Time:
The controversy over Republican Representative Joe Wilson’s shouting “You lie!” at the President over his claim that illegal immigrants wouldn’t benefit from health-care reform apparently sparked some reconsideration of the relevant language. “We really thought we’d resolved this question of people who are here illegally, but as we reflected on the President’s speech last night, we wanted to go back and drill down again,” said Senator Kent Conrad, one of the Democrats in the talks after a meeting Thursday morning. Later that afternoon, Baucus said the group would add a proof-of-citizenship requirement for participation in the new health exchange — a move likely to inflame the left.
Wilson wins, Ben. Oddly, in much the same way that another particular dispute was won by THAT WOMAN.
See also Hot Air, Ace of Spades, Sister Toldjah, and – for that special extra flavor of whiny Lefty exasperation, TPMDC:
But though Wilson’s allegation was false, and the political impact has been largely negative, Democratic leaders on the Senate Finance Committee seem to think it’s worth fixing the non-existent problem Wilson was complaining about.
Seldom does one see a sentence quite so at war with itself as this one is.
Moe Lane
PS: Yeah, kids: I saw the Democratic flash poll, and I saw that the current state of the potlatch is at, what, $750K at this point? Alas, I also saw Wood & Sabato’s current estimate of the GOP’s likely gains next year (20 to 30, and Wilson’s not on their competitive races list). This just isn’t a cycle to topple a R+9 incumbent. Particularly since none of the people currently at white-hot levels of hatred are going to remember his opponent’s name in two weeks.
Or possibly even one.
PPS: I tell a lie. AMERICAblog is even whinier than TPMDC.
Crossposted to RedState.
The White House has basically admitted that Wilson had a point. So of course their response is dumb: ban illegals from the Exchange (and thus the Public Option), rather than banning subsidies to illegals.