ON THE LEFT: Alan Grayson (D-Hyperbole City)

The Hill: 'Die quickly' congressman creates namesofthedead.com; GOP cries foul

Republicans charged Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) with breaking House ethics rules and election law Wednesday by linking a new political website to his official website.

The new site, namesofthedead.com, seizes on Grayson’s comment on the House floor that the Republican healthcare plan is for people to “die quickly.” It invites visitors to log-in the names and stories of friends and relatives who died because they lacked health insurance...

Grayson has repeatedly defended his original remarks, which were attacked by Republicans but brought the lawmaker new support from the left.

“I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America,” Grayson said a day after the “die quickly” remark.

For more on Representative Grayson, see this morning's Daily Broadside - and Jammie has this:

Grayson may be leaving himself open to some online practical jokers. At the moment I write this, four names are memorialized in the site's rotating list:

• Lassie Martin, 10, Kanab, UT

• Norma Jeane Mortenson, 36, Los Angeles, CA

• Steve Rogers, 90, New York, NY

• Wile E. Coyote, 55, Sedona, Arizona

All four of those names are fraudulent. Lassie Martin is the dog "Lassie," whose owners on the 1950's TV show were called the Martins (and the town of Kanab, Utah, was one of the filming locations). Norma Jeane Mortenson was Marilyn Monroe's real name. Steve Rogers is the fictional Captain America from Marvel Comics, and of course there's Wile E. Coyote.

NRCC spokesman Andy Seré released this statement: "What is wrong with this man? Alan Grayson's morbid exploitation of 'the dead' for personal political gain may be the most shameless stunt he's pulled yet. Once again, he's proved himself to be an abject embarrassment to Central Floridians who want more than a circus clown for a congressman."

Late Update: The automated list of names has been removed from the site. It may be that mourning "Hugh G. Reckshinn," age 44, from Dumas, Texas, was a bit too much for them.