I watched President Obama's address to the joint session of congress last night on health care reform. Today all the talking heads and bloggers are taking apart his speech line by line. I read a few before tackling this blog. Yahoo News has one: What he said, what he meant. As if they know what he meant.
I am not going to discuss the pros and cons of his speech here. Nor am I again going to address the various health care plans. Been there and done that.
I have also attended more than one joint session of congress. As a spectator in the gallery when I lived in Washington, DC and worked for a US Senator. And quite frankly I was abhorred when Rep. Wilson (Republican of South Carolina) yelled out, "You Lie" in the middle of the President's speech. Bad manners. Democrats sat through eight years of GW Bush without once doing that. Admittedly his speaking style was so boring the opposition may have fallen asleep but nobody snored let alone heckled. For Shame!
I had fully intended to watch the Republican response but that little episode and the scowling faces of a handful of Republicans put quit to my interest to be bipartisan. Ram it through, Obama, I don't give a damn if they like it.
And would everyone please just grow up. Sarah Palin, GW Bush, and Cheney lowered the level in politics and nobody among the Republicans has been able to rise above it since. But please can't we at least have good manners?
Don't forget when Democrats
ReplyDeletebooed Bush during his 2005 state of the union speech.
I admit I missed that. I found his speeches so boring and pedantic I stopped watching after his first term and spent my time denying I was from the United States.
ReplyDeleteIt was going on as I got home. You know that I'm foreign but I just dropped everything and listened. This man has power. The power of speech, the power of delivery and the power to ram it through.
ReplyDeleteI later saw Wilson being interviewed and when he was asked why he had done it, he made some inane retort about 'heckling' being the norm. crap! Rude, damn rude.
I do not call "You lie" heckling. Booing is heckling - something that's the norm in the British parliament at Prime Minister's Question Time and Budget Speeches etc.. but no one ever heckled the Queen when she has given the Opening of Parliament speech.
this was ignorant and rude, damn rude. Must have taken lessons from some of his predecessors - and word is that he is the voice of the party now.
Fortunately it seems to be working against the Republicans. That and their waving their versions of bills while scowling in their seats does not seem to have won hearts or impressed the opposition.
ReplyDeleteChildish. Darn childish. The Republicans have fallen from the days of Abe Lincoln and even Ronald Reagan. Sad, very sad.
Well I like your President!
ReplyDeleteIf you really want to hear big boys being rude to each other tune into our Prime Ministers Question Time - Bee is so right.