UPDATED 12:28 p.m. CST with Wilson's campaign site, .gov site is still down
UPDATED 10:41 p.m. CST with Wilson's apology
Obama can't even address Congress without getting heckled. Talk about losing control of the message. During tonight's speech before a joint session of Congress, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) yelled "You lie!" at the president. Watch for yourself.
The president's speech was what you would expect. After a long summer of being death paneled into a corner, he had to come out swinging. Thank god no one was packing heat in that chamber.
Dennis Byrne thinks the speech was just more of the same BS Obama's been feeding us. But I'm wondering how Wilson's mother must feel. I can't be the only one asking myself if she ever taught him some manners. Even sports fans are writing about it!
Turns out Wilson had enough sense to quickly issue an apology, according to HuffPo:
"This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to
the President's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in
the health care bill," he said. "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
also called the White House to apologize."
Sadly, Wilson's Web site is down at this hour, which makes me wonder if he let his emotions get the better of him, or if he spent the evening drying his sweaty palms on his suitcoat knowing he was going to make "history." I mean, if he had thought it out, people might want phone in or bust out the credit card to reward him with campaign cash.
Could this be a sign of things to come? Can Pelosi and Biden hold their own if (when) the Right storms the podium? Can Dana White sell enough pay-per-view subscriptions for an upcoming "Romp in the Swamp" to get the economy back on track? Across the pond, they know talk is for sissies:
Tags: @frontdoor, health care, heckler, Joe Wilson, Obama, reform, video
I can't even listen to this guy anymore. Unless I want to be put to sleep that is. The droning on and on and on..."if you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance." Hell yeah Obama is a liar.
One piece of evidence that is a lie. One. Come on, let's have it.
Well first he said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that Sadaam Hussein was providing yellow cake uranium to terrorists...
Oh wait...
Representative Joe Wilson is a shame to congress. He is disrespectful and unprofessional. Shame on him!
do you really think he let his emotions get the better of him? after a summer of dominating the news cycle, i think this could have been orchestrated to monopolize tomorrow's discussion, rather than allow for folks to debate the points.
President Obama is on the record, a multiplicity of times, supporting a single-payer system. A single-payer system, by it's very definition, means a government monopoly on health insurance/healthcare. In other words, no private health insurance. So, "like your healthcare...blah, blah, blah" is just pandering prevaricating pablum.
you can cuss in here, the kids are asleep
@The Parking Ticket Geek So you against single payer. I disagree agree but fine. How does that make the President of the United States a liar? Obviously Obama is going to compromise (as has being painfully displayed in the media over and over again) to whatever reform he wants or ever had once wanted. He is giving up what he would ideologically prefer for the good of the nation.
The real shame here is that instead of the news cycle being about finding real solutions for health care its going to be about another wingnut more worried about cameras and politics then real people's problems.
i agree, tomorrow we're getting treated to Wilson's life story. maybe his web site will be back up. I've got five on him making the conservo rounds by noon. Beck and Dobbs by 6, at the latest.
NathanArr, thanks for the respectful comment. I believe he is lying by repeating that line ad naseum. If he knows that line is essentially untrue, than it's a lie. Even the CBO says the current plan in the House will decimate private health insurance.
Maybe, better said, it's political propaganda. But I'm not sure I can tell the difference between the two, whether it comes from the left OR the right.
Wilson outburst is certainly unfortunate and well...stupid. Conservatives should always take the high road when arguing their beliefs.
word, Conservative is part of the title. at least throw in a Mr. President.
"Even the CBO says the current plan in the House will decimate private health insurance."
The issue is not how to protect the health insurance industry. The issue is fixing the broken health care system.
The whole health care industry is based off of making money from sick people (even insurance, if people don't get sick they don't buy insurance). We are talking about ways to have less sick people and pay less money when we do get stick. If the plan works of course that is going to result in less money for health care companies of all sorts.
American capitalism is based off of self interest. The American people need to think of theirs not the insurance companies.
Geek to Me...Dubyah said it because every intelligence agency in the world told him so, and the few who said otherwise were, at the time, less than credible (I'm thinking of Plame's husband, the other Wilson, who spent an entire trip to Africa drinking coffee in restaraunts and then reached his conclusion without actually investigating the question). Calling Bush a liar is- and was- at least as uncivil as calling Wilson one.
I'll take you Lefties seriously about how the nuttier members of the Right are treating Obama when you apologize to Dubyah for how you treated him.
And NathanArr, you miss the point. Private insurance companies can't compete with the government. It's not in the interests of the American people to be in the same boat as all those Canadians who have to come across the border to the States in order to get diagnostic tests in a timely enough manner to save their lives from aggressive cancers because of the length of the government waiting list in their country.
Read "calling Obama one" for "calling Wilson one" above.
@uisgeachan I don't understand your point. Are you saying that the government plan will both be so good that private insurance won't be able to compete with it but so bad that people will be dying in the streets at the same time?
Oh My God!! This is an outrage!! Someone saying 'you lie' to Obama while he's talking? Let's see...it's ok for liberals to say that President Bush is a Nazi, a war criminal, etc. but it's somehow over the line to say Obama lies? It's fine when Obama says something against the Republicans during the speach and all the democrats stand up and cheer? It follows that when Obama says something the Republicans disagree with that they should be able to stand up and boo him!! If he would stop taking shots at the Republicans maybe non partisan work could be accomplished. Maybe allowing the Republicans to be involved in the health care talks in the White House would result in correcting many of the problems facing health care. True is, Obama hasn't allowed the Republicans to be involved in the talks on reforming health care that have been going on in the White House since April, but puts out this lie that his door is open for all talks. He lies, everyone knows it and they don't trust him. The polls reflect that. What I saw last night was the Democrats showing all Americans that they are going to try to pass this legislation eventhough the people back in their districts said no to this health care bill. They refuse to listen to the American people. If they do pass this on a bi-partisan vote, the democrats will lose big time in the next elections. People are tired of the political climate in Washington D.C. and their self-indulging agenda. The legislators work for the people of the United States and the American people are standing up against those legislators who refuse to listen to them. All politians lie, and calling them out on it is the right thing to do.
Correction: meant to type 'partisan' vote.
I think that it was very unstatesman-like for a member of Congress to yell out at the President of the United States like that. Even if you don't respect the man, respect the office. I don't care what political party you're in, it was wrong.
presidents don't lie. everybody knows that.