







The response has been, in some ways, a mirror image of that enjoyed by Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, who shouted “You lie” at President Obama on the House floor; Wilson’s fundraising mushroomed as he became an icon on the right, and he’s now a national spokesman for the GOP.
Grayson, in typical form, says there’s no comparison between the two. “What I did was like a Bob Dylan song, and what he did was like a belch,” he has said in more than one cable news interview. But the twin triumphs of Wilson and Grayson establish a perverse incentive for lawmakers in both parties: The best offense, it appears, is to offend.
The Senate majority leader is not pleased with this strategy. “The only thing Senator Reid is worried about right now is putting together a bill that can get the 60 votes necessary to overcome a Republican filibuster,” said Reid spokesman Jim Manley. “He has no intention of stopping by” to receive the petition.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is equally wary of Grayson. “Let’s not go through that,” the California Democrat pleaded when asked at a news conference about various Grayson remarks.
Grayson may ultimately pay for antagonizing party leaders, but the man is no dummy. He’s a Harvard-educated former trial lawyer who has a gift for turning a phrase. “If the president has a BLT sandwich tomorrow,” he has been known to say, “the Republicans are going to try to ban bacon.”
The petition began last week when MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow announced that “two major power brokers on the left” were pushing for Democrats to be stripped of their leadership positions if they sided with Republican efforts to block health-care reform. It’s not clear who Maddow was referring to, but Grayson and the Progressive Change group, inspired by the idea, began separate petition drives. They merged their efforts (87,000 online signatures for Progressive Change and about 3,000 for Grayson) outside the Hart building on Wednesday.
Adam Green, from Progressive Change, told a small media gathering that included a CNN camera that it would be “unacceptable” for Democrats to side with Republicans against a health-care bill. A doctor, Nilesh Kalyanaraman, announced that “my patients’ lives and health depend on Harry Reid standing up and showing the leadership we expect.”
Next came Grayson, tall and a bit wild, with scuffed cowboy boots under his pinstriped suit and chest hair poking out over his tie and collar. He pulled from his breast pocket a study showing that nearly 45,000 Americans die each year because they don’t have health insurance. “As we stand here right now,” he said, “one or two or three Americans have died because we have not acted yet.”
He continued: “A week ago, I apologized to the dead and their families for our inaction. Now it’s time to move beyond that and get the job done.”
With that, Grayson walked toward the Hart building. Reporters followed. What, he was asked, would he have Reid do differently? The congressman offered no prescription, only a demand: “One way or another, the bill has to pass. It’s that simple. As quickly as possible.”
Read the Harvard study on the 44,000 people in America that die annually from a lack of health insurance…
Current Position: U.S. Representative (since January 2009)
Career History: Judge’s Assistant, Washington District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals; President, IDT Corp; Lawyer
Birthday: March 12, 1958
Hometown: the Bronx, N.Y.
Alma Mater: Harvard University, B.A., 1978; Harvard University Law School, J.D., 1983; Harvard University, M.P.P., 1983;
Spouse: Lolita
Religion: Jewish
Committees: House Financial Services Committee; Science and Technology Committee
DC Office: 1605 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515, (202) 225-2176
State/District Office: 455 North Garland Avenue, Suite 402, Orlando, FL 32801, (407) 841-1757