Thursday, September 10, 2009

Thoughts on Rep. Joe Wilson

Congressman Joe Wilson rightly apologized to President Obama for heckling him during last night's health care address. When Obama said his reforms would not provide coverage to illegal immigrants, Wilson retorted, "You lie!"

In truth, Wilson gave the liberal media a gift horse. Instead of focusing their attention on how Obama can possibly spend $900 billion on health care reform without adding a dime to the deficit they are shining their scrutiny on Wilson. Dana Millbank of The Washington Post must have been salivating when he wrote this intro in his column on Obama's speech:

As President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, the nation's rapidly deteriorating discourse hit yet another low.

Yet moments before Wilson's intemperate outburst, President Obama himself used the word "lie.":

Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.

Well, there is some disagreement about that. So who exactly is being uncivil?

President Obama, of course, was referring to Sarah Palin. Yet Obama was smart enough not to mention her by name. Wilson, on the other hand, directly addressed Obama and in doing so may have given Obama the opening he needs to win over the public on Obamacare.

1 comment:

Anderson said...

At this point, does it even matter if there was an outburst? The liberal media would have found some other Republican whipping boy to blame all the Healthcare woes on, without giving facts and without caring about what people actually think about the bill.

There's no doubt what would have happened if the person giving the speech was former President Bush. The networks would be gushing at how courageous the congressman was to defy the President in such a forum. He would have been hailed by all the liberal news outlets as a great American and a terrific patriot. He might have apologized, and then the talking heads would have said he didn't need to. And I would be puking my lunch somewhere.

The immediate reaction from Pelosi and Biden was rather priceless, almost making it worth it. But he has brought unneeded attention to himself, and now the liberals are bending over backwards to make sure this man does not get reelected (his opponent received some $400,000 campaign funds overnight, which seems way too fishy).