That'll Show 'Em
by digby
Well, this worked out so well that the Republicans are going to start screaming "Hitler, Hitler Hitler" at him every time he appears before a joint session. He'll be railing against capital gains taxes and singing about snowflake babies before you know it:
The White House strengthened its stand against health care coverage for illegal immigrants Friday, and a pivotal Senate committee looked ready to follow its lead.
The developments reflected a renewed focus on the issue in the days since a Republican congressman's outburst during President Barack Obama's health care speech to Congress on Wednesday night. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted "You lie!" as Obama said illegal immigrants wouldn't be covered under his health plan.
Democrats had pointed to provisions in House and Senate legislation that prohibited illegal immigrants from getting federal subsidies that would be offered to lower-income Americans to help them buy insurance.
That didn't go far enough for Wilson or many other Republicans, who noted the absence of any enforcement mechanism or requirement for verification of legal status. There are some 7 million illegal immigrants in this country who lack health insurance, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
The issue has caused heat on talk radio and at congressional town halls, too. So on Friday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sketched a new position that goes even further than some conservative critics had demanded: Obama will oppose letting illegal immigrants buy insurance through new purchasing exchanges the government will set up -- even from private companies operating within the exchanges
I knew that Baucus and Conrad had gone scurrying to appease the xenophobes, probably just by reflex, but I honestly can't figure out why the White House felt it was necessary to appease this lunatic faction. Apparently there isn't any rightwing lunatic faction so crazy that they won't try to appease it.
I don't get it. Wilson was strongly condemned by sane people everywhere. The only people who backed him were people who are never going to vote for health care reform even if we agree to shoot anyone who looks like a Mexican before they ever cross the threshhold of a hospital (although they'd certainly volunteer to do the shooting.) Whose vote does the administration think they will get with this, anyone know?
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