What Republicans Don't Get About the Joe Wilson Meltdown

In the wake of South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson's very public, very disconcerting hissy-fit during President Obama's health-care-reform address to Congress Wednesday night, only one point matters: the requirement for protocol, decorum and respect for the office of the United States Presidency. Yes, this is America, and yes, as little kids like to often declare, "It's a free country, and I can say what I want!"

But that's just it. Little kids get to do that, not U.S. Congressmen in the hallowed halls of the House Chamber. That's just plain wrong and unacceptable, no matter what political party you belong to. And for Republicans and conservative talk-show hosts to now be waving the Joe Wilson flag as if it's some respectable badge of honor, portraying him as a patriotic hero and using his embarrassing case of political Tourette's as a rallying cry for the GOP, is truly despicable and a stain on America. Is nothing sacred anymore?

Take a quick listen to the right-wing media Axis-of-Evil, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, and you'll get the typically shameless rhetoric about how Wilson was doing his patriotic duty to speak up and yell, "You Lie!" after Obama said it was a lie to claim that his health care reform bill would provide coverage for illegal aliens. At that moment, Rep. Wilson just couldn't contain himself, blurting out his colossal dis like a petulant child. And now he has influential talking-heads like Hannity coming to his defense and taking up his 2010 re-election cause, featuring prominent links to the incumbent's website on Hannity.com.

This is the same Hannity who is greeted by and greets his callers with the nauseatingly cultish "You're a great American!" Does being a great American mean shouting down the U.S. president during an address to Congress? Does being a great American mean supporting people who show blatant disrespect and disdain for the office of the presidency, the sanctity of the U.S. House Chamber, and the political protocols that have been respected since the birth of our nation? This makes you a great American? A patriot? A hero? This is someone who deserves conservatives' overwhelming support?

Since Thursday, Hannity and others have helped the now-vulnerable Wilson raise upwards of a million bucks so far for his upcoming battle against Democrat Rob Miller in South Carolina's historically Republican-safe 2nd Congressional District. Polls now even show Miller leading Wilson by a point, with 62% of voters disapproving of Wilson's outburst. Democrats need to mobilize and aggressively support Miller now. His website is www.robmillerforcongress.com. (Click here to donate the dollars he's going to need to beat Wilson.)

The issue is this: Rep. Wilson is not some civilian who shouted his dissent at a truck stop rally. His words were not part of an interview on TV, radio or in the print media. He was not giving a rousing speech to constituents. He was not at a fiery town hall meeting. He was in a holy place to politicians; their equivalent of a church or a temple. His therefore blasphemous remark was truly unconscionable and deserves unified rebuking by those on the right and a Congressional reprimand or censure, as Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) has suggested. House Democrats also intend to initiate a formal resolution chastising Wilson. A very important lesson needs to be made here.

I'm sorry, but some things are just not political. And we all need to be rational about it. I would just as soon excoriate a Democrat as I would Rep. Wilson if that Democrat committed the same reprehensible outburst. And if we as Americans cannot at some point lay down the partisan swords and at least agree that some behavior is simply irresponsible and unacceptable, then we are left with nothing. Then a very important line will have been crossed from which there'll be no return. Civility in politics, what little we know of it in the current climate, will be lost forever.

Comments

[PhilV]

Look at the photo. He was just agitated because he couldn't tell which guy, either to left or to his right - was the real Steve Colbert.

[seawolf77]

Oh they get it. You have obviously never lived in South Carolina. When I left there for the last time I thought of that line in "Ghosts of Mississippi" when the guy explains to the federal sheriff about the way things are "You in Mississippi now boy!" That's how they are in South Carrolina. Combine that with the Libby Dole accent on half the women there and you could drag your fingers across a chalkboard sometimes sitting in public.

[realpolitic]

I thought conservatives were supposed to represent a return to civility and a mannered society. They have become the loudest, most boisterous, group among us seemingly bent on violence. The new far-right fringe has left traditional conservatism far behind.

[Larry Borsato]

"Does being a great American mean supporting people who show blatant disrespect and disdain for the office of the presidency­..."

This sounds a bit self-serving after eight years of people calling George Bush a liar, or Hitler. Isn't that also blatant disrespect and disdain for the office of the presidency as well?

[offred]

The difference is the place.

No member of Congress ever yelled disrepectfully at Bush during an official speech to the Congress and the American people. Joe Wilson grabbed media time that was specifically intended for the President of the United States to speak to Congress and the American people.

Besides, Bush never read the newspaper or watched TV, so how would he know what people were saying about him at the time? Bush got his news from a few people who tightly controlled his information and his decisions. Besides, when Bush spoke publicly, it was to prescreened crowds. The wrong T-shirt or bumper sticker got you kicked out.

By the way, Bush has been proved to be a liar and is almost universally regarded as a barbarian in the rest of the civilized world.

Are you aware that Bush tried to convince France to join the Iraq war--even though France knew the intel was faulty--by saying that Bush was fighting Gog and Magog? Are you not even the slightest bit embarassed that Bush would risk American and coalition lives because of faulty theological thinking?

"Bush: God told me to invade Iraq"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-god-told-me-to-invade-iraq-509925.html

[paullud]

Wow, where do you get your facts? France's intel showed the same thing everyone else's did, that Saddam had the weapons. Are you even aware that Saddam said he was bluffing that he had the weapons because he figured the world would sit there and let him do what he wanted but he was afraid Iran may be a problem. You may want to try looking for a news source other than MSNBC.

[offred]

Here's the Gog and Magog link:

"Bush, Gog and MagogJust when you thought it couldn't get crazier, a well-sourced story claims Bush invaded Iraq because of Bible prophecies"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/andrewbrown/2009/aug/10/religion-george-bush

http://www.truthout.org/article/a-little-scoop-bush-chirac-god-gog-and-magog

http://www.alternet.org/politics/140221

http://www.thespec.com/article/572824

[realpolitic]

Yes, well, Bush was a liar. You may have missed the lies that led to the war in Iraq. Perhaps you were in a frozen, cryogenic state. In fact, what did Bush ever tell the truth about in eight years?

[Querent]

Should Rob Miller be elected over Joe Wilson in South Carolina? Certainly.
Will I give money to Rob Miller? No. I will ONLY give money to progressives. Blue Dogs may be better than Republicans (or not), but I will not support them.

[realpolitic]

Well, we are always free to give money to whom we want to.

[ObamacratInCA]

"Should Rob Miller be elected over Joe Wilson in South Carolina? Certainly. Will I give money to Rob Miller? No. I will ONLY give money to progressiv­es."

In Joe Wilson's district, a Maxine Waters-liberal will not get elected in a state that was the first to secede from the Union.

Like South Carolina, there are several states in the Union that have deeply conservative districts. There are a whole lot of vibrant points-of view and valid lives being lived in non-liberal parts of the country and they elect their own. As a result Blue Dogs are here to stay.

For all intents and purposes, Blue Dogs are the de facto reasonable wing of the Republican Party, as the Party Formerly Known as Sane becomes so ideologically pure that even Arlen Specter couldn't survive in it politically.

Since Blue Dogs are necessary in conservative districts we need to maintain a majority, we have to figure out how to work with them and support them to get things done while pulling them further Left.

Even the liberal Lion of the Senate knew that progressive politics, like all politics, is not the pursuit of ideological purity, but the art of the possible.

[NationalTreasure]

Joe Wilson is the one who lied and is a hypocrite -- Wilson has, twice, voted for legislation that provided federal funds for health care for illegal immigrants and it should be pointed out that nearly every republican who is currently serving in the House and Senate voted for the legislation as well

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_Prescription_Drug,_Improvement,_and_Modernization_Act

http://www.opencongress.org/articles/view/1219-Joe-Wilson-Voted-to-Provide-Taxpayer-Money-for-Illegal-Immigrants-Healthcare

[seawolf77]

You are wrong. He is challenging a position takeen by the president, not establishing one of his own.

[LeftRight]

But he's also right, because Joe Wilson has flat out lied about what he said to the President.­...

[Senzasord]

What nobody seems to get is the fact that Joe Wilson's antics on Wednesday last were part of a larger conspiracy to disrupt one of the most important facets in American Democracy, that being an address to a joint session of Congress by the President of the United States.

For better than a month Republican goon squads have been carefully coached by right wing think tanks and hate groups on how to disrupt town hall meetings. Instructions included: start yelling early and often. Try to distract and rattle the speaker. Cause him to depart from his prepared remarks or agenda. Don't allow anyone who supports the speaker's position to speak unchallenged, and on and on. Then they were dispatched to wreak havoc on town halls across the contry. We saw this played out Last Wednesday night. Republicans showed up complete with pieces of paper to wave about on cue, spent their time twittering, Yelled out frequently, got up to leave before the speech was completed. They were following a script and executing a plan that had been worked out carefuly beforehand. Joe Wilson's claim to have let his emotions get away from him is pure bullshit and so is his subsequent apology. He was following orders and doing his part in the Republican conspiracy to subvert Democracy.

What more evidence to we need that bipartisanship is a farce. Democrats, seek some treatment for this "Battered Wife Syndrome" you exhibit when dealing with the Republicans.


No Republican left Standing.

[AddyGmom]

Faux joe wilson must be one those 'born again' guys. He's experiencing puberty all over again. As an astute HP poster observed a few days ago --- why don't the NeoCons just grow up????

[anachoret]

I don't know how Roberts Rules of Order applies in this context, but I would think that a point of order on lack of decorum would have fit the ticket for just such an occasion.

[bg66astoria]

Let's not forget either the post by retired USAF General Eaton - that Wilson is also a retired/or inactive Colonel in the SC National Guard.

[JoeNavy65]

To those who defend Joe Wilson by poining out that the Democrats have booed in the past, I say two wrongs do not make a right.

Nothing is sacred to our politicians and the Republicans have proven that over and over since Obama was elected our president.

[seatea1967]

A "boo" means "I disapprove of what you said". "You Lie" means that the speaker knows that what he is saying is false, and is deliberately saying something besides the truth. Stating that the president is willfully misleading the public and the congress during a televised speech to congress is shameful. Even when Bush was actually lying to the public about WMDs you didn't see Dems shrieking at him like a 4 year old having a tantrum.

[ConstitutionallySpeaking]

Two problems.

Bush did NOT lie. He may have been mislead by faulty information provided to him by the intelligence services that the Democrats gutted, but he did not lie. The Democrat appointed CIA director told him that the case for WMD's was a "slam dunk". Nearly every democrat believed they had WMD's - and this was BEFORE Bush took office - so he could not have been misleading them.

Oh, and the democrats did FAR worse and were FAR less respectful of the President on MULTIPLE occasions before congress.

In the current instance with Joe Wilson.

The President FALSELY accused Republicans of lying MULTIPLE times in the preceding 2-3 minutes of this speech, while Joe Wilson did so once - and HE was telling the TRUTH.

Obama WAS lying.

[laocoon]

please lets not try to argue that the president speaking before the joint congress is some sort of holy event. it is true that democrats have booed proposals from
Bush when he addressed congress. while I think that yelling out you lie is incrementally worse lets not pretend this is sacrilege or completely different. I do think that the monopoly of the airwaves is a more fundamental problem and might suggest that when the FCC gives licenses almost entirely to owners who happen to feature right wing no holds barred programming that is censorship of the left by government. it is a very serious problem. Maybe if Limbaugh etc. think it was heroic by Wilson, anyone with a broadcast capacity might (hypothetically) broadcast on Limbaugh's wave length during his show "Limbaugh lies". Limbaugh will complain and the FCC will stop you. Censorship. Censorship and more Censorship. We need some form of fairness in use of the limited forum of radio.

[LeftRight]

No one is saying that the President addressing Congress is holy, that would violate the separation of church and state.

And no one is denying that the Democrats (and Republicans) have booed Presidents of the opposing party when they are being addressed.

What we ARE saying is that there are certain rules that a member of Congress should adhere to, and the Republicans seem to care very strongly when the Democrats violate those rules, and don't care at all when their own violate those same rules in the same (or worse) way!

[curiousgeorge47]

Also, he wasn't just disagreeing with Obama, by saying 'you lie' to the President, he has made it a PERSONAL statement about his President.
I just can't believe some people.

[PlaceboStudman]

Nobody, Republican, Dem or Independant gets the Wilson melt down. People are in such a fog of ignorance and denial and delusion that they don't know when they are being lied to anymore. Yes, folks, Obama, every member of congress, and in fact the majority of the American people are dispicable bold faced liars, for even thinking of calling this health care reform, then not talking a word about medicine.

There is NO connection between insurance and health care. It is possible to have health care with insurance, just as it is possible to buy a car without auto insurance.

But, because so many people are so scared witless, they are believing anything. And right now they are believing the lie that having the best insurance in the world will actually improve the health of the American people

[MacQ]

Well spoken...
It's all obfuscation.

[offred]

"It is possible to have health care with[out] insurance, just as it is possible to buy a car without auto insurance.

In Minnesota, you can buy a car, but you can't drive that car without tags (a license plate) because you can't buy the tags without proof of insurance. If you drive your car without either tags or proof of insurance, you're committing a crime and can be fined or jailed.

Under the Baucus Provision, you are forced to buy unregulated insurance from a for-profit insurance company. If you don't buy the insurance because you can't afford it, you are penalized with a fine (which you either have to pay or it can be taken out of any tax return you might get).

[seawolf77]

This is more becassue a vehicle respresents a weapon like a gun. Healthcare is mutually exclusive from the domain of the automobile, unles you consider in both cases it's people who are hurting after a mishap.

[eroy22312]

I don't know were you are from but in my world access to health care without insurance is unaffordable, inconvenient and nearly impossible unless I am going yo the emergency room.

[PlaceboStudman]

I guess its a matter of perspective and WHAT *kind of* health care people are getting. Are they getting prescriptions for viagra and rogaine? Are they getting a broken bone or a sprained ankle set? Or are they waiting for a *real*, *serious* medical crisis that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars over 20-30 years, as i have been dealing with, having lived with a congenital disability I was born with.

I'm sick of sitting in the ER at 1 or 2 in the morning, suffering from a serious potentially life threatening urinary tract infection, just to be told to wait because I am only suffering from "mild" flu-like symptoms, and the local star high school QB comes in after the game to have his ankle set