I was hoping to avoid talking about Joe Wilson’s outburst during Obama’s speech last week, but this story, like Bret Favre’s career, just won’t seem to go away.
Any American who gets angry about something should ask themselves a question “Would I still be angry if the president or party affiliation in this situation was switched?” If the answer is “yes” then congratulations, you are an intellectually honest thinker who is helping this country move towards a brighter future. If the answer, in all honesty, is “no” then shut up! If some random Democratic congressman had yelled ”you lie” at Bush while he was making a formal address to congress and millions of Americans, the right wing would have exploded on every TV and radio station in the country. “Even if you don’t agree with Bush he deserves to finish a speech without being shouted down in the middle of an address to the nation” or “is nothing sacred to the Democrats anymore?” would have been common phrases plastered all over the country’s media outlets the next morning. Meanwhile, the Democrats would have been defending this random congressman to the death with cries of “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” and “Bush wants to end the free speech of those who disagree with him”
I would have been indignant if Bush had been shouted at during a speech. Yelling “you lie” during a formal address to congress is disrespectful to the office of the Presidency. We live in a day of more blogs, political websites, 24 hr news networks, and talk radio stations than you can fit under Oprah. Anyone (even some ego-centric guy who names a website after himself) can make themselves heard. The democratic party doesn’t a have a monopoly on the media, or even on TV news. There are conservative news outlets, liberal news outlets, and even one for homosexuals (hint hint, it rhymes with Lee Ben Ben). No one needs to resort to shouting at the President of the United States while he is trying to talk to the American people.
So lets all pretend like we are adults and start having a discussion with the evil, America hating, socialist, communist, Marxist opposition about how to best solve the problems that America faces. No more publicity stunts during presidential speeches; that way Obama gets to finish his sentences, and we all agree to not shout about him lying until the next morning on Fox and Friends.
The guy has apologized to the President. He admitted it was the wrong thing to do and the President accepted his apology. Let’s move on.
Joe Wilson is a pompous fool and is deserving of a thorough rebuke. I love you blog Douglas, I hope you feel the same about my show…
Doug!!!! this is a way cool site. I feel like i’m sitting in tv fundies listening to you on the back row… You’ll be on Fox before you know it!
“i” before “e” except after “c”…. check the spelling on the title of your post. And I would agree that what Joe Wilson did would be equally wrong if he/she were a Democrat. Even Laura Bush agreed that the office of the Presidency should be respected. When the shoe throwing incident happened I was outraged. Not good.
I guess “both” would be a cop out, but I would lean towards political stunt. Most of the people who are the most guilty of playing politics are members of the House.
I agree 100%. I would like to ask a question though, how do you feel about the house voting to rebuke Joe Wilson? A political stunt or worthy cause?