Some 150 years ago, a congressman from South Carolina, angered by a speech on slavery, entered the Senate chamber and beat a senator from Massachusetts into unconsciousness with a metal-topped wooden cane.
Years earlier on the House floor, a representative from Vermont attacked a colleague from Connecticut — also with a cane — only to be attacked himself with a pair of fireplace tongs.
And then there was the 1838 pistol duel in which William Graves of Kentucky shot and killed fellow Congressman Jonathan Cilley of Maine over words spoken on the House floor. (Graves wasn’t even expelled.)
Given those breaches of congressional protocol, it would seem that a mere shout of “You lie!” from a 21st-century South Carolina congressman would be small potatoes. Especially when compared with a global tradition of brawls, scuffles, hurled insults (sometimes fruit too) and other mayhem in legislatures around the world.
As with the Mark Sanford story, I would really love to avoid posting this but it is part of the context of where I live and therefore part of what the blog is to reflect.
Needless to say, I find this embarrassing. But I am praying for all involved and for redemption of the mess.
Redemption came in the Senate closing the loophole on covering illegal immigrants that apparently did not exist! Wonder how that can be? And the Democrats had this context in 2005 when they booed Pres. Bush. I personally think any derogatory comments should not be made while the president is speaking to a joint congressional session, but on the other hand, it’s not exactly on par with the Mark Sanford story, of adultery and possible misuse of state funds. I think you do Joe Wilson a disservice to link the two in your comment.
My problem is not calling Obama out. Of course, we should provide some care to illegal aliens. First off, this is a tiny proportion of the problem. A women who presents in labor has a soon to be American citizen in her uterus. Forcing them to deliver at home costs us all more.
My gripe is that this is “budget neutral” and will be paid in part from “Medicare savings” – this at a time when Medicare enrollees is at record levels and increasing. The borrower is slave to the lender and we are enslaving our kids by charging this to our kids.
The link is inappropriate behavior and South Carolina and the link is unmistakably clear. The nature of the behavior is quite different, I grant, so as with any link it is only a limited one.
Nevertheless it has not been a good recent period for the state of South Carolina.
But should the President say “a lie, plain and simple,” when talking about “death panels” ? Consider Time’s review – Obama called the talk of death panels, started by the disgraceful Sarah Palin, “a lie, plain and simple,” which drew explosive applause from the Democratic side of the aisle.
When can we see some leadership and statesmanship?
Hmmm.
I wouldn’t have done it myself, but I’m not remotely embarrassed — and apparently the folks who donated $775,000 through his website in the last two days weren’t embarrassed by his behavior either but rather heartened.
I don’t have anyone in the political world that I particularly want SC to impress.
My reason for being embarrassed by Sanford is not his association with SC, but simply that he is a principled conservative — and therefore has engaged in disgraceful and horrific behavior. I find it repulsive and shameful.
I do think we’ll see more of the Joe Wilson kind of behavior and not less over the coming years. As the party of the Democrats lurches to the left, and as Republicans refuse to run conservative candidates in their own mistaken strategy, we’ll see more and more frustration and open disagreements among both the right and the left and less and less white-glove behavior.
Again — I wouldn’t have done it but it doesn’t embarrass me or surprise me.
Congressman Wilson chose the wrong place (and time) for his comment, but I agree with what he said, and hope it will be repeated, so as to catch out the President in his lies, and expose them.
I don’t see any equivalency between Sanford and Wilson and why you are lumping both together.
Sanford is clearly dishonest and should not be in office.
In contrast, Wilson told the truth in the midst of a situation where a president was improperly using a joint session of Congress to deliver a partisan political speech in which he clearly threatened the minority party for opposing him on Obamacare, including saying he was going to “call out” anyone who opposed him. The fact is Obama WAS lying, and the White House admitted as much in a media dump “clarification” Friday night. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/11/2065287.aspx
In that press release “clarification” last night, the WH also inadvertently admitted another major point of the opponents, which is that the goal of Obamacare is to destroy private health insurance: “Undocumented immigrants would be able to buy insurance in the non-exchange private market, just as they do today. That market will shrink as the exchange takes hold. . . .”
Why is it that we have more shame over Mr. Wilson telling the truth than there is shame over the president telling many lies?
Don
The President was not telling a lie, and Wilson was not telling the truth. The act he was speaking of specifically prohibits illegals from receiving benefits.
The so called loop hole is the one that has been there all along, i.e. that we don’t require you to produce a social security number and proof of citizenship before we let you in the hospital door, as many who label themselves “conservatives” want hospitals to do. I believe this to be an particularly nutty idea, especially coming from the right; but Obama hatred seems to be clouding reason.