Finally!

Here at East Village Afternoon, we have a new hero: Congressman Anthony Weiner, Democrat of New York.

Weiner has quickly come to the forefront of the health care debate when word leaked on Monday that the White House, i.e. Obama, was considering dropping the "public option" aspect of the upcoming health care bill. Liberal congressmen, led by Weiner, quickly fired back late Monday, saying that he and other Dems wouldn't vote for any health care plan unless the "public option" was left in the legislation. Then, Obama just as quickly stated that the "public option" was still in play. Finally! A Democrat with a backbone! Thank you, Anthony Weiner. Thank you for having the courage of your convictions, and not backing down as the Dems always do when faced with a fight from the Repubs.

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But we most love Weiner for his appearance this morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe", when he exposed Joe Scarborough for being the superficial, intellectual lightweight that he really is. What passes for meaty political discussion on Morning Joe actually consists of never having on a guest who disagrees with Republican Conservative Scarborough, and if anyone does make an appearance with an opposing viewpoint, the script is always the same. Joe becomes heated and angry and begins to verbally bully the guest until finally, the guest gives up and backs down. Yes, Joe is one of "those types", he always has to be right, and he always has to have the last word.

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But today, Weiner stood his ground, he refused to back down, but more importantly, he made sense. So much sense, in fact, that Joe was completely flummoxed. Weiner at one point simply asked Joe why we need the insurance companies. Joe didn't know what to say. Scarborough tried that old, tired tactic of accusing Weiner of not being for commerce, or the free market, but Weiner held firm. He continually repeated the question (to paraphrase), "Why should we pay insurance companies to help us pay for our medical bills?" It's such a common sense question that Joe was left speechless. He couldn't answer because there is no sane answer to that question. Weiner also continually dared Scarborough to state that he was against Medicare, which is what any of us should do when a Repub says he's against a "government takeover" of our health care system. Of course Joe couldn't be against Medicare, that would be ridiculous and suicidal. Weiner ended up making such an impression on Scarborough, and his dim-witted co-host Mika B., that they invited Weiner back to the show on Thursday. We'll be watching.