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US lawmaker to Obama: 'You lie!'
2009-09-10
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama's high-stakes health care speech seemed to fuel rather than douse an overheated political debate, with one lawmaker even angrily shouting: "You lie!" Republican Representative Joe Wilson's yelled accusation, rare in the formal setting of a presidential speech to a joint session of the US Congress, pointed to no let-up after weeks and months of take-no-prisoners partisan fighting. The South Carolina lawmaker later apologized by telephone to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and in a written statement declaring "I let my emotions get the best of me." "While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility," he said. Wilson's outburst was not the only open show of Republican opposition to Obama's ambitious push to remake US health care, as colleagues openly scoffed and rolled their eyes as the president defended his embattled campaign. The shouted accusation came after a month-long August stretch that saw some of the loudest critics of the Democratic plan call Obama a Nazi bent on seeing government kommissars put elderly Americans to death. When Obama, seeking to put an end to that rumor, denied that providing coverage for end-of-life care meant "panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens," a handful of Republicans called out "read the bill!" Republicans made their disapproval clear at other points, responding with quiet but unmistakably scornful laughter when Obama said his plan would not require people happy with their health insurance to change their plan. Some repeatedly called out "what plan?" -- one waved a hand-scrawled sign that read "what bill" -- when the president said he was describing his blueprint. Obama has laid out principles, but let the Congress struggle with crafting legislation. Obama himself was not shy about lobbing verbal grenades at his foes, saying his health care push would cost less that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and giant tax cuts -- all enacted with sweeping Republican support. At times, the assembled senators and representatives gave life to Obama's assertion that "there is agreement in this chamber on about 80 percent of what needs to be done" -- uniting in more than a dozen standing ovations. There were lighter moments as well: When Obama announced he was embracing a health care proposal pushed by his defeated Republican White House rival, Senator John McCain, the Arizona lawmaker grinned and flashed a thumbs-up. And when Obama disapprovingly cited "those on the left" who want a Canadian-style, single-payer, universal health care approach, he won loud applause from independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, arguably the Senate's most left-leaning member.
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