Anthony Weiner
Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing New York's 9th congressional district since 1999.
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WEINER: Look, the point is very simple, there are inequities in the present way we distribute insurance. There are winners and there are losers. The winners are the insurance industry. [...] There is not bipartisanship on this particular issue. The people who sit on this side, at the risk of offending anyone, generally support the idea of standing up for the American people in their battle against big insurance. And the people generally speaking who sit on this side of the chamber and specifically speaking as well in a lot of cases, simply won’t permit that to happen and haven’t for a generation. Well, that is going to end now. [...] Enough of the phonyness. We are gonna solve this problem because for years our Republican friends have been unable to and unwilling to. Deal with it!" (applause)
There are basically three formations of the argument by the Republicans: First, they start by making stuff up. You kind of have to wonder if any of them actually read the bill: 137 new agencies — not true; new IRS agents - not true; 'death panels' - not true; Members aren't covered — not true; no tort reform in it — not true. You know, I want to just advise people watching at home playing that now popular drinking game of you take a shot whenever the Republicans say something that's not true, please assign a designated driver. This is going to be a long afternoon.
Here's a viewer's guide to BP media briefings. Whenever you hear someone with a British accent talking about this on behalf of British Petroleum they are not telling you the truth. That's the bottom-line.
WEINER: You really don't want to go there, Mr. Lungren. [...]
LUNGREN: Mr. Speaker, I ask that the gentleman's words be taken down once more.
(Weiner asks unanimous consent to withdrawing his initial remarks and substitute new ones).
The gentleman will sit! The gentleman is correct in sitting!
WEINER: Y'know, You gotta love these Republicans. I mean, you guys have chutzpah. The Republican Party is the wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry. They say this isn’t going to do enough, but when we propose an alternative to provide competition, they’re against it. They say we want to strengthen state insurance commissioners and they'll do the job. But when we did that in our national health care bill, they said we're against it. They said we want to have competition but when we proposed requiring competition they're against it. They’re a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry. That’s the fact!
WEINER: Make no mistake about it. Every single Republican I have ever met in my entire life is wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry. That is why —
Dan LUNGREN: Mr. Speaker, I ask that the gentleman's words be taken down.
You've gotta stop making stuff up.
I would have beaten Bloomberg like a rented mule.
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