And, as Steve Miller sings, “here I am, stuck in the middle..”
Rep. Joe Wilson claims that “he won’t apologize again” for his outburst calling President Obama a liar.
The media on the Right hails Rep. Wilson as some kind of American hero for disrespecting the President of the United States. The media on the Left wants to equate Rep. Joe Wilson to the military contractors in Afghanistan caught partying naked and abusing their employees or as a Toledo heckler.
Being an Independent, I guess, is what it takes to take Rep. Joe Wilson’s newest statements apart at the seams.
“I am not going to apologize again,” Wilson said. “I believe the American people know I’m a civil person. I respect the institution of the House. I have apologized to the president. I believe that should be enough.”
1) I believe the American people know I’m a civil person.
Actually, Rep. Joe Wilson had very few instances where he was viewed on the national stage prior to this outburst. Rep. Wilson got national attention in 2003 when he said that it was “unseemly” that Essie Mae Washington-Williams identified herself as the daughter of Senator Strom Thurmand after his death. Then, in 2002, Rep. Wilson got national attention when he started shouting at a Democratic member of the House about his “hatred of American” during a debate on Saddam Hussein.
From those three instances, where Rep. Wilson got some national attention, he was viewed as anything but civil by people outside of South Carolina.
2) I respect the institution of the House.
Just not the rules, the decorum, or the leadership. That about right, Rep. Wilson?
You’ve clearly broken the rules and decorum of the House, and, you haven’t exactly been civil to people in the House, have you?