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Reprinted from Buzzflash
A Democratic who doesn't back off telling it like it is and sticking to his guns when the GOP bullies try to get him to back off?
Is it possible?
After nearly 10 years of publishing BuzzFlash, we can say that our readers and our staff are in chronic despair about the Democratic wimp factor, when the Republicans intimidate them -- again and again and again--into backing off of principled positions with rapid fire lies and a right wing media echo chamber.
Even the White House regularly backs down when confronted with the strategic, dishonest accusations of the Rethugs. They disposed of the green expert, Van Jones who is a tremendous resource for creating environmentally friendly jobs, after Glenn Beck attacked him. And others have been let go by the Obama Administration when the Right Wing lie machine cranks up.
Forget the minutia of the healthcare issue for a moment, what so many of us thought we were getting with Obama was someone who had the oratorical and personal leadership skills to reframe issues and leave the GOP fictional and hateful alternative universe in the dust.
But candidate Obama hasseemed unable to transition a brilliant campaign full of passion and hope into a juggernaut that cuts down the corporate PR, lobbyist, and corporate media emotional manipulation of America's vulnerable working and middle class whites.
That brings us to one obscure Democratic Florida Congressman, Alan Grayson who showed what progressives have long advocated; it's not the size of the dog in the fight: it's the size of the fight in the dog.
ThinkProgress.org offers this account of Grayson's dust-up with the Rethugs on healthcare reform:
Yesterday, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) said the Republican health care plan is "don't get sick," and if you do get sick, "die quickly." After offering those facetious and sadly accurate remarks, Grayson came under criticism from Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), who demanded that Grayson apologize on the House floor. Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Grayson said, "Yes, it was tongue-in-cheek. I'm surprised I have to explain that, but that's the way it goes these days." He added that he's "not taking any of it back" and will "stand by what I said." When asked if he would apologize, Grayson offered this response:
"I would like to apologize," he said. "I would like to apologize to the dead."
Citing a statistic that 44,789 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance, Grayson said, "That is more than ten times the number of Americans who died in the war in Iraq, it's more than ten times the number of Americans who died on 9/11. "It happens every year."
Grayson added in another apparent dig at the GOP, "We should care about people even after they are born."
Grayson apologized one last time.
"I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven't voted sooner," he said.
"I don't think the Democrats need to be on defense," Grayson told reporters. "I think we should be on the offense and not the defense, and that's where I plan to stay"
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