“….Far from appealing to the better angels of our nature, too many colleagues are embarked on a desperate, no-holds-barred mission of propaganda, falsehood, obstruction and fear. A well-regarded Philadelphia columnist wrote of the ‘conservative paranoia‘ and ‘lunacy‘ on the Republican right. The respected Maureen Dowd, in her eulogy for her friend, William Safire, lamented ‘the vile and vitriol of today’s howling pack of conservative pundits.‘ — Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-RI)

“….And why? Why all this discord and discourtesy, all this unprecedented destructive action? They are desperate to break this president. They have ardent supporters who are nearly hysterical at the very election of President Barack Obama. The birthers, the fanatics, the people running around in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups, it is unbearable to them that President Barack Obama should exist. That is one powerful reason. It is not the only one.” — Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-RI)

“….But when the bill passes, and this program actually comes to life and it is friendly — when it shelters 33 million Americans, regular American people in the new security of health insurance, when it growls down the most disgraceful abuses of the insurance industry, when it offers better care, electronic health records, new community health centers, new opportunities to negotiate fair and square in a public market, and when it brings down the deficit and steers Medicare toward safe harbor, all of which it does, Americans will then know, beyond any capacity of spin or propaganda to dissuade them, that they were lied to. And they will remember.” — Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, (D-RI)

[ LISTEN TO THE BRILLIANT SPEECH BELOW ]

THUG-LIAR Republican Reactions To Last Night’s Vote

Tantaros on WH stance on health care bill: “[T]hey have a gun in the mouths of the U.S. Senate right now“

MediaMatters: FoxNews.com falsely claimed CBO said “Senate health bill won’t reduce deficits” — A headline posted on FoxNews.com falsely claimed, “CBO: Senate Health Bill Won’t Reduce Deficits.” In fact, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded that the bill would reduce federal deficits by $132 billion over 2010-2019 and would continue to reduce deficits in subsequent decades. [ READ MORE ]

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Washington Post: Going into Monday morning’s crucial Senate vote on health-care legislation, Republican chances for defeating the bill had come down to a last, macabre hope. They needed one Democratic senator to die — or at least become incapacitated.

At 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon — nine hours before the 1 a.m. vote that would effectively clinch the legislation’s passage — Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) went to the Senate floor to propose a prayer.

“What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can’t make the vote tonight,” he said. “That’s what they ought to pray.”

It was difficult to escape the conclusion that Coburn was referring to the 92-year-old, wheelchair-bound Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) who has been in and out of hospitals and lay at home ailing.

It would not be easy for Byrd to get out of bed in the wee hours with deep snow on the ground and ice on the roads — but without his vote, Democrats wouldn’t have the 60 they needed. [ READ MORE ]

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Hits The Hammer Squarely on The Nail!

References: Democratic Senator Accuses GOP of Playing to “Ardent Supporters” in “Right-Wing Militia” and “Aryan Support Groups“ | Desperate To Break The President |

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

————————————————————————————————————————————————-