Rules for Standing Your Ground

Here's a fantastic post by Dr. Helen RE: Rep. Joe Wilson's "You Lie!" speech. It's short and sharp and I can't resist quoting from it, er, liberally: Thank You Joe Wilson

When I woke up this morning and read the Drudge headline linking to a story that Republican Congressman Joe Wilson called Obama a liar, my only thought was "it's about time." It's about time that Republicans play by the only rule book that works--that of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals that asks the question, "Does this particular end justify this particular means?" The answer in the case of Joe Wilson's truthful
expose of Obama is "yes."

Republicans cannot get heard, the public is being lied to or ambushed about Obama's health care plan and the only thing that matters is that it not pass. Period. End of discussion. The MSM does not cover Republicans except in a negative light, Republicans are not even included in health care talks at the White House and they have nothing to lose as they are already in the minority. Shouting out during the President's speech forces the issue. It forces the MSM to cover it, just as bloggers and talk radio exposing Van Jones and his subsequent resignation forced the MSM to cover that story. Of course, the MSM will cover the Wilson story in a negative light, but in the back of many citizen's minds, they will wonder, "is Obama lying, is there some truth to what Wilson said?" At least someone is bringing this possibility to
light.

Those of us who do not toe the liberal line must stand up--just like Mr. Wilson. We are all radicals now.

One thing I have to say about Wilson: the GOP is damn lucky he is an intelligent man of integrity and not (1) a loudmouthed a**hole; (2) a smug social con; (3) a dull reciter of talking points; (4) a sybarite. If he was any of these things, we would be looking a lot worse right now because his peccadillos would be splashed across the mainstream media. If he has a secret Bolivian girlfriend, I hope he is not planning any "hikes along the Appalachian Trail," if you know what I mean.

For all of the talk about our "national debate" about Health Care Reform, we are still not talking about substantive matters. The media, with the exception of talk radio, is mostly filled with stories about polls and process: "52% approval," "reconciliation," "Olympia Snowe," etc. This is what reformers want us to talk about because it confuses and bores the public, and obscures the laws actually being drafted even as we read yet another story about the prospects for "public option triggers."

The only way to cut through all of this is to do whatever it takes, rhetorically, to get our point across: Sarah Palin's "death panels" may have offended the offendable, but she got results. Similarly, Wilson's brief outburst has apparently called enough attention to the issue of illegal aliens obtaining "free" health care that parts of at least one bill are being re-drafted. But, this is still an uphill battle. These are 1000 page long bills. We don't have time to go through each page to highlight its pitfalls. Joe Wilson will not have another opportunity to yell at the president on national TV. But, the more time spent on what Charles Grassley (a nice man, but not suited to this sort of fight) thinks is more time lost.