The member of Congress who yelled that the president was a liar during the speech was Rep. Joe Wilson [R] of South Carolina. Here’s his official website. I can’t think of anything like it in recent history. Here’s the video [particularly note Pelosi’s reaction].
South Carolina deserves better than either Mark Sanford or Joe Wilson. The thing Wilson called a lie was Obama’s assertion that illegal aliens are not covered by the plan. This from the Bill itself:
| H.R. 3200: Sec 246 — NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States. |
And then there was the ever long-faced moper John Boehner squirming in his seat, one of the many silent Republicans exuding contempt:
GOP Lawmakers Treat President Obama’s Joint Address To Congress Like A Town Hall Protest
By Think Progress
September 9, 2009Tonight during his joint address to Congress, President Obama attempted to set the record straight on some of the “key controversies” surrounding the health care debate. While it’s normal for members of the opposition party to occasionally not clap at statements with which they disagree, congressional Republicans went further tonight, being outright rude at times.
At one point, President Obama addressed the myth that his health care proposals would insure undocumented immigrants: “This, too, is false – the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”
In response, Republicans not only began booing him, but Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted out, “LIE!” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) shot an angry look in his direction, and Vice President Biden shook his head. The rudeness shocked even veteran political observers such as NBC’s Chuck Todd, who wrote on Twitter, “Wow. What’s next a duel?” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough also wrote, “Whoever shouted out that the president was lying is a dumbass who should show the President respect.” On MSNBC after the speech, Newsweek reporter Howard Fineman said, “The Republicans were mostly stage props in this speech tonight and they behaved like it.”
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) could also be seen wearing a homemade sign — similar to the ones seen at town hall protests — around his neck, which read, “What bill?” Watch it:
Various Republican lawmakers were also holding up draft GOP bills during the speech:
POTUS’ response to the outrageous breach of courtesy spewed by the cretinous goon, Joe Wilson, was too polite, more restrained than the situation called for. I wish he would have challenged the dolt directly….something lawyerly like “for one, whoever is suggesting that I’m up here lying to this assemblage and to the American people is wrong. Secondly, such a charge, made publicly, is defamatory at the very least and we’ll be needing to follow up on this.”
I could tell that Senator McCain shares our outrage and agree that Rep. Wilson’s apology was feeble, hollow, utterly inadequate. What a jizzball.
What’s so outrageous is that President Bush told outright lies to all of us and we knew it. I think back at what happened to Bush at a news conference in Iraq where one of their reporters actually threw his shoe at Bush. I think back at all the lies such as we don’t torture, and Saddam didn’t tell the truth about WMDs, or in order to get a wire tape you have to go toFISA, etc, etc,