No Apology Necessary, Joe Wilson

Meredith Jessup | September 10, 2009 1:20 PM

I was pretty disappointed this morning when I found out South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson had apologized for his outburst last night during the president's address before the joint session of Congress.

Wilson shouted "You lie!" when President Obama said that extending health insurance to all Americans would not include covering illegal immigrants. Today, Republicans and Democrats are both denouncing Wilson for his remark.

My question is, why? President Obama is the one going around the country talking about how we need to provide coverage for America's 46 million uninsured--a number that includes illegal immigrants. If we are not to insure them, shouldn't the president's figure be adjusted to something like 39 million uninsured?

And since when is it uncouth to speak up when you feel someone is being purposefully misleading? Vice President Joe Biden said that Wilson's outburst "demeaned the institution" and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said, "There'll be time enough to consider whether or not we ought to make it clear that that action is unacceptable in the House of Representatives." Since when is the only way for a member of Congress to show dissent

IN THE HOUSE CHAMBER to sit in silence? Afterall, this was merely a scripted speech--it's not like it was the State of the Union.

Oh, but wait. Where were VP Biden and Sen. Hoyer when Democrats collectively booed President George W. Bush DURING the constitutionally-mandated State of the Union address? Surely the vice president didn't think their attempts to drown out the president's voice at the time "demeaned the institution" then. And was President Obama himself so out-of-line when he publically proclaimed former President Bill Clinton was telling "bald-faced lies"?