Grayson vs. Wilson

Florida Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson’s assertion on the House floor last night that the Republican health care plan amounts to a wish for sick people to “die quickly” has provoked a fierce response from national Republicans.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) immediately loaded Grayson’s speech onto You Tube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpQ2MNaSDo] in hopes of turning it into a viral sensation, and the National Republican Congressional Committee has already e-mailed out more than a half-dozen stories on the episode to its press list over the last 12 hours.

All of which, of course, reminds us of the national furor caused by now-famous Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-S.C.) “You lie!” outburst during President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress earlier this month.

There are two critical differences between Wilson and Grayson, however, from a political perspective.

First, Wilson has held his South Carolina since 2001 — meaning that he has established some connection with the district’s voters.

Grayson, on the other hand, was first elected last November thanks in large part to a Republican incumbent who found himself cross-wise with the party’s base. Grayson has had little time to put down roots in the district and a comment like this one has the potential to complicate those efforts.

Second, Wilson’s district went for Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) with 54 percent of the vote in 2008 and four years earlier had been carried by President George W. Bush with 60 percent. Contrast that with Obama’s narrow 52 percent win in Grayson’s seat in 2008 and Bush’s 55 percent in the district in 2004.

Seen through the political lens then, Grayson’s comment — if Republicans can push it into a national story over the next 24 to 48 hours — is more potentially harmful to his chances of returning to Congress than was Wilson’s “you lie” interjection…
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