Obama Talks Healthcare, Ted Kennedy; GOP Pouts

President Barack Obama addressed a Joint Session of Congress on Wednesday on the subject of healthcare reform. He outlined, again, guidelines for reform that include cutting costs, covering the uninsured and preserving existing coverage. The President also confirmed that common excuses that limit or end coverage, like preexisting conditions, will cease to exist. At different points in the speech, Obama reached across the aisle to Republicans. He mentioned the issue of tort reform, which is important to conservatives. However, he took a blunt, partisan approach on conservative concerns about a public option and the mythical issue of "death panels" and called them a "lie."

The President invoked Senator Edward M. Kennedy's name with Vicki Kennedy, along with her children and Senator Kennedy's children, in attendance. President Obama read from a letter Senator Kennedy wrote to him in May and didn't have delivered until after his death in August. The letter called healthcare reform "a moral issue" that reflects on the country's "character."

Oh, and Republican Joe Wilson of South Carolina made an ass out of himself.