Pundits on both sides of the aisle will be spinning their own reasons for support or disagreement with Representative Joe Wilson’s comment during the President’s speech last night. Obama had just commented that “the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.” Wilson blurted out “YOU LIE!” Sparking the debate over appropriateness of such comments during a speech to congress.
Was it inappropriate? If so, when might Congressman Wilson be able to call out what he KNOWS is a baldfaced lie by our president? Inappropriate perhaps, but timely. At this time when the President is using whatever charisma he has remaining to provoke a decidedly statist and destructive agenda it is perhaps the straw that breaks the camel of appropriateness’ back.
There are many people who understand the effect government has had on other institutions as it has expanded its control over them, and sometimes the statement MUST be made at a time when it matters. I wish MY Representative Dave Camp would have yelled it. My guess is he agrees with congressman Wilson, but out of his respect for the institution refrained from his own outbursts, went back to his apartment and took the obligatory aspirin.
George Bush’s receiving of similar treatment consistently, hardly brought forth the scorn of those who wail now, according to Malkin..
And that’s what Democrats would undoubtedly tell you they were doing during George W. Bush’s 2005 State of the Union Speech when they booed and shouted down his remarks about the need for Social Security reform.
And that.. was for merely discussing Policy, and calling for “change.”
Respect for the institution of Congress IMO is less than relevant anymore. The institution, is as deserving of checked emotions by its members, or those who have an opinion of it as would be a “Thieves Guild.” Further, the Presidency itself seems to have been made “attackable” by the very people who will now call for Wilson’s resignation. They certainly lowered that barrier over the last eight years.
In the end Joe Wilson shouted out what might truly be the most “appropriate” use of “the Emperor Has No Clothes!,” and given the propensity of a truly lickspittle and agog press to ignore matters of truth, it might be the only time such a comment would be noted.
— UPDATE – Other Thoughts —
Michael Selker writes:
So what if Joe Wilson was “rude”? What’s more rude: shouting someone’s a liar or someone (in this case the president) lying?
I once read in a spiritual book that hell is full of polite people. If these people in hell had just once in their lives cursed the evil, the darkness, the lies of this earth, they would have made it to heaven. Well I’ll say it: damn the lies, damn the abortions, damn the taking away of our freedoms, damn the bankrupting of future generations, damn the wars we fight without doing our best to win and protect our soldiers, and damn the politicians who have taken an oath to serve and to uphold the Constitution while thinking they are above the people and the Constitution.
It might be better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, but the two are not mutually exclusive.
The American people over the last 6 weeks or so have said to heck with decorum. You are using “politeness” as a way of muzzling us and ignoring our will. I praise Joe Wilson for standing with the frustrated majority that’s tired of politicians lying and no one having the courage and yes “rudeness” to stand up and call a lie a lie.
– Mike
