Local Reaction To Congressman Wilson’s Outburst
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Reaction To Congressman Joe Wilson's Outburst
Those in favor of and opposed to President Obama's proposed health care reform plan react to Congressman Joe Wilson calling the President a liar during his speech to Congress.As you might imagine - the reaction to Congressman Wilson’s outburst has been wide-ranging…especially in his home state. Reaction from those both for and against President Obama’s proposed healthcare reform bill isn’t that much different. Whether in favor of or opposed to President Obama’s proposals…people on both sides of the issue seem to agree that Congressman Wilson acted inappropriately and it remains to be seen what kind of effect the outburst will have on his political career.
Calling President Obama a liar in the midst of a speech to Congress on health reform - South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson stepped over the bounds of etiquette - an embarrassing outburst according to State Senator Tom Davis, “Decorum dictates that you show respect - you may not agree with what the president has to say but there’s a certain level of respect that’s due to our elected president.” Bruce Doneff - who spoke out against Wilson’s opposition to proposed health care reform at a recent town hall meeting - says South Carolina congressman James Clyburn may have summed up his feelings on the outburst best, “The Joe Wilson’s of the world are contributing to a poisonous environment around this discussion, such that it’s becoming very, very difficult for reasonable people to discuss the facts so that we as a country can make a good decision. Last night was just a case in point - what is Representative Wilson thinking?”
Members of his own party say the outburst was unfortunate for more reasons than simple lack of decorum. According to Senator Davis, “I think it’s kind of taken the debate away from what I think are some real problems with what President Obama is proposing and unfortunately - instead of spending today talking about what some of those problems are - we are more focused in on Representative Wilson’s you know, outburst on the floor.” As far as the affect the outburst will have on his career - opinions are divided. “One has to wonder - does this you know, is this representative of the extremist view of this congressman? Or is he the more reasonable person that he wants some of us to believe? I tend to think last night show his true colors,” says Doneff. Senator Davis disagrees, “He’s been a good representative you know, so I think that he can bounce back from this.”
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Reader Reactions
We continually hear lamentations about Wilson’s lack of decorum and the decorum due the office of the president etc. This obsession with adherence to decorum is more startling than the actual outburst itself. Caught up in the emotion of the evening, Rep. Wilson burst out what the AP Fact Checking has reported to essentially be a truth. Obama’s statements were not in fact completely truthful and Wilson’s ejaculation -which I believe was intended to encompass the whole of the speech and not simply the illegal immigration utterance- was nothing more than the reaction of a man whose threshold for observing the usually adhered to decorum had been crossed. Rep. Kingston puts it well when he asks us to consider the far more important specter of health care reform while dismissing the outburst as nothing more than the dicey heckling of a member of congress not unlike any other heckling perpetrated by any other member throughout the history of congress. Let us not forget that in those very halls the issue of slavery moved senators to caning one another. I should hope that we have legislators as impassioned about the right governance of our country - with especial regard for our presently tattered Constitution -rather than small minded peons more obsessed with decorum. Remember, decorum is the behavioral manifestation of respect and respect garnered where it is not rightly due is a cousin to the lazy acceptance of tyranny.
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