The Political Shell Game Begins On Joe Wilson
And so it begins: an attempt to obscure and downplay something that happened — something that Republican party elders clearly did not want to happen and moved quickly to get the person involved to rectify. Rep. Joe Wilson yelled out “You lie” during Barack Obama’s speech to Congress and that was the issue last night.
But now, via the Drudge Report and other new and old media pundits, an all too familiar shell game is going on. It’s an attempt to distract from the issue: Harry Reid called Bush a liar (but did he shout it out during a joint session of Congress when the President was speaking?)…Barack Obama said some things that were equally not nice about Bush (did he shout it out during a joint session of Congress when the President was speaking?)…Democrats booed Bush (not good and reprehensible but did any of them shout out “You lie” when Bush was speaking?).
The real issue is what was shouted out last night, the setting and how it fit within a context of an ugly summer when American political demonization and rudeness plunged to depths so low that you could film a new version of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” 300 feet above it and still be at the bottom of the sea.
All the rest is an attempt to use an old and now tiresome tactic: the best defense is a good offense. Deflect. Try to confuse the issue.
GOPers did the right thing in reportedly insisting that Wilson apologize, which he did and Obama accepted it.
Now some are trying to pretend that the issue was something else. It wasn’t: the furor was over an incredibly rude act that has not been seen during a joint session of Congress that violated the way that body has acted for some 200 years. P-e-r-i-o-d.
All the rest is a bunch of this.
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75 Responses to “The Political Shell Game Begins On Joe Wilson”
Charlie, I had to Google “bipartisan push to stop regulation of lending practices” to get some idea of what you're referring to, because I was certain that it was Republicans who always fought against regulation of any business. Try the google yourself and see if you have any success in backing up your point. If you're not feeling that ambitious here was one of the first articles that popped up (that darn Barney Frank again:)
http://www.house.gov/frank/letters/official/200…
Nope, but I'm sure many people type *sigh* when confronted with someone playing the race card in a blog discussion or some other such silliness.
Joe he might be referring to this
New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/business/new-…
or maybe this:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:SN…
dear leonidas,
“I don't recall them getting their panties quiet as much in a bunch over the Senate Majority leaders remarks…”
I have to say, I make a lot of mistakes when I type, we all do, but this one of yours made me laugh goodnaturedly Leonidas… imagining politicians panties going 'quiet”. Or not.
thanks.
dr.e, who was horrified once to see (after the piece went to press) my spellcheck changed the word Holy Communion (which I'd mispelled) to Holy Communist. gleep. It caused a lot of laughter all around too. Not a bad thing necessarily.
Your flippant dismissal of the possibility of racial overtones in this says more about you than it says about anything else.
Glad that I'm me and you're you. Enjoy your pessimistic negativism if you like… I'm rather be out in the sunshine with my eclectic, politically diverse friends golfing and laughing at (and with) each other.
Thanks for the info, I'll have to research how my congresscritters voted.
But what about AIG, Lehman, GoldmanSachs and the others?
Fannie and Freddie were only a part of the problem.
Have you read the Matt Taibbi articles?
Lots of really greedy folks grabbing all they could get, while they could get it.
To those who insist on attributing to racism the conservatives' extreme opposition to (hatred of, or whatever you call it) Obama:
You are certainly right that there are some who are motivated by racism, but please stop insinuating that that is the case for all conservatives. a) It is not true, b) even if it is, no one has yet provided nor ever will provide evidence to support the claim, so it it a fruitless endeavor to try, c) it only infuriates those who are not racist and have legitimate concerns, and d) it is hypocritical to condemn conservatives for name-calling when you yourself are unwilling to refrain from the practice.
If you still think it's a good strategy to blame it all on racism, please explain to me why. I just don't see how that accomplishes anything good.
See we can agree on something. As for ” eclectic, politically diverse friends” I'm pretty sure I can match you there. I can't imagine many groups or political beliefs (excepting truthers and birthers) that I don't have friends that count themselves among the members. From bikers, the gay male strippers, to church people, to sushi chefs, to business professionals, to doctors, to teachers, etc. Not to mention members of two dozen or so ethnic groups. But I'm glad you like your friends as well. We have that in common as well, a love and appreciate of our friends in all their variety.
Just thought I'd share that, since I don't think you really know me like you might think you do.
Thanks for sharing. And, you're right I only know you from how you have presented yourself at TMV.
In your last comment I saw the possibility that there might be more to you than it has seemed. Shall we try to actually, rationally communicate and debate our opposing positions?.. or shall we just maintain the status quo?
“If you still think it's a good strategy to blame it all on racism, please explain to me why. I just don't see how that accomplishes anything good.”
Well, the thing is, I don't think anybody here believes that racism is the whole problem, just a big part of it for many in “Loyal Opposition” party. I don't think that all Republicans are racists. There I said it. I do know some Republicans whose fears of not being the party in power are amplified by the fact that the President is “black.”
I've also observed that many of these same people (without anyone suggesting it in the first place) automatically add “but I'm not a racist” to their arguments against anything Obama says or does.
I'm not accusing anyone here of being a racist, but it's very difficult to understand the total lack of civility exhibited by folks like the jackass from South Carolina, without thinking that race has some part in the equation.
Yes, D.E….. They did it too.
It was wrong when the dems did it. It was wrong when Wilson did it.
It is simply wrong to disrupt any joint session, and it is wrong to disrespect the President (and anyone else) when he is speaking to that joint session.
Here's the major difference, my liberal American brother….
After the democrats booed President Bush, no one was asked to resign and no ethics committees adjourned.
Joe Wilson shouts “You Lie”, and suddenly the liberal lynch mob forms in the corridor.
“lack of HONOR”
Amen, Sparrow!
If there were more honor, on the parts of both the government and the citizens, corruption would be nil.
Scandal would be nil.
Anyone other than me remember when BOTH parties stood against common enemies and with God?
Democrats sold out to the faux-environmentalists and entities benefitting from a welfare state.
Republicans sold out to Wall Street and entities benefiting from lack of regulation.
“…racism is (not) the whole problem, just a big part of it…”
You must remember. The Republican party brought Emancipation. The Repbulican party brought voting rights to blacks. The Republican party brought sweeping civil rights. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, was Republican. (for those unlearned of you that don't believe those tidbits….go look them up).
In more cases than not, when I hear “racism” or see distinctions brought among a group of people – the person at the front is a Democrat. The very reason that the South became predominantly Democrat was a reaction to the Republican embrace of the “colored”.
And here is a shock, I myself, am a registered Democrat….. Just a VERY conservative one.
I happen to LIVE Dr. King's message. I judge SOULY upon the content of a man's character, not the color of his skin. If my daughter or son were to bring home a person of color, I'd not take issue with it (as long as he/she comes from a good family, is Godly, and has a measure of honor and respect). And that's not a holier-than-thow statement. I just wish the Democrats would embrace Dr. King's message as well.
How can they claim to be “for” a black man, when they wish to keep him in a constant state of welfare dependence. Dr. King recognized that fact.
Sure a new start is something I welcome. Sometimes people get bad initial impressions of each other for whatever reason and things deteriorate, from your post I see there is indeed a possibility of rational debate with you despite differences in the political field. I never shy from a good reasoned debate and enjoy it as a way to evaluate my own views in my own mind, I just don't shy away from throwing barbs if I see them come at me, I tend to respond in kind whatever the nature of comments sent my way. You treat me with civility and I will make my best honest effort to do the same.
“Joe Wilson shouts 'You Lie', and suddenly the liberal lynch mob forms in the corridor.”
Consider the nature of the mob and their current desperation, and hatred of opposition and any of the many inconvenient truths they are facing.
These are the same people who formed the lynch mob when Reagan told a cretin to “Shut up!”
I've heard nothing by anyone else about this event, and it was also amusing that several hours elapsed after I made numerous remarks about South Carolina and “the cane,” before someone else who was aware of this event started a thread on it, and other libs on this lib site wrote to say this was something new they didn't know before. What many, many other things don't they know, is the obvious question.
The bogus racism issue about criticism of Obama fortunately has been limited largely about Obama's stupid remark related to the Gates affair, which encouraged many worse (often white) extremist fools to emerge and spout their idiocy about our systemically evil society, et cetera…it has been recently in New York where the idiotic Dem government in Albany's failure to correct its worst financial misdealings has led to accusations that critics of Albany and its governor are “racist.” So far, the bogus “racism” charge in general against widespread criticism of Obama and Congressional lib Dem misconduct has not been that commonplace, except among the fringe (unsurprisingly, in their case).
Put Wilson's bad behavior in proper context (please grow up, for a change, this year!). His and other Republicans' “town hall excesses” during Obama's address only demonstrated the pathetic position the Republicans are in right now. [sigh] The Dems are wrong to rush bad legislation through, and the more far-left Dems increasingly offend better Americans, and they aren't being fair with the Republicans, but the Republicans still have their own, separate problems. I don't understand anyone expecting another 1994 next year, no matter how badly the Dems continue to be, or even if they are worse.
Most of your examples are countered by a simple “That was then, this is now.”. They all predate the introduction of the Republican Southern Strategy.
“Most of your examples are countered by a simple 'That was then, this is now.'”
If you meant by that what I wrote, it does not follow.
Wilson's outburst is not a means to mischaracterizing the South or the GOP (or the public increasingly opposed to lib Dem excess and wrongdoing), of course.
“You must remember. The Republican party brought Emancipation. The Repbulican party brought voting rights to blacks. The Republican party brought sweeping civil rights. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, was Republican. (for those unlearned of you that don't believe those tidbits….go look them up).”
Yeah, not so much on the history of the Republican, party there, eh JeffersonDavis? God, you FAIL at seeing the irony there, don't you? I mean, your moniker indicates that you might know that the South fell strongly on the Dem side when Jefferson Davis was around? All the *individuals* who were Dixiecrat racists are now Republicans. Perhaps you also know that Joe Wilson is a Republican and a proud member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans? As in one of the “magnificent” seven who fought tooth and nail to keep the Confederate flag in SC? Something tells me that the Republicans of Lincoln's time would think that fact pretty heartbreaking.
In addition, during MLK Jr's time, the conservatives spent huge amounts of time calling him a socialist and a communist. If you think really hard, you may realize that those terms are being screamed by one of the parties toward another powerful black man now. (Hint: it's not the Democrats.)
In other words, what Jim_Satterfield said.
The is, sadly, racism in both parties and some would expolit if for political gain. But most of Democrats aren't Jesse Jackson, and most Republicans aren't George Allen.
What I find distressing is the way some would embrace or justify it on one side and condemn it on the other. This applies to both parties. When people tried to defend George Allen for his “Macaca” remark I found it disgusting. I also am disgusted upon the fact that there is a “Congressional Black Caucus”, that has kept out white membership, like that applied for by Rep.Steve Cohen, who was elected by a predominately black district but not allowed to join. Of course such a blatantly racist group shouldn't exist anyway among our political leaders. Imagine the outrage if there was a “Congressional White Caucus” formed.
Racism is disgusting in all its forms IMHO, whether currently socially acceptable or not.
Leonidas — You don't really “get” the whole racism thing, do you?
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