One of the interesting things about the response to Rep. Joe Wilson’s blurting out “You lie!” to Barack Obama during the President’s healthcare speech to Congress was that Wilson was censured for his incivility, not his lack of veracity. And indeed, there is an argument to be made (as Dennis Prager and others have) that good manners should reign at the top levels of government, though I confess I am partial to the honest outspokenness of “Question Time” in the British Parliament.
No matter your opinion of these standards, however, Wilson was basically telling the truth. This was tacitly acknowledged the next day when the administration “clarified” the intent of the healthcare bill, suddenly spelling out language preventing illegal aliens from gaining free access to the system.
But Obama has always been a liar. We have known that since he claimed he didn’t know anything about the extreme views of Jeremiah Wright – after having spent twenty years in Rev. Wright’s church (the same church Oprah Winfrey had left eight years before because she was uncomfortable with the views of the bigoted minister). The MSM gave him a pass on this whopper, enabling his election, because he was their candidate. They were evidently unfazed by the ancient Roman legal principal: Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.
Well, there have been plenty of omnibuses since, but few so risible as Obama’s answers this Sunday to George Stephanopoulos concering the ACORN scandal:
STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the funding for ACORN?
OBAMA: You know, if — frankly, it’s not really something I’ve followed closely. I didn’t even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Both the Senate and the House have voted to cut it off.
OBAMA: You know, what I know is, is that what I saw on that video was certainly inappropriate and deserves to be investigated.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So you’re not committing to — to cut off the federal funding?
OBAMA: George, this is not the biggest issue facing the country. It’s not something I’m paying a lot of attention to.
These ludicrous statements almost Fisk themselves, but allow me to do it briefly.
“You know, if – frankly, it’s not really something I’ve followed closely. I didn’t even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money.”
I hate corny Internet acronyms, but this one deserves the corniest of all: ROTFLOL. ACORN is the best-known community organizing group in the country. Obama was a community organizer. He knows perfectly well where their money comes from. Also, his minions have been running all over the cable news playing clean-up for this debacle – not to mention that Arnold Schwarzenegger, among other “minor” figures, has publicly called for an investigation.
“You know, what I know is, is that what I saw on that video was certainly inappropriate and deserves to be investigated.”
That video – singular? As of now it is six – or is it seven – videos from locations ranging from the nation’s capital to Brooklyn to San Diego with who knows how many more to come. Surely, Obama knows that – or the gist – and was simply attempting to downgrade the importance, which leads to his last statement…
“George, this is not the biggest issue facing the country. It’s not something I’m paying a lot of attention to.”
Translation from the Barack: I’m going to semi-stonewall this, because I know I can rely on you, my friends in the mainstream media, to downplay this as a minor episode so that, in the end, I will be able to override this momentary aberration in Congress and continue to fund (and grow) our ACORN allies.
Everything is upside down here because Obama knows what we all do – ACORN is a poster boy for the welfare state in all its manifestations. This is no sideshow. It’s the heart of the matter. No wonder he is lying about it.
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