Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: You gotta love those South Carolina politicians
First there was Gov. Mark Sanford, his, love affair, and inability to shut his trap about it. There is the state’s lieutenant governor and his supposed gay gay ways. Then last night, as President Barack Obama was speaking to a joint session of Congress, Rep. Joe Wilson squawked “You lie!”.Wilson’s town-hall antic came when the president said his health insurance proposal would not cover illegal immigrants (I’ll let the good people at FactCheck.org deal with that). If we lived in Great Britain, Wilson’s outburst would be no biggie. The give and take between a prime minister and MPs are rather legendary; however, here in the US of A Wilson’s eruption is a break with decorum. The South Carolina representative issued a statement last night, offering his regrets.
“While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”
Wilson apparently even called White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. Good for him.
The crazies of his party will turn Wilson into a hero who faced down the fascist/Muslim/socialist/nazi Obama with unvarnished truth. If Wilson has an ounce of honor he will reject any hosannas and say what he did was out of bounds. After he does that, he can then say why he and Obama don’t see eye to eye.
We on the left will be shocked (simply shocked sir!) at Wilson’s inability to act like an adult, but let’s not turn this into a cause. If we want to mock a Republican, let’s turn our ire toward fool Michael Duvall, who when caught sharing salacious details of an affair offered this as his initial excuse: he thought his conversation was “private.”
To dismiss Republican disapproval of a Socialized Health Care System as merely racially charged oppositon towards President Obama is not only arrogant and unfounded, but does a great disservice to millions of Americans who truly oppose this legislation.
I for one, do not want a “Public Option” of any kind to be on the table, and I guarantee you it has nothing to do with the color of my President’s (yes he is my president too) skin. I am so unbelievably sick of the race card being played. It distracts from the real issues at hand and is a smack in the face of the progress that our country has made.
Since being elected, President Obama has tried to restore the old-fashioned spirit of bipartisanism that used to prevail in Washington. In return, the Republicans, religious conservatives and others on the political right have responded with attacks on the person of the president and every effort to keep him from being able to do his job as President. No matter what he says or does, whether on health care, education, protecting jobs or LGBT rights, the so-called conservatives attack him. If the conservatives are truly committed to conservative values, then why do they reject the true United States conservative value of bipartisan cooperation in Washington. The time has come for the President to be more aggressive with his agenda and ignore the negativists.
Just face it America. We (the USA) are the most racially biased people on the planet. Most people that complain about Obama are just upset that they voted for a black man to be president. All of you, will be upset and comment about my opinion. It’s true though, and that’s what gets your juices going. I will vote again for president Obama, and I’d have to be mentally insufficient to vote for Palin. If I wanted to be taught college courses from a 4 year old, then I would pick her to be president.
Like I said, America is RACIST!!! The republicans are racist. Democrats are racist. Your neighbors are racist. Your government is racist. The teachers in schools are racist. We will die upon this earth being racists. Even I am racist. It’s nothing to be proud of, just embarassing to admit it. We can’t help being raised the way we were, but it’s time that people need to have open hearts and open minds. I am white, I date black men. I honestly don’t think that there is anyone on this planet that doesn’t know what the black community has gone through over the hundreds of years of living in the United States. Although there is no slavery anymore, the African American community are still considered lower than the White community. Just like we (GLBT) are considered as a lower class of people. Hate runs deep into our country’s veins. The world would have to end, for there to be peace amongst man. It’s sad but true.
With every passing year, I am more and more convinced that Lincoln was wrong in 1860!
This whole week has been so confussing & inlightening at the same time.1st was the disrespectfull attitude towards obama’s address to the youth.the republicans practicly dropen a load in there pants because the PRESIDENT dared to reach out & encourage children to fullfill there potential! Ya after all knoledge is power so they dont want that.Then the outbusts at the speach last nite! Why this unpresidented disrespect for the president??
We all now that self rightouse hypocritacal “christian” hatred for anyone not white & hetrosexural.The “news” promated the raciest hatred openly.Hard to tell who the overly white oh mean right hate more these days our 1/2 black president or us LGBT???
As far as medical care everone IN america should be givin at least prevenative care.
Prenatal care 2,000 & premie care least 250,000. We pay for it one way or the other & I chioce the cheaper option!
This guy must be one of those C Street nut jobs who thinks that he is above the rest of us.
@robish518 – Yeah we need the end of life discussions. Having been a Nurse I saw the crap that occurs in family’s when there is no living will, directives etc… and had to watch as family insisted on heroic measures only to have the sick family member say to me “Why wont they just let me die in peace?”. It’s an all too sad thing to watch.
In addition to breaking decorum, he also said something that is fundamentally and unambiguously *UNTRUE*.
The President should not have accepted his apology.
Barney Frank made a great point on Maddow about government staying out of end of life decisions (aka Death Panels). Democrats were hugely opposed back then when Conservatives jumped on Teri Shiavo’s case.
The GOP is melting down. The Dems have a proto-spine, but the GOP is really being consumed by nutjobs. They try to boo the President into silence–but if the oh-so-sacred Private Sector can always do better, why are they SO afraid of a public insurance option that they’re hell-bent on stifling any discussion? Why is the GOP so obsessed with defending a position, even if that position is untenable and grievously expensive–whether that position is on healthcare, national security, foreign excursions, energy policy, or anything else?
Oh wait–there is a reason they’re doing what they do, and the South Carolina GOP is an outstanding display of it. There’re a lot of white people of conservative religious heritage. The old Dixiecrats, the barely concealed racists–the ones who the GOP embraced after passage of the Civil Rights Act, the ones who are becoming as freakishly out of place as South African defenders of apartheid in the late 80s. No country can truly thrive with only one party, but the GOP seems completely focused on standing only for gun-carrying whites with a fixation on the coming Apocalypse. They’ve proven that their country matters far less than their core constituency, and their actions leave little doubt of their latent racism. They are not representative of us (meaning all Americans), but only they can change that.
How pathetic that we witness a major speech on a potential revolutionary change in this country’s healthcare system and what is the news story? The bad behavior of some politiician hardly anyone has ever heard of before.
Come on folks. This is petty. It’s a distraction. The issue is healthcare reform.
Then too, why should the people in town hall HealthCare meetings conduct themselves anymore professionally, than unprofessional Congressional Reps.? Joe Wilson should be ousted and fired out of town, like Van Jones was!
Did Rep. Wilson call SC Gov. Mark Sanford a ‘liar?’ How can he be so verbal towards “his” President, while not brandishing such vile pronouns at an open liar, intra-state co-worker?
The racial implication is written all over your colleagues’smirking faces, who you were sitting by. Did they goat you into hollering the slur? Was it an, “I dare you situation?” Come on Wilson. Give us some kind of temporary insanity plea? I mean, lie. Were your smirking colleagues, Republicans too?
I’ll try to fax and contact you in other forms, later, but your website is so overwhelmed with traffic, it had to shut down. WAS IT WORTH IT?
If it was subliminally, or psychologically racailly motivated, don’t be too upset by a Black President. You had one before, it’s just that it was the “Confederate States of America” then, and he was a Moor: JOHN HANSON. Look it up!
They were pathetic liars in 1860 and still no change. We should boycott companies based there as well as Virginia , Texas , Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia etc. Why I guess it is practically the whole Confederacy!
illegal immigrants should get basic health care regardless of their ability to pay. Of course this would be politically untenable, so the current system for them will likely remain: emergency room visits, county hospitals (I worked at one where many of the patients are illegal aliens), and outreach clinics. How ironical that the president is falsely accused of lying to cover up what would be an honorable principle if it weren’t a political non-starter.
The Congressman from South carolina who yelled “You Lie” to President Obama should be censored by the House Ethics Committe and he and all of the other Republicans who acted so rudely to the President did a great diservice to their Country and they have lost the respect of the American people. It is all based on refusal to accept the fact that we have an African American President.
The President is a friend to the Gay community and deserves our complete support.