how the left always points out campaign contributions as if their side is somehow above them.
I was reading another column on this story by a man from Great Britain who said the prime minister has to answer open questions from the their “congress” EVERY WEDNESDAY!!! Why should it be so different for any President of the USA?
And why was it okay for Obama to take a jab at Sarah Palin; calling her a liar, ridiculous and cynical in regards to the “death panel”, but Joe Wilson was totally out of line? Looks and sounds like hypocrisy to me.
You are definitely right about the hypocrisy part. For him to lie repeatedly and call the critics liars was hypocritical in the extreme.
And the digs at Palin amuse me. She isn’t even an elected official now but she is never far from their minds. If she is so far off then why the obsession?
Is there no open discussion in the sessions held by congress? In Canada, like Great Britain (not surprisingly, since our gov is based on theirs), the Prime Minister, and all others are open to “question period” pretty much any time new legislation is proposed, in addition to schedules open question segments.. Votes don’t happen until after this public discussion is completed. I think a lot could be ironed out if the elected representatives could yell at each other for a few days, and do some the “representing” they are paid for. It’s a lot harder for either side to “lie” when anything they say can be challenged on the spot.
Maybe they just need to hug it out.
I agree with Neil about Wilson’s outburst – it was rude, and sets a precedent, although, one could argue that the Democrats already set it by shouting the same thing at Bush. That said, if there was no other way he could get his point across, I can understand his frustration, whether I agree with him or not.
Incidentally, in our provincial legislature, the word “liar” is strictly forbidden. You can point out why a person is wrong, but calling someone a liar is assumed to be a personal attack. That’s not to say that the discussion is always civil – but it usually is.
I think this has everything to do with the break in parlimentary procedure. There are times when you have to speak in order. Rebublicans were going to have their chance at rebuttal and he jumped the gun.
While it may have been a ‘hell worthy’ pass during the second continental congress now its almost laughable. Was it disrespectful? Yes, but punishment? What are we in 6th grade?
You lie!
Rep. Wilson should have known better. I think by now we are all aware of the fact that it is no longer “patriotic” to question the president.
[/sarcasm]
There is absolutely a time and a place to criticize the president. Wilson let his emotions get the better of him and spoke out of turn and out of line. Much like in civil court, the other person may be lying, but you’ve got to wait your turn and keep protocol and decorum.
But, bad timing aside: You tell ‘im, Joe!!!
I watched the President speak and was talking back to him long before Rep. Wilson did. But I was in the privacy of my home, not the halls of Congress. Rep Wilson was out of line. I’m not sure this was bad precedent, the precedent had been set before (against Bush and probably before that).
I think it’s sad that the President is treated this way. It’s a statement on the distrust that exists everywhere in our government. If the President really wanted change, he would find a way to do some real across-the-aisle talks. Instead, he encourages this kind of activity.
Sad for us all.
Based on some of the long term promises the President made; I have to wonder just how long he things he will be president.
This was not a Q & A session. It was the President of the United States addressing a joint session of Congress. The time to voice one’s disagreement with the President is AFTER he finishes speaking, not DURING. I too am glad he apologized.
The guy filling in for Michael Medved yesterday made a great point. For an hour Obama was calling opponents of his plan “liars”. Then took offense to Rep. Wilson doing the same to him.
Obama is a liar.
Obama is a hypocrite.
Obama needs to go.
It is completely fair. He has explicitly denied that it covers either, while it obviously does.
Also remember that he specifically called critics liars.
Is there somewhere in the bill that says this? Honestly, I’m not disputing it – I said earlier that any health care plan will end up funding abortions as long as they are legal, but I have not heard Obama say that abortions will suddenly not be funded, or that the government will fund them.
As for calling critics liars, I don’t think those accusations belong in such a forum. Remember, I am not an Obama fanboy