House votes to “formally rebuke” Joe Wilson

The petty nonsense continues:

House Democrats dealt South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson a formal rebuke Wednesday, taking the rare step of passing a resolution of disapproval for his famous “you lie!” outburst last week in the House chamber.

The vote was 240-179, falling almost exclusively along party lines.

While Democrats said they were defending the rules of the House and enforcing the traditional decorum of the chamber, Republicans mounted a fierce attack on the resolution, saying it was a waste of time after Wilson had duly apologized to President Barack Obama for his outburst during a joint address to Congress. While a resolution of disapproval is little more than a slap on the wrist, a formal roll call vote like this – permanently entered into the Congressional Record – is extremely rare.

“What’s at issue here is of importance to the House and of importance to the country,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer proclaimed during the hour-long debate preceding the vote. “This House cannot stay silent.”

Except when it comes to much worse behavior from a House Democrat, of course.

I gotta tell ya, this makes me feel so much better – I mean, now we can rest assured that the masses of racist Rethuglicans will get the message that their “white hood“-type behavior of opposing Obama’s agenda based on the merits – or lack thereof – will not be tolerated.

In the end, this issue will blow over for most of America and will help Wilson rake in thousands more in campaign donations, but as another Congressman whose name I can’t recall at the moment stated on the floor earlier today, this sets a bad precedent. Wilson was essentially rebuked for “bad behavior.” If that’s grounds for a rebuke, they better set up a “Rebuke Desk” because there’s not a week, heck, a day that goes by in the House where someone doesn’t step over the line with “bad behavior” – some real, and some imagined.

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