E.J. Dionne sells Obamacare for illegal aliens

EJ Dionne of the Washington Post writes of the Joe Wilson "You lie!" outburst and the topic of illegal aliens being covered under Obama healthcare (link). In this bit he lets you know that he's just a disingenuous hack whose opinions can't be trusted:

For the record, Wilson's premise is itself untrue: The framers of the various Democratic health-care bills did all they could to make sure their proposals wouldn't help illegal immigrants. Yes, a few might slip through the cracks and -- horrors! -- get assistance. But the health reformers wrote language as tough as it could be to make sure this wouldn't happen, short of creating provisions so draconian that some who are here legally would also be denied coverage.

The Democrats quashed amendments designed to prevent illegal aliens from receiving coverage, and anyone who thinks that the Democrats don't want to insure illegal aliens is dreaming.

Then, he goes into the sales job:

Forget compassion and consider self-interest. Aren't you better off if the person working next to you who has a communicable disease receives care early on?

I am not in any way dismissing those concerned about illegal immigration as racists or reactionaries. [ed: of course not!] There are legitimate disagreements as to what we should do about it and problems with extending government programs to those who violate the law to get here.

But I am not at all at peace with the fact that the one issue about which a member of Congress chose to rise up and accuse our president of being a liar related to the charge that our chief executive wasn't doing enough to build walls between illegal immigrants and health coverage.

How mean-spirited will we allow ourselves to become? How coarsened has our political culture made us? We like to see ourselves as a generous, caring and welcoming nation. Are we losing that part of our character?

Tue, 09/15/2009 - 10:36 · Importance: 4