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9.10.2009

"You Lie!"

Surrounded by colleagues from both sides of the aisle,  repugnican house member, Joe Wilson of South Carolina, last night shouted, "You Lie!"

Was he responding to Sarah (being-uninformed-doesn't-stop-her-from-having-opinions) Palin, who blathered about "death panels" for senior citizens?

Was he responding to the repugnican governor of his state, Mark Sanford, who told his constituency that he was hiking the Appalachian trail when in fact he had flown to Argentina to, uh, tango with his paramour?

Was he responding to any of the "family values" guys who have been caught with their pants down--in bathroom stalls, in hotel rooms, on mic talking about spanking, in flagrante delicto--with women or men who were not, in fact, their partners?

Was he responding (belatedly) to mission accomplished?  To weapons of mass destruction.  To swift boat? To Read my lips: No new taxes? To I am not a crook?

Was he voicing his opinion of everything Dick ("I might run for President in 2012") Cheney has ever said?

Amazingly, no. He shouted it at President Obama--the first person in the Oval Office in eight years who has integrity and honesty and who actually makes sense. The topic was, of course, health care.

CNN and The Huffington Post (which called the representative "Old Yeller")  have the stories.
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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

interesting how wilson's outburst deflected attention from the Republican response's deflection of the issue of universal coverage. Anyone else catch that? Dr Congressman (as if doctors know anything about health care!) essentially said, "yes we agree we need cheaper and better health care, but we don't like how you want to do it" and never mentioned universal coverage. Obviously if they voiced their opposition to universal coverage, their real agenda of protecting the status quo would be revealed. So when you can't win, you manipulate the argument. It's been working for them for years

Joanne Mattera said...

The news media is starting to note the financial backers of these repugnican lawmakers--all drug and insurance companies. Let's hope they continue to connect the dots for voters who need to see the connections.

Lia said...

Another instance of a staid old party (the SOP, not the GOP) that can't get their act together. I believe he was responding to Obama's saying that illegal immigrants will not be covered. And Obama is correct, Wilson is wrong, looks stupid, makes the party look stupider...and underlying this, I would say there also is racism. I wonder why the media isn't being more strident about reacting to this and illuminating the bs. Personally, I want reform, a public option, and I am willing to put my money where my mouth is and pay higher taxes.

matt said...

Amen to that Joanne!

Nancy Natale said...

If the Democrats could sit through eight years of Bush/Cheney lies, manipulations, warmongering and arrogant stupidity, the Republicans should manage to take in Obama's intelligence, masterful oration and charisma without being reduced to shouting as if they were in a bar.

NJ ART 73 said...

Today, September 16,2009 Salon.Com had an excellent article, "Meet the Man Who Changed Glenn Beck's Life". Reading it sent shivers down my spine. It never ceases to amaze me how the idiots manage to be listened to over the sane. BTW- Joe Wilson in my opinion is not sorry at all. No way -no how. After he was one of 7 or so South Carolina state senators who voted to keep the Stars & Bars flying over the state capitol. Somehow this all fits together in a very frightening way.

Joanne Mattera said...

I hear you NJ. There is a large and dissatisfied group of mostly white men who are afraid because the things that gave them power--their whiteness, their maleness, their heterosexulaity--are, in the wake of legal and societal empowerment of people of color, women of all colors, and gay people of both sexes and all colors, culminating with the election of a black president, not all that "special." It's gotta be scary for people who had nothing going for them except race and biology to find that those things don't hold the same power. I mean, why else would that white guy in NH have felt the need to attend a health insurance rally with a giant gun strapped to his leg? I'm no psychoanalyst but you don't have to be Freud to figure out that one.