Remember that classic phrase "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?" Well South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson said only 2 words ("You lose"!) and his Congressional colleagues are teeing off on him and it sparked a firestorm, EVEN THOUGH PRESIDENT OBAMA SEEMS TO BE WILLING TO FORGIVE HIM. The title of a recently released ABC News article is 'We All Make Mistakes; Obama accepts Joe Wilson's apology", but his Congressional colleagues are turning up the heat under his hot seat.

Mr. Obama started off: "I'm a big believer that we all make mistakes. He apologized quickly and without equivocation (i.e. ambiguity) and I'm appreciative of that". OK we've asked this question before but we must ask it again: did Wilson apologize BECAUSE HE MEANT IT or BECAUSE THE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT IS ON HIM?

The President continued: " We have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big, important issues without vitriol (nasty comments), without name-calling (and) without assuming the worst in other people's motives". As a politician,Obama should be fully aware that this is impossible. Mr. Obama added that people "are turned off when they see people using wild accusations, false claims, name-calling and sharply idological approaches to solving problems. They want pragmatism". Such is the nature of politics. Sometimes it is simply impossible to be "pragmatic". Nasty comments and insults are part of the political business.

As for Wilson, here's his written apology: "This evening, I let my emotions get the better of me when listening to the president's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the president's statement, my actions were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility". This is politics WHERE PERSONAL ATTACKS ARE PART OF THE BUSINESS so we have to wonder how "sincere" Rep. Wilson's apology actually is.

"But today, the lawmaker - whose Democratic opponent has raised $400000 in donations since last night was seemingly unapologetic and pointed out that SENIOR GOP LEADERSHIP APPROACHED HIM to contact the White Hpuse and apologize". More proof that Rep. Wilson's apology was not sincere.

Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans seemed to be in damage control mode. According to House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, "Obviously, the president of the United States is always welcome on Capitol Hill. He deserves respect and decorum (i.e. dignity)". The question is: will this EVER happen?

The next sentence is shocking: "Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said she was stunned by the heckling, BUT DISMISSED calls to sanction Wilson". This is disgraceful. AT A MINIMUM,Wilson should be reprimanded. If Pelosi was truly "stunned" as she claims to be, she should have taken action/done something about it instead of "dismissing calls to sanction Wilson".

Vice President Joe Biden denounced Wilson on "Good Morning America": "I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed for the chamber AND THE CONGRESS I LOVE. I THOUGHT IT DEMEANED THE INSTITUTION".We can understand why Biden is so emotional when talking about the Senate. He had been a senator between January 3, 1973 and January 20 this year (a period of more than 36 years).

Obama continued, this time about health care: "I will not allow reform to be postponed or periled by the usual idological divisions", but as the president knows too well, these will not go away. "We don't need more partisan distractions ". There are already plenty of those. "We have talked this issue to death". Hey, this is what politicians do. "And the time for talk is winding down, the time for bickering has passed". Again, this is the role of politicians. Stopping this is MUCH easier said than done.

The next contentious point is: "Republicans REMAIN (in the present tense) wary of the idea of a "public option" and say they would have liked to hear more specifics from the president on the costs and benefits of his health care reform proposals". Republicans are "wary" because they are worried about how much this plan WOULD ADD TO THE SOARING BUDGET DEFICIT.

According to House Minority Leader John Boehner, "Unfortunately, what the American people got wasn't a new health care plan. IT WAS JUST ANOTHER LECTURE. HE HAD A CHANCE TO REALLY PUT THE GOVERNMENT-RUN PLAN TO BED, but unfortunately, he didn't do it". If government insurance is no longer an option (i.e. "put to bed"), how would poor people have access to medical care?

According to Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany, a retired doctor, "Most Americans wanted to hear the president tell Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and the rest of Congress that it's time to start over on a COMMON SENSE, BIPARTISAN plan focused on LOWERING THE COST OF HEALTH CARE WHILE IMPROVING QUALITY". Boy, is this statement vulnerable to attack. "Lowering the cost of health care" won't happen if there is no public health insurance option because if there is no public health care option, private insurers, broadly speaking, WOULD HAVE NO COMPETITION. And when there is no competition, quality is lower and prices increase.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley goes even further by suggesting that President Obama "made a big mistake" by NOT RULING OUT public health care. "Even" Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, who proposed a "trigger mechanism" for government health insurance, "said SHE WAS DISAPPOINTED (that) the president didn't drop the idea altogether". Both Sen. Grassley and Sen. Snowe are not speaking for the people and Snowe is SUPPOSEDLY a moderate.

Cantor told GMA anchor Robin Roberts "I don't think we heard last night in the House what we need to move forward on this idea of a public option. I think it's very important that we DISMISS THE NOTION OF A GOVERNMENT OPTION". Rep. Cantor, this is only an "option" meaning that people can keep their current health care plan if they choose to do so. "I think if we listen to the American people (?), the fear that surrounds this notion that somehow the government will replace the health care system WE KNOW in this country". Rep. Cantor, we are supposedly the most advanced country in the world and yet , we are the only country without a public health care option that the DEVELOPING countries have. Back to politics now, this is a typical Republican statement. Since they are conservative, they will stick with what they "know" (i.e. they are very reluctant to think "outside the box").

Then, in a mini-speech, Obama said: "To my progressive friends, I would remind you that for decades, the driving idea behind reform has been to end insurance company abuses and make coverage affordable for those without it. The puyblic option IS ONLY A MEANS TO THAT END - we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal. And to my Republican FRIENDS (and the president surely doesn't have many of those), I say that RATHER THAN MAKING WILD ACCUSATIONS (BOTH parties have done this because this is what politicians do, but lately,this has been associated more with Republicans who have been the minority party on Capitol Hill since 2006) about a government takeover of health care, WE SHOULD WORK TOGETHER to address any legitimate concerns you may have". Mr. Obama has employed the "work together" tagline on quite a few occasions now, but so far, Republicans seem to be reluctant to jump onto his bandwagon.

Speaking to GMA anchor Dianne Sawyer, Biden said "I don't know whether he got the Republicans or not (thus far, Obama has failed on bipartisanship), but look, I am confident that he has a clear majority in the House and Senate for reform", although Sen. Kennedy's recent death leaves a huge void. "I think it's going to cause an awful lot of people to have an epiphany (i.e. a new insight) here". Well, as the Vice President, of course, this is what Biden is hoping for, but whether or not this will happen to "an awful lot of people" still remains to be seen.

At a news conference, Speaker Pelosi said "I'm confident that the president will sign a bill this year". Well, Democrats were "confident" about many things including the passage of the US$787 billion stimulus that almost didn't pass if not for Sen. Snowe, Sen. Collins and Sen. Specter and the confirmation of Justice Sotomayor who only got unanimous approval because lawmakers didn't want to have yet another showdown with the president (How many times have "for the continuity of (the Supreme Court)"? This is GRUDGING acceptance). "If someone has a better idea, put it on the table, that's what the president said". Translation: Bring it on. "SO FAR, we haven't seen a better idea, BUT IT COULD BE THERE". It's important to have and keep an open mind. "This is about a goal. It's not about provisions".

According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, "I think that the public option is in the eye of the beholder. THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PUBLIC OPTIONS. We are going to consider all of them". This is necessary.

In another mini-speech, Obama said "The time for bickering is over", but there will surely be more bickering over/about health care in the future. "The time for games has passed". There are still plenty of political "games" left to be played. "Now is the season for action", but will health care reform be passed and implemented by Christmas? This is still very much up in the air.

"Our health care problem is our deficit problem. Nothing else even comes close". Again, this is true. Even the number of unemployed Americans,as staggering as that number is, DOESN'T COME CLOSE to the number of Americans who don't have health insurance and this includes many people who have jobs. "The plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over ten years - less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (the cost of these wars is staggering) AND LESS THAN THE TAX CUTS THAT WERE PASSED FOR THE WEALTHIEST FEW AMERICANS that were passed at the beginning of the previous administration". What a surprise. This is another shot at former president Bush.

Despite this strong statement, however, Mr. Obama said that he "probably left too much ambiguity out there" by not sending Congress his own version of the health insurance overhaul.

House Minority Whip Cantor had the final word: "A lot of what I (recently) heard has been heard before". Well, we have heard this all before. "The president did leave the door open for us. I think we really need to start with some guarantees though (here we go again with the partisan demands)...that the government is not going to take away decision-making away from (the) patient...THAT WE'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE ANY RATIONING...THAT WE'RE NOT GOING TO BREAK THE BANK". Here are some more classic Republican principles. What started off as AN incident that was caused by one person saying something that was out of line has turned into a full-blown partisan health care debate that will most likely be part of the headlines for the next few weeks, if not months.