Rachel Maddow talks to Rep. Alan Grayson about the trouble the Republicans have been having finding someone to run against him.
Maddow: So you now have somebody moving from another district—well two people—two candidates possibly moving from another district to run against you.
Grayson: Oh, they decided they’re in and three others—but you know we polled, we’ve already polled and we found out that people with fake names have better name recognition than people already in the race against me.
Maddow: You ran—you made up names…
Grayson: We made up names, right, we put them in a poll and the fake names did better than the current opponents.
Grayson on bipartisanship.
Maddow: On health reform let me ask you right now how you feel about the two sides right now. We talked about it at the top of the show. Sen. Jon Kyl, Republican, this weekend saying he doesn’t believe that death rates are higher for people who don’t have health insurance. The chair of the Republican Party says we just don’t need health reform. How do you see the two sides right now.
Grayson: I think that the Democrats have been fooled now for months by this fantasy of bipartisanship. Bipartisanship is a concept that’s become a weapon of mass distraction to keep us from actually doing what we need to do—to give people in this country universal health care—to give them affordable health care—and to give them comprehensive health care.
Because a lot of people find they get all the health care they need as long as they don’t need any. And that has to end. That’s not what American is entitled to and that’s not the kind of America most people want to see. But instead we get bogged down in these nuisances. I don’t remember hearing a lot about bipartisanship when we were talking about tax breaks for the rich.
