Barack Obama and Joe Wilson: The Truth about ‘Lies’
There’s an old line about the treacherous folks in television news that “Things have gotten so bad with (Fill-in-the-blank) he’s stabbing people in the front”.
That’s all that Republican Congressman Joe Wilson was doing…stabbing in the front…when he interrupted the President’s speech last night to shout “You lie!” from his seat in the Peanut Gallery.
The truth is that President Obama’s political enemies spent August screaming about the President’s “lies”, just not to his face. So why are we picking on poor old Joe, and why did he wimp out and apologize later?
Was he worried about embarrassing his home state of South Carolina? That hardly seems possible these days. Was he trying please his true believers but still trying to survive in the hypocritical environment that is Washington? In other words, was he trying to have it both ways? No. There isn’t any evidence Congressman Wilson goes both ways.
What’s the big deal? Didn’t the President himself use the “L-word” when he accused the “Death-Panel”-mongers of telling “a lie plain and simple” (Were you watching Sarah?)
Let’s stop being so sanctimonious about all this buffoonery. Polite is soooooo 20th century…at least early to mid-20th. It pains me to say this but, television, particularly 24 hour news television, caused all of us to lose our minds.
Debate resembles a “Jerry Springer show (come to think of it, wasn’t he first a politician?) and Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment. The big difference is that WWE is more dignified than politics.
Those of us in TV lap this stuff up, and even add to the din with contrived confrontations. What the politicians and all their groupies learn is that boundaries of good taste are for losers. To win, one must be shameless. Joe Wilson is not Joe the Dumber, he’s actually pretty smart.
Here we are. Those who use terms like “lie” and “liar” reap the benefit, not those who politely tremble under the assault.
The ones who make up the lies smirk about their cleverness, even when they get caught…in fact PARTICULARLY when they get caught, because in their twisted peer group, sleaze is the highest calling.
We really ought to cut Joe Wilson some slack. He was just playing the game…a game where rules are for fools, where the only taste is bad taste. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that Joe is now elevated to hero status on his side, just like those who stand out among the extremist single-minded buffoons on the other.
The only way the politicians will accomplish any sort of health care change, is when they do things the old-fashioned way behind closed door and decide just which constituencies they’ll stab in the back while they work their little dirty secret deals with the much-more-discreet lobbyists.
The only hope that they’ll get anything done, for better or worse, is that they insulated themselves from the brawlers flinging charges of lying and God knows what back and forth. That is the sad truth.
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He is a hero to all my GOP workmates this morning. You are exactly right, they smirk and say he really got in a sucker punch to Obama.
I’d say “I told you so”, but that was too obvious
In response to another comment. See in context »Ridiculous. Because people lack decorum and respect doesn’t make it right. Obama used the “L” word, but he did not personally attack anyone by name and he did not interrupt a nationally televised speech to do it. If he had such a problem, he should groaned, rolled his eyes or issued a statement after the speech.
We still should try to hold our representatives to a higher standard than Jerry Springer.
Unfortunately you are fighting the battle thathas long been lost
In response to another comment. See in context »I dont disagree, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. We have been fighting crime forever, that doesn’t mean we should do without laws. It is legitimate and necessary to aspire to having standards in society.
In response to another comment. See in context »“We still should try to hold our representatives to a higher standard than Jerry Springer.”
Well said jdindsmore.
The sad and embarrassing fact is that far more people will watch the Jerry Springer Show today than watched the president’s speech last night. The electronic media champions our coarse hairs and peristalsis while exploiting our hearts and minds. We can all sit back and watch Joe Wilson’s rude behavior become the only thing anyone remembers about the speech and have another beer.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] Bob Franken – Franken Sense – Barack Obama and Joe Wilson: The … [...]