Congressman Joe Wilson is a liar

Joe Wilson managed to go from obscurity to fame by violating the decorum of the Congress.  He was also able to raise a $1 million for his bad behavior.  (So did his opponent in the upcoming primary.)  He is also a liar.

The lie was not his calling Barack Obama a liar.  Wilson apparently believed that Obama was lying when Obama said that his plan would not cover illegal immigrants.  Rather, Wilson was just being stupid and ignorant given that Obama’s statement was largely true, as reported by factcheck.org.  (One can quibble with Obama’s statement, but that hardly makes Obama a liar.)

Wilson’s lie was when he claimed “[I] let my emotions get the best of me on the critical issue of health care.”  To be honest, I can’t prove that Wilson was lying.  I just believe it to be true.  Conceivably, Joe Wilson has the impulse-control of a 4 year old, and shouted out his insult to the President in one of the most inappropriate venues imaginable just because he could not control himself. I doubt that this is the case.  More likely, Wilson planned to shout out that Obama was a liar, and was just waiting for a moment to do so.  What Wilson did not know was (1) his behavior was uncivil, boorish, and totally unacceptable, and (2) his behavior would be rewarded anyway.   It’s a very sad commentary on our politics that so many are quick to defend such bad behavior.

Tags: Joe Wilson, liar