Democratic Florida congressman (and native New Yorker!) Alan Grayson stood before the C-SPAN cameras last night to sum up his view of the Republican health-care plan: “Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.” That seemingly tongue-in-cheek remark wasn’t exactly appreciated by Republican leaders, who have called on Grayson to apologize and for Nancy Pelosi to hold a vote of reprimand. Consequently, parallels are already being drawn to the Joe Wilson incident. But if we can wildly speculate for a moment, maybe Wilson’s experience is what Grayson was hoping to emulate. If “You lie!” taught us anything, it’s that in this exceptionally partisan moment, even the most outrageous actions can turn into fund-raising bonanzas and transform a relatively unknown congressman into a hero to the party’s base. Tempered rhetoric and moderate stances just don’t rake in the big bucks these days.
