Typical: Rep. Joe Wilson becomes the “story” of last night

The NYT, the WaPo, the AP – all have lead stories about Congressman Joe Wilson’s “liar” outburst last night during Obama’s speech. Gee, who would have predicted that?

I’m with Michelle Malkin on this one:

The Left is in high dudgeon — never letting a moment of manufactured outrage go to waste.

Sure, members of Congress should leave the heckling to town hall protesters.

But it was Obama who said himself in the speech: “If you misrepresent what’s in the plan, we will call you out.”

That’s what Joe Wilson was doing, wasn’t it?

Yep, he sure was. I should point out, too, that Wilson has since apologized for the outburst, but as ST reader GWR commented last night, where is Obama’s apology for calling Sarah Palin a liar? Furthermore, where’s the media’s “outrage” at him doing so? Why, we’re not witnessing the MSM’s and the left’s infamous penchant for double standards, are we?

And speaking of double standards, check out this video flashback of how Democrats heckled and booed President Bush during his 2005 SOTU address when he addressed the issue of Social Security. Ed Morrissey notes the hypocrisy of their then-versus-now attitudes on decorum:

Did any of the hyperventilators today demand apologies from their side at the time? Did any Democrat ever offer an apology for their rude behavior? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

I’d take the hyperventilating with a wee more seriousness if it didn’t come from the same crowd who cheered the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush in a 2008 press conference.

As he also points out, Bush was more right on the Social Security issue than Obama ever will be on the issue of illegals being covered by the House version of ObamaCare.

But … let’s not let facts get in the way of a good phony rant by the left and their cohorts in the MSM, shall we?

And while on the topic of phony rants:

After the speech, Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff who sat a few rows in front of Mr. Wilson, said he immediately approached senior Republican lawmakers to encourage them to identify the heckler and urge him to issue an apology quickly.

“No president has ever been treated like that. Ever,” Mr. Emanuel said.

I’m sure the NYT factcheckers will be right on it to determine whether or not Emanuel is correct. Right after they get done high-fiving Tom Friedman for expressing their viewpoints on dictatorships so eloquently, and right after Emanuel himself apologies for being a bigger jerk than most Congressional reps on the left and right will ever be.

Related reading: You and your party are being “called out,” President Obama: The Democrat assertion that Republicans want to “abolish” Medicare is a lie.

26 Responses to "Typical: Rep. Joe Wilson becomes the “story” of last night"

Sissy Willis says:

September 10, 2009 at 12:10 pm

Standard Rahm Emanuel MO: Never let a “serious crisis” go to waste!
Kate says:

September 10, 2009 at 12:20 pm

Emanuel had the truth squad ready….the “offender” has now offered his apologies and they were “accepted” by the White House.

I wonder if any of the sneering brood that generally were impolite and abusive to our former president sent their apologies? Again, I think not!
Carlos says:

September 10, 2009 at 12:28 pm

Slowly dissolving Medicare and Social Security would be a welcome start, but that’s as likely as an apology from Emanuel (either one) for being a jerk, or from Obama for being exactly what Wilson said he was.

And fair play has nothing to do with the agenda(s) pushed by the MSM or by the trolls in charge of our government. Only the goals, government takeover and control of lives and decisions, count to the statists.

Just think of the multi-billions annually that would be fed back into the economy if people were allowed to choose who to put their hard-earned retirement and retirement health insurance money with.

Just think of all the Edwards-type lawyers having to find real jobs if effective tort reform were enacted.

And just think of the ability to really choose an insurance carrier if state insurance fiefdoms were eliminated.

Again, I didn’t see or hear a word about how costs were to be contained or driven down by the proposed Democratic “health care” bills, only how great it will be if only we could give up just a little freedom and eliminate just a little free market.
DaMav says:

September 10, 2009 at 12:46 pm

Americans’ approval of Congress remains at historic lows. Maybe if there were more Joe Wilsons willing to stand up and confront liars that would change.
GJMerits says:

September 10, 2009 at 12:47 pm

I love Dr. Hunter’s response to this (LINK)

Readers who frequent this website know I am no apologist for the Republican Party but I must question the high dudgeon in which Democrats, the media and even some RINOs have gotten themselves into over the heckling incident during the President’s address to a Joint Session of Congress last night. OK, I will admit, many Americans were offended by Congressman Joe Wilson’s calling President Obama a liar. But another group of Americans was equally offended by the President’s calling Republican Members of Congress liars from the Dias. Besides which, since when have Americans become so persnickety about the manners of politicians who are the very definition of rudeness and boorishness? Has anyone read Mark Twain or Will Rogers lately?

Well, it all set me to thinking, and so I pose a few questions and observations for you dear reader to ponder:

· What is worse, the President lying to the public before a Joint Session of Congress (The healthcare system is in extremis and requires urgent overhaul; I will not sign a healthcare bill that adds one dime to the deficit; Nothing in my plan will adversely affect your current insurance) or a Member of Congress calling the President a liar in public?

· What is worse, the President calling Republican Members of Congress liars from the Dias during an address to a Joint Session of Congress or a Republican Member of Congress calling the President a liar from the floor of the House?

· What is worse, the President abusing the privilege of addressing a Joint Session of Congress, making a partisan playhouse out of the People’s House for his own political theater and using the Members of Congress as stage props for his own drama or a Member of Congress refusing to go along with the travesty and heckling the President from the cheap seats like some Member of the English Parliament?

· What is worse, the Republican heckler later apologizing for calling out the President after the President first threatened from the Dias of the House to call out Republican Members of Congress for their lies (for which the President has not apologized to anyone), or the former Republican presidential candidate who gave us this President by his pitiful failure as a candidate blushing in the cheap seats demanding that his heckling fellow Republican apologize?

[Read the rest at the link provided. GJ, in the future please only provide excerpts. Thanks. –ST]
GJMerits says:

September 10, 2009 at 12:49 pm

Oh, and let’s not forget about the booing of GWB during his 2005 State of the Union. I don’t recall any apologies then. LINK
Joseph Brown says:

September 10, 2009 at 12:51 pm

Being a fellow South Carolinian I applaud what Mr Wilson did. I just wish more Repubs had the stones to do the same.
Obama is a consumate liar as everyone knows and never apologizes for blaming the Bush administration for everything. Never let a good crisis go to waste.
Joseph Brown says:

September 10, 2009 at 12:52 pm

Sorry sister, on the double post. For once my typing finger was faster than my brain.:”>
arcman says:

September 10, 2009 at 12:56 pm

Everything about Obama is a lie. The reason the man lies is because his whole life, political and otherwise, is built on a lie. Mr President, open your records, let’s see exactly what you are hiding.
Topsecretk9 says:

September 10, 2009 at 1:17 pm

Um, that Joe Wilson is the story is MSM capitulation that Obama[‘s speech did nothing in terms of saving his healthcare reform disaster as was intended.
Lisa says:

September 10, 2009 at 1:23 pm

He didn’t apologize for the content, just in the delivery. My “thank you for speaking on my behalf” contribution has already been made. joewilsonforcongress dot com. How about you? Can you imagine the positive impact if all like-minded Americans did likewise, even $1.00? MY ltr to McCain condemning his comments has also been sent. From wikepedia: During President Obama’s September 9, 2009 speech to a joint session of Congress, in which he discussed his plan for health care reform, Wilson interrupted the President’s address during a statement that the plan would not include coverage for illegal immigrants. In a historic breach of decorum, Wilson interrupted by pointing and shouting “You lie!”[11][12][13]

Wilson left the House chamber immediately after the end of the speech.[14] After the session, Senator John McCain appeared on Larry King Live and said, “Totally disrespectful. No place for it in that setting or any other and he should apologize immediately.”[15][16] Shortly after leaving the Capital, Wilson’s office issued an official statement saying, “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. 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.”[17] He later called the White House to apologize privately. [18]
Sister Toldjah says:

September 10, 2009 at 1:32 pm

Sissy – exactly!

GJ – yep, I linked to that vid in my post
GJMerits says:

September 10, 2009 at 3:11 pm

Sorry ST, I just got a little overexcited. Excerpts only in the future.
Brontefan says:

September 10, 2009 at 3:27 pm

“No president has ever been treated like that. Ever,” Mr. Emanuel said.

NOT TRUE! The previous President was treated with horrible insolence time and time again. I wonder if he ever insisted on immediate apologies. What about an apology for all the lies OB told during and after the campaign and since he took office?
I fail to see the “Messiah” in this man who has run out of interesting rhetoric.
Steve Skubinna says:

September 10, 2009 at 4:14 pm

Wilson should have thrown a shoe at the President. Then he’d have been a hero to the Dems, right?
Will says:

September 10, 2009 at 4:22 pm

Let’s take a breath for a minute through our noses and calm down. Whether you like the president or not, it is not appropriate to shout out an insult as uttered by Congressman Wilson. There has always been generalized grumbling and booing at political speeches from both sides, but in my honorable opinion, Mrs. Wilson did not raise the senator very well; I was shocked to hear he was a South Carolinian. He was completely correct to apologize immediatel. With our current governor’s recent debacle, we don’t need any more of the “spotlight” on our state.
Signed a South Carolinian who has just returned back to our state
Kate says:

September 10, 2009 at 5:27 pm

Well, I guess since he apologized all is well, right? Not!

I think that his outburst is borne of stress and repression. The republicans who haven’t been given a decent hearing by the administration over the whole health care debacle-in-planning, are about to implode. I would hope some pony-tailed lawyer out there can get them a nice settlement and medical leave soon! In short, the are operating in a hostile workplace. This should be investigated immediately. Where is OSHA? Where is the NLRB? Where is the AG?

How can any caring human being sit still and listen to the lies he was spewing forth with such panache?
Georg Felis says:

September 10, 2009 at 5:45 pm

Hm. The last Joe Wilson who called the President a liar was loved and adored by the press, had all kinds of positive articles done on him and his wonderful wife Valerie, and wound up with a best-selling book out of the process.

Now this Joe Wilson is getting the exact opposite treatment for the same behavior. Wonder what Changed….
john mullins says:

September 11, 2009 at 2:05 am

im glad he called out the president as a liar, it just sucks that he crawfished and apologized. people need to wake up and start paying attention to what that idiot barrak says because he is a liar and people need to start calling him out. it is a shame we still have 3 more years before we can get rid of this trash.
Brad says:

September 11, 2009 at 4:22 am

Joe Wilson is my hero It is about time someone told Obama the truth. He is surrounded by a bunch of thugs that think they are above the law and want to destroy this nation. I say You go Joe
John says:

September 11, 2009 at 4:30 am

Wilson was right! Check out the Center for Immigration Studies. The Center stated in a Study that illegal aliens would receive benefits under the current plan.

“Based on our analysis of Census Bureau data, we estimate that there are 6.6 million uninsured illegal immigrants in the United States who could be covered by the new health care reform bill (HR 3200). Even though HR 3200 states that illegal immigrants are not eligible for the proposed taxpayer-funded affordable premium credits, there is nothing in the bill to enforce this. An amendment was defeated in committee that would have required the use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, used by almost all other means-tested programs of this kind.”

Obama did lie & Joe Wilson was the only one with enough guts to speak out. Now they are trying to silence the only one who spoke the truth!!! Visit the site & read for yourself LINK Pass this site on to others. People need to know about this kind of deception.
2Hotel9 says:

September 11, 2009 at 7:03 am

Thats good, Sis! Let them screech and wail about Wilson, it helps collapse their lies about healthcare in America. More people are learning the truth through this than in any other way.
Carlos says:

September 11, 2009 at 12:06 pm

The libs and leftists have always been about screaming others down; Republicans have always stood for decorum and properness.

Look where that has gotten us: significant minorities in both houses of Congress, a socialist president and a candidate the last runaround that was as pink as medium rare steak.

If the left wishes to rule the roost with an iron fist, it’s time for conservatives to stand up and use their tactics of disruption, and there was no better time to start than in front of a national audience with the Liar-in-Chief addressing a joint session of Congress.

Thank you, Rep. Wilson.
Homer Boiteux says:

September 11, 2009 at 1:37 pm

If Joe Wilson had not apologized, he would have been a hero to the millions who choke on the daily distortions being served by the Greatest President Ever. He chose instead to be domesticated: his acceptance of the White House Absolution makes him more pathetic than if he were just another one of the majority of the minority who are being herded into pens.
Carlos says:

September 12, 2009 at 2:58 pm

Fact 1: No one is challenging what Wilson said, only that he said it to a president giving a speech to a joint session of Congress. Should we start a new organization of “Truthers”?

One thing’s certain. If we did, Obama couldn’t join.

Fact 2: Republicans wish to destroy Medicare in the same way they want to slash spending: keep the budget at present levels (with, maybe even, a COLA increase). This is significantly different than really cutting the real outlays for that or any other program.

Which, by the way, is hardly a “conservative” stand.
When Yelling “You Lie” Is So Much Worse Than Booing (video) « Frugal Café Blog Zone says:

September 13, 2009 at 8:30 pm

[…] ObamaCare Sister Toldjah: Lies and the lying President who tells them and I demand an apology and Typical: Rep. Joe Wilson becomes the “story” of last night The Sundries Shack: Slow Down, Mr. President! I Haven’t Gotten My Boots On! Right Voices: SCROLL […]

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