Conservative Asks Lib 'Are You Literate? Do You Own a Newspaper?'

November 28th, 2009 4:30 PM

Have you ever been in an argument with a liberal and got so frustrated by the non sequiturs being uttered that you wanted to ask, "Are you literate? Do you own a newspaper?"

Well, on Wednesday, conservative talk radio host Michael Graham did exactly that to liberal talker Laura Flanders.

Appearing on MSNBC's "The Ed Show," the pair were contentiously debating the need for healthcare reform when Flanders said, "We are seeing a handful of naysayers basically derail our whole process. Americans voted for change."

This was all Graham could stands, cuz he couldn't stands no more (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t HotAirPundit):

ED SCHULTZ, HOST: The Senate is set to start debating the health care bill on Monday, but there is an alarming report from "Bloomberg" today. Health care may get bumped to next year because Congress has to work on legislation set to expire at the end of this year.

For more, let me bring in our panel tonight, Laura Flanders, author of "Blue Grit," and host of GritTV.org, and Michael Graham, radio talk show host on WTKK in Boston.

Michael, it -- there are some inherent things that the Congress has to deal with and it is money. The stall tactics by the Republicans, are they working and is this working out for the conservatives in this country who want to stop health care reform?

MICHAEL GRAHAM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Obviously, I hope it is stopping this disaster that is health care. The story of the two folks you just had on is incredibly moving. Yet nobody has explained how the disastrous Obama-care monster, two trillion dollars, is going to solve those problems.

The "Huffington Post" talks about people dying right now. There are people dying under government-run systems in Canada and the UK while they wait for health care. It still may be the best system we can get, but nobody denies that either. So anything that can stop us from following the Europeans into their disaster, OK by me.

SCHULTZ: Laura, is it that many people dying in Europe and also in Canada, as he just mentioned?

LAURA FLANDERS, GRITTV.ORG: No, the statistics are crazy, and you know that, Ed. The story is so moving of what happened in Chicago a couple of weeks ago, because you have the spectacle of people in pain being laughed at, people in need. And the Houghs are not the only grieving parents this Thanksgiving eve. You`ve got parents and people all across this country grieving for lost ones whose lives could have been saved had we got better health care, more accessible, higher quality for everybody.

I go back to what Alan Grayson said on this network yesterday. He said the longer the Senate stalls, the more Americans are going to die. It`s not a problem of just what`s happening in these Tea Parties. The lack of respect for people`s needs and wishes in this country, it`s happening in our Congress. It`s not a government takeover of health care. We have our government taken over by people who believe in no government. And they`re going to prove that government change can happen, because that`s what they were elected to do. They`re a wrecking crew. We can`t let them wreck our chance for change.

GRAHAM: How can you say they`re ignoring the people when only 31 percent of the people in the latest poll support this plan, and more than 50 percent say they don`t? It`s absolute insanity. Another planet.

FLANDERS: The point that Ed just raised, the House has passed 100 bills that are languishing because of Senate inactivity. That stop the stalling in the Senate petition from Alan Grayson is critically important. We are seeing a handful of naysayers basically derail our whole process. Americans voted for change.

GRAHAM: Do you not have access to the polls? Are you literate? Do you own a newspaper? Have you not seen the polls on President Obama`s performance on health care, on the overwhelming rejection of this? Independents don`t like it. Republicans -- a handful of the far --

SCHULTZ: Michael, I don`t know where you`re getting your information.

GRAHAM: "Newsweek."

Delicious.

Of course, recent polls do back Graham's view according to PollingReport.com.

But facts never seem to matter to a liberal talker, do they?