In the speech to congress last night, Obama said this:

There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

This prompted Rep Joe Wilson (R, SC) to vocally call him a liar.

So….who lied?

Answer:  Neither and Both.

The problem lies in the nuance of the statements.

The reforms do NOT apply to illegals, but they also do not include any provision to actually check to see if someone is illegal, so they are shadow rules at best. 

Factcheck.org sums it up:

The president is correct: The House bill contains a section (Sec. 246) titled “NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS,” which states: “Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”

However, conservative critics object to a lack of specific enforcement measures in the bill. They argue that the lack of a specific verification mechanism constitutes a loophole that would allow illegal immigrants to get benefits despite the legal prohibition. Republican Rep. Dean Heller of Nevada proposed an amendment to the bill that would have required the use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program to check the citizenship of anyone applying for federal coverage or affordability credits. SAVE is the program used by Medicaid and similar entitlement programs. That amendment was voted down along party lines by the House Ways and Means Committee.

Repeat:  “That amendment was voted down along party lines by the House Ways and Means Committee.”

Republicans have a point here: More could be done to enforce the ban.

Now, i do have to scoff at this final conclusion by Factcheck:

But it’s worth remembering that, as a spokesperson for the American Immigration Lawyers Association told us, attempting to get a health care credit would have legal repercussions. “Making a fraudulent claim to an entitlement program when you’re not actually entitled to it would have serious consequences for any person,” the spokesperson told us, “but especially if it’s considered a false claim to citizenship, that would have serious immigration consequences that could ultimately lead to deportation.” 

Uh, correct me if I am wrong, but we are talking specifically here about undocumented illegal aliens.  They already ignored the legal consequences of violating our borders and entering illegally, and they are already working in contradiction of our tax laws (including, identity theft fairly often) and they are subject to deportation if captured.

So why is this suddenly a worse consequence that would make them instantly become law abiding?

Read the whole factcheck article, Obama did get called on a few dubious claims (notably, the amount of cost to to our deficit).

And Rep. Wilson certainly was out of bounds to call the president’s statement a “lie.” He later issued a statement apologizing for his “inappropriate and regrettable” comments.

I am glad he manned up.  I personally dislike rudeness.

But then again, I am also sick of being called a racist and a domestic terrorist because I do not support Obama’s agenda, so I share some of this frustration, as do others.

The real damage here is to the truth.  There is so much of this debate being shrouded in rhetoric and nuanced statements that it is almost pointless to engage anyone anymore.

The truth used to be obvious and easy.  Now it is parsed and nuanced and complex and difficult to determine.

My bottom line:  If this bill is so critical and necessary, then present it clearly, openly and honestly.  You, know with transparency like Obama promised.

I also have to say the hysteria over this is hypocritical, and staged.  Perhaps the democrats forgot their own actions in 2005.

I know:  For fun, let’s count up how many democrats called Bush a liar over the last 8 years!  Won’t that be fun?  Then they can apologize and we can all hold hands and sing Kum Ba Yah.

Oh and gee, social security is still broken.  Amazing.

Others:  Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, STA