Everyone (every Democrat, at least) is up in arms about Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst of, "You lie!" during President Obama's speech to Congress on Wed (09/09/09). I have heard about how it's rude, disrespectful, undignified, bad manners, etc, etc, Ad Nauseam. I personally, don't see how it's any different from Bush being booed and hissed during his speeches (just Google: "bush booed" "state of the union"). And Clinton was booed before him, as, I'm sure, have been many before him.
So, I don't see what all the offense and hoopla is about. There is more than enough bad manners and blame to go around, and no single party can claim a majority of it. Politics is just an exercise in bad manners.
Perhaps the real concern would be with the truth of the statement. Does Obama lie? Of course he does, he got elected didn't he? And don't take that as just cynical hyperbole. He certainly said untrue things during the campaign about John McCain, the country and the intentions of himself and the Democrats. Furthermore, there are certain things that he has not answered to, and he was very quiet about what, exactly, he was going to do once he took office. To me, silence when one should speak out is just as dishonest as saying something untrue.
Going further, heckling is just another form of dissent, and there's nothing wrong with it, as long as it's valid. (Libel and slander are a different discussion.) And Democrats and Republicans alike have defended dissent and heckling as being "part of the democratic process". To me, that's just calling 'em as you see 'em.
Wilson quickly apologized for his outburst, but I don't think an apology was necessary. Maybe for interrupting his speech, but no man should apologize for speaking his mind, or telling the truth.
Post Script:
And there's this, too:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=677700
Thursday, September 10, 2009
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3 comments:
Of course he lies! His words from the beginning have always been carefully crafted to be vague enough not to offend anyone and also so people could turn them into whatever they want to hear. That is why he is where he is today.
I'm a little torn about Joe Wilson. On the positive side, he was just saying what everyone was thinking. On the negative side, everyone is talking about the outburst instead of the speech. On the other hand, maybe it is a plus that everyone is talking about it. Maybe someone needed to say it out loud to break the trance that many people seem to be in.
Exactly! Only you said it better than I did.
(See my Post Script on my blog entry)
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