Should anyone care, I think that this move was unnecessary and simply political. Was Wilson's outburst rude and inappropriate? Probably, especially considering that he did not have his facts straight. Do I think that the outburst is that big of a deal? Not really. After all, if someone stood up in a joint session and called Bush on his (actual) lies during the last eight years, I would have felt (as a reader of Andrew Sullivan's blog put it) "like I'd been given water in the desert."
Let's go around the horn with reaction from the blogosphere:
Sammy Benoit at The Lid:
Today Congressional Democrats took the day off from the problems facing our country to engage in politics. They spent the day debating how to slap congressman Joe Wilson for shouting "you lie" at the POTUS, a charge that was true but the timing and venue was inappropriate. Wilson had already apologized to the President, but the Democrats wanted Wilson to apologize to the entire congress on the house floor.
What makes this wasted day even more amazing is that this is the same Democratic Party congress that didn't have the time to read the Porkulus Bill, never read the full cap and tax bill, and wont promise to read the Obamacare bill, but they have the time to waste a day engaging in political silliness.
[...]
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Democratic Party-run congress, they have time to waste a full day on politics, or on hearings about baseball steroids but no time to read the bills they are about to vote on. This is the Democratic Party hope and change. Strange way of doing business.
Stephen Kral of Manolith:
What’s especially silly about this whole endeavor, though, is that the South Carolina Representative had previously apologized and the incident almost had been forgotten. Forgotten, that is, until he decided to recant his apology after discovering that, “Hey, I’m really popular all of a sudden.” I mean, who cares that his opponent raised record numbers the day after, or that those who now champion him also believe that our President wasn’t born in the United States and is, more than likely, a socialist-fascist-marxist-messiah-racist-terrorist-and-any-other-scary-’other’-type-thing-there-is-boogie-man? Apparently not Rep. Joe Wilson.
Which makes sense I guess. Joe the Plumber just wasn’t really working out anymore, and who knows, maybe Joe “YOU LIE!!” Wilson thought he could do just a little better. All that said, this whole admonished business is pretty silly, on both sides of the aisle. His outburst was rude and disrespectful (not to mention false), sure, but there’s no reason to waste a House vote admonishing him either. I mean, really. What end does this serve? (Other than perpetuating this story further, that is.)
Jesse Hathaway at Athens Runaway:
Why does Joe Wilson become the first Congressman in US history to be formally rebuked by the House, when...
William Jefferson was scientifically proven to be taking bribes...
dozens of Congressmen booed President Bush, on multiple occasions...
Barney Frank helped cause the economy to crash and was the boyfriend of the CEO of Fannie Mae, and had a brothel running out of his home...
Jack Murtha was proven to be lying about the US Marines' integrity and honor
?
Oh, right, Joe Wilson is a racist.
Nevermind!
Note that in the "Around the Horn" entries, I post snippets from blogs that I may or may not agree with on the topic at hand so that readers can see reactions from various blogs.
No comments:
Post a Comment