The first term Democatic congressman from Florida who took to the House floor this week to accuse Republican opponents of health care reform of wanting sick people to hurry up and die is my new hero.

Not because he's right or that I even agree with him. It's because he's giving those right wing lunatics who absurdly championed "death panels" a taste of their own medicine.

Rep. Alan Grayson's charge that the GOP's health care plan is "don't get sick" might be equally absurd. But the howls of protest and demands for an apology from the right have left some Democrats justifiably resorting to a frequent grade-school response: "You started it!"

OK, so Grayson has managed to answer that old question: what's the difference between Congress and a pack of Cub Scouts? (Answer: Cub Scouts have adult supervision.) More than that, however, Grayson has done what, up until now, Democrats have been incapable of: using simple, direct language to characterize the opponents and turn the tables on them. Why are Republicans so upset? Because they know an effective attack when they see one. It's exactly the tactic they use, and use well. If 'death panel' hysteria gets replaced by chants of "don't get sick" at congressional town meetings, Grayson will have succeeded in putting Republicans on the defensive and health care reform might actually move a step closer to reality.

It's too early to tell if Grayson's stunt will really do that. He's already shown signs that he likes the attention a bit too much when he went on CNN and called Republicans "knuckle-dragging Neanderthals." Maybe Grayson's attacks will cause both sides to call a truce of the sideshow rhetoric and get down to serious debate. Maybe, but I'm not holding my breath.

Either way, Grayson's my hero for showing the Democrats that he who controls the message controls the debate. And it's a lot easier to control the debate with sound bites and slogans than it is with arcane details of Medicare reimbursement formulas Who would have thought that an obscure first-tern Congressman with bad hair would have electrified the left and taught his party what it should have known a long time ago - words matter.