CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, September 21, 2009

Mr. Obama: "You prevaricate!"

One of Mr. Obama’s many false assertions during last week’s joint session of Congress set off Congressman Joe Wilson’s El Toro Poo-Poo Detector, causing him to shout from his seat: “You lie.” That, of course, was a breach of decorum. House rules dictate that when one speaks in the House that one rises to one’s feet. Oddly enough, House rules say it is okay to say, “You are nuts!” But one is not supposed to say, “You lie!”

Some readers may recall the several times during the 2005 State of the Union Address when President George W. Bush was booed and jeered by some of the Democrats. But, as our sainted Mothers taught us: The bad behavior of others is no excuse for us to behave badly as well. So what could have provoked Congressman Joe Wilson to behave toward the current President in the same manner as congressional Democrats behaved toward former President George W. Bush?

When Mr. Obama said that ObamaCare (currently, H.R. 3200) would not provide government health care to illegal immigrants Congressman Wilson’s El Toro Poo-Poo Detector’s ring tone began to play Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart.” Still, shame on you Congressman Wilson. If cell phones should be turned off during speeches, it follows that electronic devices that can detect male bovine excreta should not be allowed anywhere near Capitol Hill.

Both Wilson and Obama are lawyers. Anyone who has passed a bar exam should be able to spot the legal loopholes in H.R. 3200 that are large enough to clear Rosanne Barr. For example, H.R. 3200 does not contain any language that requires verification that a person is in the United States legally before that person could receive taxpayer-funded ObamaCare.

When House Republicans tried to close that loophole, they were voted down by House Democrats who, no doubt, are hoping that ACORN can get millions of illegal immigrants to the polls to vote for Democrats in 2010 and 2012. (That is, if ACORN isn’t too busy providing advice to pimps on how to bring teenage, Salvadoran prostitutes into the USA.)

Tacitly admitting that Congressman Wilson was correct, the White House now says it will work with Congress to close the citizenship loophole. That prompted Mr. Obama to argue that the closure is all the more reason to legalize illegal immigrants so they can have government health care

But, as it is written right now, H.R. 3200 provides for: the rationing of health care for seniors, for government death panels to encourage seniors to check out early, it allows illegal immigrants to slip into the system, it provides for free abortion services, it places your health records and your health-care into the hands of non-medical, federal bureaucrats who will ration hospital admissions, payments to physicians and the allocation of medical devices and procedures. Stung by adverse public reaction, the Senate will offer a watered-down version. But it will still be socialized medicine.

Of the Senate plan, The Wall Street Journal says it “…would increase the cost of insurance and then force people to buy it, requiring subsidies. Those subsidies would be paid for by taxes that make health care and thus insurance even more expensive, requiring even more subsidies and still higher taxes. It’s a recipe to ruin health care and bankrupt the county.”

Mr. Obama said he plans to provide government health care to 30 million uninsured people without increasing the federal deficit or raising taxes and without destroying Medicare and Medicaid. Those were the biggest whoppers of the night. That’s when a kinder, gentler Congressman Joe Wilson should have jumped to his feet and cried, “You prevaricate!”

William Hamilton, a syndicated columnist and a featured commentator for USA Today, studied at Harvard’s JFK School of Government. Dr. Hamilton is a former assistant professor of political science and history at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

©2009. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com