Well, folks, here he is -- the unbelievable asshole who shouted "you lie!" during Obama's speech. He's Republican representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina.
If you're trying to think back to the last time something like that happened during a presidential address -- something so juvenile and disrespectful -- you can stop now: As far as anyone can remember, it hasn't.
This is what Obama's up against. These are the people he's trying to extend an olive branch across the aisle to. The ones he took a magnanimous and entirely reasonable tack with tonight. Certainly, not every Republican in Congress is as much of an offensive prick as Wilson, but just think about what we've witnessed over the past few months. Think about the unconscionable horror show the right has unleashed -- the lies, the accusations, the threats, the conspiracy theories -- often with the complicity or outright assistance of GOP lawmakers.
Now think about the poise, class and decisiveness of Obama tonight. He made his political foes look like exactly what they are: children. A bunch of impudent, embarrassing thugs who aren't fit to hold the jobs they have, shouldn't at any point be taken seriously, and who absolutely can't be trusted with something as important as ensuring that you and your family have access to the quality, affordable health care that every American is entitled to.
They're a joke.
Joe Wilson just proved it.
(Update: The Huffington Post nailed the entire right wing ethos these days -- the rabid Beck-Coulter-Hannity-Limbaugh mindset -- with this one line: "The world is their town hall." And, I have to ask once again, as much as it pains me to do so: Would this kind of disrespect have happened -- would a representative from South Carolina have had the balls to shout down the president of the United States during an official address to Congress and the nation had that president not been black? I want to say that race has absolutely nothing to do with it, but it's intellectually dishonest not to seriously consider the very real possibility.)
No comments:
Post a Comment