Hmm, somebody didn’t get the civility memo.
During yesterday’s House debate on repealing health care reform, one freshman Republican offered a fun example of the rhetoric on the right, comparing the policies of the elected Obama administration and previously elected Democratic Congress to oppressive regimes of times past.
“As Virginians, we did not accept the chains of George III,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA). “Nor will we accept the chains of Obamacare.”
In a tweet yesterday linking to the video, Griffith’s wording was altered, with mixed results:
As Virginians, we did not accept the change of George III, nor will we accept the change of ObamaCare. http://youtu.be/wTkDgPecZcI #hcr
A Griffith spokesperson told TPM’s Evan McMorris-Santoro that the alteration in the tweet was a simple mistake, saying that they had heard it wrong.
This does seem a bit odd, as King George III wasn’t much of a change — he succeeded his grandfather, King George II, who in turn had succeeded his father King George I, in a continuous line of royal succession. (George III’s father, Prince Frederick, died while George II was still on the British throne, and the king then selected his grandson to be his heir.)
Another funny thing, though, if we’re making historical allusions: For their part, Virginia did more than its fair share in perpetuating a different kind of chains — up through the 1860s and, in other ways, for many years beyond.
(Via Greg Sargent)
