For Alan Grayson, a liberal rebel, 'die quickly' was tame
Rep. Alan Grayson said the Republican healthcare plan was for sick people to 'die quickly.' He is bringing a new style of raw confrontation to Congress.
Congressman Alan Grayson's unique interpretation of the Republican's health care plan.
YOUTUBE screenshot
America, meet Alan Grayson.
To the vast majority of Americans, Rep. Alan Grayson (D) of Florida is the representative who told members of Congress late Tuesday night that the Republicans鈥� health care plan was for sick Americans to die quickly.
Accompanied by a billboard adorned with the same message, he said this precisely: 鈥淚f you get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly.鈥�
What is perhaps most surprising is that it took him this long to get America鈥檚 attention.
Bringing the blogosphere to Capitol Hill
The describes the freshman congressman 鈥� who is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the House 鈥� as 鈥渢he first member to bring the blogosphere's in-your-face style to Capitol Hill.鈥�
When his hometown paper, the Orlando Sentinel, suggested that 鈥渟ome say鈥� his style 鈥渕ay quickly rub his new colleagues the wrong way.鈥� He responded in : 鈥淲ell, 'some say' that the Sentinel is a trashy tabloid that dresses up bias and gossip as news.鈥�
Introducing Vice President Joe Biden , he suggested that former Vice President Dick Cheney gave Mr. Biden a tour of the White House "dungeon" and "its torture rack." He joked that Mr. Cheney invited Biden to 鈥済o waterboarding鈥� with him.
Grayson enemy No. 1: the Fed
Elected as an anticorruption crusader targeting contractors in Iraq, he has turned his focus to the Federal Reserve and those he holds responsible for the financial meltdown.
His performances at hearings are tailored for the YouTube generation, and he has his own section on the online video site.
In one typical exchange, he asked the CEO of AIG the names of the 鈥�20 to 25 people鈥� involved in the credit-default swaps that played a part in AIG鈥檚 collapse.
Edward Liddy: 鈥 do not know those names. I don't have them all at my command.
Grayson: Well, how can you propose to solve the problems of the company that you're now running if you don't know the names of the people who caused that problem?...
Liddy: I'm just not going to do that, sir, because that will provide鈥攖hat'll be the鈥攖hat could be a list of people that we could do鈥攊ndividuals who want to do damage to them could do that. It's just not鈥�
Grayson: Well, listen, these same people could now be working right now today at Citibank. Is it more important to protect them, the ones who caused the $100 billion loss, or protect us? Which is more important to you right now?
Strange bedfellows
In what could be this Congress鈥檚 most extreme case of strange bedfellows, Grayson has teamed up with libertarian Republican Ron Paul to back a bill calling for an audit of the Federal Reserve. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts has backed the bill.
In an interview with , he called the Federal Reserve鈥檚 activity 鈥渢he story of the millennium. There are very few stories you can ever write about where the numbers involved have 13 digits in them.鈥�
Some call him a conspiracy theorist. Many liberals call him .
But one thing seems clear. He could well be the congressman least likely to apologize for his words.
Strike that.
He did apologize Wednesday, though it was not the apology Republicans might have been hoping for.
Citing a Harvard study that estimates 44,000 Americans die every year because they don鈥檛 have health insurance, he said: "I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven't voted sooner to end this holocaust in America."
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