“You Lie!” … The Outburst heard Around the World

Ok so “around the world” may be a bit of an overstatement, but certainly by now everyone has heard of the outburst from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) during Barack Obama’s address to the joint session this week. Now, some of my friends (a lot) were excited about it, proud, glad it happened, etc. Everyone (my GOP folks at least) seemed to be somewhat gleeful about this occurance…except me. Call me crazy but I still believe in something called decorum. Heres a clip if you haven’t seen it:

Now, the message behind Sen. Wilson’s comment was spot on. The President was being misleading when he said whatever reforms would not cover illegals. Well just because the bills didn’t specifically say they would cover illegals doesn’t mean it wouldn’t. It is what we like to call a loophole. There were no measures in that bill that pertained to verification of residency (i.e. illegals could sign up and there is no way we could make sure they weren’t here unlawfully). This isn’t Republicans being inhumane or anti-people, this is about spending money responsibly (and its good to see Republicans actually do that for a change). With what this bill will cost the taxpayers, none of it should go to provide coverage or insurance to illegal immigrants. All attempts by Republicans to put in place verification provisions were shot down by the Democrats. So yes, Rep. Wilson was spot on with the message he was trying to get across. And “You Lie!” is definately shorter than “You’re Being Misleading!” (HAHA)

But here is why I wasn’t too pleased with Rep. Wilson, its all about approach. And it is also about decorum. Now for my conservative friends…go with me on this because I have already been called a moron for what I am about to say. This is probably the first time a President has been called a liar in the chamber of the House of Representatives (we should differentiate that from television…seriously). While a President’s remarks may be met with groans and boos at times, a Congressman has never called them a liar in the chamber. There is a reason for it. DECORUM! Now rather than talking about the message behind what Rep. Wilson was trying to say, they are just talking about his heckle. His message is being lost along the way. Although not too much, because now there is word that the Senate has closed the loophole that could have been used to cover illegal immigrants. Yes, the bill itself does not specifically cover illegals, but it had no verification in it…illegals could have been covered which is what Rep. Wilson was talking about. It is important for all of us to conduct ourselves with a bit more of statesmanship.

Some of my conservative friends have said that Democrats and Liberals never hesitated to call President Bush a liar or smear him. Well here is what I say to that…if we were frustrated by that or upset by it … why would we put ourselves on that level. Let us elevate the way we respond so that nobody can take issue and must debate it solely on issues rather than inflamatory statements.