Florida Congressman Alan Grayson is my kind of Democrat. He knows how to turn the tables on the Republican death squad in the health care debate. See here and here.
Update: Nick Anderson illustrates Grayson's point.
Posted in Politics & World Affairs
2 responses to “A Democrat who speaks his mind, for a change”
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Did you see Rachel Maddow yesterday, with her interview of Rep.Grayson? I got quite annoyed with her pickyness in insisting that he explain his use of the term ‘holocaust’ (apparently, that’s a holy cow of a term that cannot be applied to anything other than The Holocaust, in her opinion). She pushed him thrice on that, while ignoring the meat of the discussion and how he neatly reframed the debate.
‘The Republican Health Care Plan’ – 1. Don’t get sick 2. If you do get sick, DIE QUICKLY’, should be emblazoned on every wall. It surely beats all the talk of ‘death panels’ and the other garbage that has been spewing from healthcare reform opponents hollow.LikeLike
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Funny how words become co-opted (my pet peeve is with ‘technology’ and ‘systems’). I discovered lately that my OED, which is dated 1971, is actually a pre-war edition – it has no entry for ‘fascism’. Here’s what it has for ‘holocaust’ (the dates are of the earliest citations found) :
1. A sacrifice wholly consumed by fire; a whole burnt offering. (1250)
2a. (transf. & fig.) A complete sacrifice or offering. 2b. A sacrifice on a large scale. (1457)
2c. Complete consumption by fire, or that which is so consumed. Complete destruction, esp. of a large number of persons; a great slaughter or massacre. (1671)
Hence, Holocaust (v. trans.), to offer as a holocaust. Holocaustal & holocaustic (adjs.), belonging to or of the nature of a holocaust
The etymology is Greek : holos=whole (as in holo-) & kaustos=burnt (as in caustic). I’d love to learn about the first use of the word in its present holy cow meaning.LikeLike
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