'You Lie' Rep Essentially Right

Joe Wilson not wrong about Obama wanting to insure illegals
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 10, 2009 1:56 PM CDT
'You Lie' Rep Essentially Right
Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., center, listens during President Barack Obama's speech on health care to a joint session of Congress , Wednesday, Sept., 9, 2009 on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Give Joe Wilson a break. It’s hard to fit the complexities of policy into an outburst during a presidential address, but the South Carolina congressman has a point: If you connect two of President Obama’s top policy priorities, he does want to give insurance to illegal immigrants. It’s just that he’ll make them legal immigrants first, writes Terence P. Jeffrey, editor-in-chief of the right-wing CNS.

"It is true that both the House and Senate health care bills as they are now drafted would make illegal aliens ineligible for federally funded health care," Jeffrey acknowledges. But Obama said as recently as Aug. 10 that he plans to enact immigration reform that would create a “pathway to citizenship” for illegal aliens. The insurance exchanges described last night would be fully operational in 4 years—meaning that, if Obama gets his way on immigration reform, current illegal aliens will be well on that “pathway” by then.
(More Joe Wilson stories.)

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