Boorish Behavior in the House
September 9th, 2009 by Syd
Tonight while President Obama was giving his health care speech, we witnessed something truly appalling. When Obama got to the place where he declared that his health care reform policy did not provide for health care for illegal aliens, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted, “You lie.” I don’t recall any other president being heckled that way during an address to Congress. Even at his lowest ebb, no one treated George W. Bush that way. Even Bill Clinton at the worst of his tenure was not heckled and insulted like this.
I have been trying to get on www.joewilson.house.gov with no success. Apparently, there are a couple of other folks who are outraged by the representative’s behavior. The intemperate representative quickly issued an apology, saying that “I let my emotions get the best of me…” Sorry, Joe, but that’s not good enough. Barak Obama is our president. He is President of the United States of America. His office and his person demand our respect, regardless of whether we agree with him on policy points or not. An insult to the president is an insult to us all, regardless of our politics or affiliations. I would suggest that Rep. Wilson resign since he is obviously incompetent to hold the office of a United States Representative.
Our culture and society depend upon respect for our traditions and institutions. There is a basic level of respect and civility that we extend to our institutions and representatives, not because of the personalities involved, but because we have recognized that these institutions of society and government are necessary and valuable. I’m not terribly wild about Justice Sonia Maria Sotomayor. I think she’s a racist and sexist, but by golly, she’s also a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and I’m going to treat the lady with respect regardless of whether I like her positions or not.
When our elected leaders fail to model the respect and decorum required by the institutions of our society, how can we possibly hope to solve the difficult problems facing us? Representative Joe Wilson has brought shame on his party and his state. His behavior was uncivilized to the extent of being barbaric. We can only hope that in the next election, South Carolina will produce a better quality of representation.
Welcome back, Syd. You have been missed.
Well said.
President George W. Bush is booed and heckled by Democrats at his 2005 State of the Union address.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/09/10/flashback_democrats_boo_bush_at_2005_state_of_the_union.html
Soooo? Does that make it right? I don’t think so. I wasn’t remembering the booing in 2005, but even so, that’s not the same as calling the CINC a liar on national TV.
Unfortunately, yelling is becoming the preferred form of opposition. It’s like the town hall meetings that turn in to a ’shout at your senator’ event. Maybe it’s cathartic, but it’s not advancing the debate.
Well said, sad but true, Respect seems to be a lost art.
Normally I would agree with Syd, but these are not normal times and I’m inclined to give Rep. Wilson a pass for two reasons.
First, the Dems have already laid down a similar track record by booing and heckling President Bush during at least one State of the Union message.
But primarily, America is not accustomed to seeing its President stand before Congress and the nation and tell a baldfaced whopper the likes of which Obama tried to slip past his audience.
The President lied to the nation. Wilson broke decorum and called him on it. I’d say it’s a wash. Reasonable people can differ on this one.
Jeff
We conservatives and libertarians deal with so much flak. Bush was denigrated (not that I loved Bush, but he was often disrespected).
Likewise, Glenn Beck received the key to his hometown and it’s protests and what not. But twits like Michael Moore receive such honors and we’re supposed to respect them.
We conservatives & libertarians have made a mistake. We’ve always avoided stooping to their level. As such, it’s almost always the Republicans who resign while the Democrats continue on regardless of their affairs or misdeeds.
(Edwards, Rangel, etc would all have been forced to resign if they were Republicans.)
Frankly, this is the same President who flipped off both Hillary and McCain while on the campaign trail.
Not saying what he did was right. But tons of the traditional decorum has been thrown out. Frankly, we’re in an ideological civil war.
If we don’t wake up to that fact then we’re going to not wake up.
Please substantiate your claims or don’t post them. When exactly did Obama “flip off” Hillary and McCain. When and on what issue did the president lie?
There wouldn’t be an Obama if Bush & Co. hadn’t screwed the pooch so bad.
Personally, I’m not in an ideological civil war with anyone. Life’s too short. The “ideological civil war” that some think they’re in is just an echo chamber. Nobody is listening. Set off some fire crackers at town hall meetings. That seems to work, at least for a couple of minutes.
I have survived lo these many years by being a realist. What this realist sees is that the conservative movement that I have worked for and sacrificed for for so many years has crashed and burned. Bush and the “Neo-cons” sold us down the river. My business card says, “Have gun, will travel.” Twenty years of dedicated work and I’ve got nothing to show for it but a concealed carry permit and a guy in the White House whose middle name is “Hussein.”
Give me a freakin break.
Here you go sir…and yes, people will say he was just scratching an itch. Bull. You can see his facial expression, he knew just what he was doing. You can see with your own eyes that he was being deliberate in his actions and his timing.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=obama+flips+off+mccain&search_type=&aq=0&oq=Obama+Flips+of
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=obama+flips+off+hillary&search_type=&aq=f
***
“Personally, I’m not in an ideological civil war with anyone.”
That may be true….but at the start of most wars there is usually one party who is NOT at war. My elementary school teachers liked to claim it takes two to start a fight. It does not…it merely takes one to start a fight.
But the truth is, there are people who want to a) take away our way of life, b) take away our liberty, c) disarm us so we will be incapable of restoring either.
And yes, the Republicans sold us down the river. I honestly have no issue with the President’s name. I am sure there are people who felt similar about having an Irish president. I don’t even blame Obama…that’s as stupid as the liberals who blame Bush for all our woes. Our woes did not suddenly appear in the mere 2 terms of Bush. They have been piling up for several decades. Just like our $50+ trillion national debt.
“My business card says, “Have gun, will travel.” ”
Problem is where? When I was a little kid, I figured if America ever went to hell in a handbasket, Australia would be my traveling point. Except they already went there…
Where do you go…?
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My issue is that I dislike both parties. Or rather, I don’t like the Republicans and I hate the Democrats (for personal reasons). But there are so many barriers that have been put against 3rd party and independents that it’s nigh impossible for them to win. Our government has grown so large, excessive, corrupt and wasteful that it’s hard to look on Washington D.C. and call it America anymore.
Heck I even started to have trouble when looking at the flag. And it tore me up, cause I love America, the principles we were founded on, but we’re not that country anymore. Sadly. In fact, 2 yrs ago I started to fly the 13-starred flag because to me, that flag represents the ideals that have been lost (as well as smaller government).
“Life’s too short.”
So true….I am entering the age where you start to realize that fact. You start to see your mortality before you. Feel yourself reach the pinnacle of your health and know you’re close to the halfway point.
A large part of me just wants to buy a farmette and live my life, as self-sufficiently as I can. And enjoy my family, watch my little ones grow up. But I also know that my freedom to do that, and even pursue that dream may be easily infringed by the path our nation is on.
Meanwhile, we can be silent, just allow ourselves to be demonized by the leftist media and until we’re just considered a small segment of the population. The same segment that is always rounded up and hauled off to the gulags when balance is lost.
I consider myself a realist. And I’ve watched the demonization of anyone who “doesn’t think like THEM”. And if we don’t speak up, then those around us will be afraid to call out the Emperor on his new clothes.
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Why am I unoffended by the Congressmen’s comment? Because frankly, they don’t respect us. Hundreds of thousands of people called their elected officials decrying the bailouts. But our voices were meaningless. The politicians did as they saw fit. Namely, stealing trillions of dollars from us and our children so they could blow most of it on pet projects and election campaigns.
??
If our government does not respect us, what obligation do we have to respect it?
Thank you for posting your “evidence” even though I think the underlying assertion that this was a deliberate obscene gesture is absurd.
How can you love and respect America without treating its representatives with a nominal amount of respect and decorum? Just because individuals fail that test at times does not mean that we should all adopt uncivilized behavior as the “new normal.”
I was taught very early in life not to let other people control or determine my behavior. I do what I do because of who I am and want to be. This idea has served me well. Just because someone else acts like a jerk does not mean I have to.
They say New Zealand is lovely this time of year.
Good piece, Syd. Welcome back!
What both parties and their most vocal elements have forgotten since the Nixon administration is that we elect them to govern and to lead, not to parrot hard line ideological positions, nor to speak only in sound bites. Governing is about compromise, which is summed up simply as not getting everything one wants. Civility is has nearly disappeared from the public discourse, and we need it to return.
Rep. Wilson’s odious behavior is a symptom of these attitudes. Hopefully the good people of his district will not return him to the House next year as I doubt he’ll take your sage advice to resign.
This was not a regularly scheduled State of the Union address; rather, it was part of the Democrats’ jam-down on health care which, unsurprisingly when a sixth of the economy is about to be socialized, has involved more lying than is customary–even by the low standards of politicians.
Obama, by his attempt to remake a country (Imagine if a husband had that intention with his wife? A sentiment I gained from listening to Dennis Prager) notwithstanding a lack of a mandate for doing so, is thoroughly indecent.
Syd, I respect what you are saying here. I too am a Burkean. But stranger manners are needed to confront strange times.
Rep. Wilson only made the mistake of apologizing. That took the wind out of his valid criticism. He properly confronted a bully in a way that is unseemly out of context.
Obama, even to his supporter and backer David Brooks, is an unnaturally prolific liar Rant off.
There’s something else to consider in how wrong Joe Wilson was…
He was not just calling the PotUS a liar because he told a lie. Obama said that the Republicans were lying when they said the health care plan paid for care for illegal aliens. That’s when Wilson said “YOU lie!” (as opposed to saying “You LIE!”).
Wilson (and many others) had just been called a liar by the President in front of his peers and on national TV. He responded by blurting out that it was not he, but rather Obama, that was lying to the American public.
There’s a rather large difference in just calling someone a liar because they are, and pointing out that the person calling you a liar is actually the one doing the lying.
As wrong as what he did was, he deserves a tiny bit of slack because of the circumstances, which it should be pointed out that virtually all of the media ignores.
With the disdain PoTUS has treated Americans, I personally do not feel the Office has any respect left. Our government is corrupt. It no longer listens to the people. President Obama is not a king and should not be lifted up as Royalty. He’s there to do a job for us. He’s this nation’s leader. If we do not expect him to act like one, he will not be. Bush forgot that. Clinton never understood it.
Why do you feel Joe Wilson should resign for being outspoken. Doesn’t he have the freedom of speech? Does he *owe* our President respect while he is being disrespected? I cry BS.
Welcome back Syd.
He is no better than any of the Senators or Representatives. They are equal in their deserving of respect, and their ability to belittle each other. While they should all be polite to each other I guess, it does remind me of the stories of the old times in the Congress. Where there would be actual fistfights between members.
Part of me would like to agree with Syd, that what Joe Wilson did was not right. I believe he knows it was not right, hence his appology. But then the side of me that considers the U.S. Constitution an almost sacred document stands up and applauds the action of a fellow patriot who let his emotions get the best of him. The actions of this President and the Obamacrats, the bailouts , increased spending , takeover of private industry and rushed attempt takeover of our healthcare system leads me to believe we are not living in “normal” times with decorum as our highest ideal. Add to this the assured destruction of our industries and economy by our signing of a U.N. “global warming” treaty , and you can understand the distrust and disrespect some have for this President and those drinking the kool-aid.