Now the Republicans wish to cry me a river! They want to tell me how hurt they are by Alan Grayson’s comments! As if I can forget all of the catcalls, town hall disruptions and outlandish lies and calumnies which they had initiated. They want to compare what Grayson did to the mindless attack perpetrated by Joe Wilson on President Obama. Yet nothing could be more different.
What Joe Wilson did was against every protocol on the books – against the President, against Congress, against decorum itself. There was no debate scheduled. No one was granted time on the floor. The only speaker for the entire night was to be Obama. Those were the rules and by Joe Wilson they were broken.
Alan Grayson on the other hand, did what he did within the context of debate. He also observed the most important cardinal rule of presenting an argument – at some point near the beginning or the end, you must grab the people emotionally. Take all the facts, figures and analyses you’ve acquired and cram them into one unforgettable metaphor.
Alan Grayson is a self made man who had every disadvantage in growing up:
Grayson describes himself as having been a sick child who grew up “in the tenements” in the Bronx. He attended Harvard Law School, and was the first president of IDT Corp., a telecommunications company, before returning to the practice of law. Recently he has specialized in whistleblower cases targeting companies that allegedly profited from the war in Iraq. He worked from a home office in pink Orlando mansion, driving an aging Cadillac with anti-administration bumper stickers such as ‘Bush Lied, People Died.’
He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science. He graduated from Harvard College (Phi Beta Kappa), Harvard Law School with honors. John F. Kennedy School of Government, and got a Ph D in Government.
He founded the Alliance for Aging Research, is still on it’s board of directors.
Grayson clerked for such judges as Abner Mikva, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and even Antonin Scalia, and Robert Bork.
But this was a guy who never forgot his roots and when necessary, forsook the heights of power for what he knew was right.
In recent years, Grayson specialized in war profiteer and whistleblower cases aimed at Iraq war contractors that had overbilled the U.S. government by tens of millions of dollars. One such contractor, Custer Battles, billed the government $15 milion for inspecting non-existent civilian flights at Baghdad Airport, and $10 million on a time and materials contract that had cost just 3.5 million, and received payment in newly printed cash direct from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.[6] While pursuing the whistleblower cases, Grayson worked from a home office in the Orlando house where he lived with his wife and five children. In 2006, a Wall Street Journal reporter noted that Grayson was a vehement critic of the war in Iraq and that his car was "emblazoned" with bumper stickers such as 'Bush lied, people died'.[7]
That same bravado is apparently the same spirit with which attacks his work in Congress. As a member of the House Financial Services Committee he spoke up for the public ire at the confidential loans to finance companies at the bailout. In an exchange that can be found on Youtube, he criticized the notion that no bank would take the bailout if it were public knowledge that they were receiving them. He questioned the Fed for allowing these secret loans without consulting Congress.
The posting on Youtube, as well as the one with Elizabeth Coleman made a lot of publicity for Grayson.
So it is no wonder that a guy like Grayson with the bravado of a Mr. Smith going to Washington, would disregard his own freshman status and give the Republicans the dressing down that was so deserved.
Not only did say this but his only two apologies were to the dead for our not working on health care reform earlier, and to the Jewish Anti-Defamation League for the generic use of the term Holocaust. And in an interview, he called the Republicans “foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who think they can dictate policy to America by being stubborn.”
And how ‘bout the man that Grayson is most compared to?
Addison Graves Wilson, Sr. More commonly known as “Joe”.
Well, his legislative history is nondescript. He sponsored some fair to middling bills, but as far as breaches of decorum are concerned, he takes the cake.
In 2005 he accused Henry Waxman of waging “guerrilla warfare on American troops,” for heading an independent commission to investigate alleged abuses of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Another instance of shooting from the hip, is his statement of inaccurate information regarding the U.S.’s provision of WMDs to Iraq prior to the Gulf War. He called it “made up,” and rashly attributed adherence to that fact to “hatred of America.”
When Essie Mae Washington-Williams revealed that the late Senator from South Carolina Strom Thurmond was her father, Wilson after doubting her assertion, stated that this assertion was true, Washington-Williams should not have revealed it, because according to Wilson, it was a “smear” on Thurmond’s reputation. Even after apologizing when her assertion was proved to be true, he still said she should not have made it.
And then he said to the President of the United States – “You lie!”
This whole summer we’ve had nothing from the other side but lies.
We’ve had slander, and unfounded claims and accusations.
We’ve listened to the ramblings of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann as casually make up “facts” out of whole cloth, blowing up supposition into fact, taking quotes from Ezekiel Emanuel out of context. Betsy McCaughey's article in the New York Post has clear examples of cherry picking. Here’s one:
He explicitly defends discrimination against older patients: "Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years" (Lancet, Jan. 31)
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But what does the original article say?
The complete lives system discriminates against older people. Age-based allocation is ageism. Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years.16 Treating 65-year- olds differently because of stereotypes or falsehoods would be ageist; treating them differently because they have already had more life-years is not.
Of course, Chuck Grassley echoed McCaughey’s sentiment when he said that they want to “pull the plug on Grandma.”
And what do they mean by dissing the President for being chosen to receive a Nobel Peace Prize?
Michael Steele has the nerve to castigate President Obama saying it was unfortunate that he “outshined tireless advocates who made real achievements towards peace and human rights.”
Oh really? That’s rich coming the GOP! The party of “tireless advocates who made real achievements towards peace and human rights!.” Tirelessly seeing to it that every patient pays every premium no matter how high it gets raised! And of course, let’s not forget to safeguard the poor insurance industry from rapacious “entitled” policy yankers, by inserting that “pre-existing condition” clause! I’m sure that took care of millions of so-called “sick” people, grandmas, and the mentally handicapped!
Then he says this:
One thing is certain President Obama won't be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action.
And against all this Grayson’s remarks and presentation are vilified by the lunatic right fringe as it cries crocodile tears and beats it's chest! Booo Hooo! - Violins please!