Grayson Won't Back Down From Claim "Republicans Want You To Die Quickly"

From Politico.com

Rep. Alan Grayson isn't backing down from his claim that Republicans "want you to die quickly."

"I stand by what I said," Grayson told reporters on Wednesday.

"I didn't violate any House rules. I didn't do anything inappropriate," he said. "I'm not under any pressure at all."

Republicans fumed Tuesday night and Wednesday morning after Grayson portrayed GOP health care plans as: Don't get sick — if you do, die quickly. Republicans have introduced a resolution of disapproval condemning Grayson's comments.

Grayson said Democratic leaders had not asked him to apologize — not even Rep. John B. Larson, who had said he would encourage Grayson to say he was sorry.

Asked if he was worried about his re-election in an Orlando-based swing district, Grayson said his chances of winning are better.

"It improves them," he said. "People like elected officials with guts who say what they mean."

From Roll Call

After speaking extensively to the press, Grayson came to the floor with an apology, but not for the Republican Party.

“I would like to apologize,” he said. “I would like to apologize to the dead.”

Citing a statistic that 44,789 Americans die each year because they don’t have health insurance, Grayson said, “That is more than ten times the number of Americans who died in the war in Iraq, it’s more than ten times the number of Americans who died on 9/11. …It happens every year.”

Grayson added in another apparent dig at the GOP, “We should care about people even after they are born.”

Grayson apologized one last time.

“I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner,” he said.

Can we clone him? Graft him to Harry Reid? How about just making a donation?