Senate to close ObamaCare loophole for illegal immigrants that media claims doesn’t exist

I don’t get it. The modern-day Murrow told us last night that Joe Wilson was wrong, wrong, wrong.

If a man can’t trust Keith Olbermann to tell him the truth, who can he trust?

The controversy over Republican Rep. Joe Wilson’s shouting out “You Lie!” at the President over his claim that illegal immigrants wouldn’t benefit from health-care reform apparently sparked some reconsideration of the relevant language. “We really thought we’d resolved this question of people who are here illegally, but as we reflected on the President’s speech last night we wanted to go back and drill down again,” said Senator Kent Conrad, one of the Democrats in the talks after a meeting Thursday morning. Baucus later that afternoon said the group would put in a proof of citizenship requirement to participate in the new health exchange — a move likely to inflame the left.

Why would the left be inflamed? Putting laws on the books about illegal immigrants and then studiously ignoring them is a longstanding American tradition. Meanwhile, as expected, Wilson’s starting to rake in big dough from his outburst; a flash poll shows him actually trailing Rob Miller by a single point while the national media throws everything they’ve got at him, but expect Miller’s lead to go the way of The One’s bounce in the next few weeks as things calm down.

Pelosi’s going to try to extend the Two Minutes Hate by another minute next week with a floor resolution punishing Wilson for not apologizing profusely enough, I guess. A cynic might see it as an attempt to manufacture Democratic unity while war is waged over the public option behind the scenes; good thing I’m not a cynic. Oh, and on the very day that an unnamed senior White House official is calling Wilson “a pimple on the ass of progress,” former McCain aide Mark McKinnon is promising to donate to Wilson’s opponent because, see, he just can’t stand incivility. Exit question: Have he and Meghan McCain collectively uttered one unkind word about the torrent of “political terrorist”/angry mob rhetoric that’s been pouring from the mouth of the Democratic river this past month? Maybe they have and I’ve just missed it.

Update: Proving once again that Wilson’s entirely right to be suspicious of the left’s plans for illegals under ObamaCare, TPM sounds decidedly miffed that, ahem, “undocumented residents” won’t be allowed to buy health insurance. Fun Orwellian bonus: Aside from directly quoting Kent Conrad, the word “illegal” doesn’t appear in the post.

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