Joltin' Joe
September 13th 2009 12:18
On Wednesday, September 9, while President Obama was delivering his health care address to a joint session of Congress and telling them that his plan would not cover illegal aliens, Congressman Addison Graves “Joe” Wilson, of the 2nd Congressional District in South Carolina, suffered a tourette moment when he yelled, “You lie,” at the President. The President paused and gave him a look which seemed to acknowledge the extent of Joe’s condition, expecting more profanities to follow. However, Joe’s fellow Republican/Conservatives placed a muzzle over his mouth until he calmed down. An embarrassed Joe contritely apologized immediately following the President’s speech.
Joe’s outburst jolted the joint session, the U.S. and the world, but probably not South Carolina. His district is overwhelmingly Republican/Conservative; they still haven’t accepted as fact that the South might have been defeated in the Civil War (in 2000, Joltin’ Joe voted, while a state senator, to continue flying the Confederate battle flag over the South Carolina state house; the South Carolina Senate defeated the proposal 36-7).
His district is almost 70% white, and borders Georgia, reflecting the overall racial make up of South Carolina, and his remark to the President may well reflect his desire to play to the racial feelings of the white voters in his district when he has to run for Congress again in 2010. During the last congressional election in his district, he won 54% of the vote, so he might have been trying to “energize” white voters by baiting a black President.
The news services reported that Joe posted a video on youtube.com asking for contributions to his campaign, and that he raised $750,000 in one day. They also reported that his opponent in the upcoming election, Rob Miller, raised more than $1 million. While Joe showed he was vulnerable during the last election, his shout out to the President might just get him overwhelmingly elected this time.
Joltin’Joe has had other chances to display his racial pugnacity. He was a former aid to Senator Strom Thurmond. You remember Strom: ardent segregationist, South Carolina senator for forty-nine years, retired from the Senate when he was past 100, fathered a black daughter (Strom, according to her account, was a pretty good father). When Joe found out about Thurmond’s off-color daughter, Joe publicly cast doubt on her claim, especially since it was made after Thurmond’s death. When the Thurmond family confirmed her claim, Joe apologized but still insisted that she should not have revealed her relationship to Thurmond (as if Thurmond could care at that point).
The funny thing to come out of this is the comment from Ryan Murphy, a Joe Wilson campaign spokesman. When asked to comment on the effect of Joe’s knee jerk comment to the President on his chances to win another term in Congress, Murphy said, “The congressman is focused on making sure we move forward with reforms to our nation's health insurance system so that South Carolina families can get access to more affordable coverage.” (McClatchy, “Big bucks pour into campaign after Wilson’s ‘You lie’,” 9/11/09). So, I guess Joe is going to become a proponent of health care for the masses, at least until the 2010 elections are over.
Joltin’ Joe, with his outburst against the President the other night, united the nation against boorish behavior, and he did it just before the anniversary of the 9/11 attack. Remember 9/11 and the days afterward, when we were respectful of our differences but nice and civil to each other?
Joe’s outburst jolted the joint session, the U.S. and the world, but probably not South Carolina. His district is overwhelmingly Republican/Conservative; they still haven’t accepted as fact that the South might have been defeated in the Civil War (in 2000, Joltin’ Joe voted, while a state senator, to continue flying the Confederate battle flag over the South Carolina state house; the South Carolina Senate defeated the proposal 36-7).
His district is almost 70% white, and borders Georgia, reflecting the overall racial make up of South Carolina, and his remark to the President may well reflect his desire to play to the racial feelings of the white voters in his district when he has to run for Congress again in 2010. During the last congressional election in his district, he won 54% of the vote, so he might have been trying to “energize” white voters by baiting a black President.
The news services reported that Joe posted a video on youtube.com asking for contributions to his campaign, and that he raised $750,000 in one day. They also reported that his opponent in the upcoming election, Rob Miller, raised more than $1 million. While Joe showed he was vulnerable during the last election, his shout out to the President might just get him overwhelmingly elected this time.
Joltin’Joe has had other chances to display his racial pugnacity. He was a former aid to Senator Strom Thurmond. You remember Strom: ardent segregationist, South Carolina senator for forty-nine years, retired from the Senate when he was past 100, fathered a black daughter (Strom, according to her account, was a pretty good father). When Joe found out about Thurmond’s off-color daughter, Joe publicly cast doubt on her claim, especially since it was made after Thurmond’s death. When the Thurmond family confirmed her claim, Joe apologized but still insisted that she should not have revealed her relationship to Thurmond (as if Thurmond could care at that point).
The funny thing to come out of this is the comment from Ryan Murphy, a Joe Wilson campaign spokesman. When asked to comment on the effect of Joe’s knee jerk comment to the President on his chances to win another term in Congress, Murphy said, “The congressman is focused on making sure we move forward with reforms to our nation's health insurance system so that South Carolina families can get access to more affordable coverage.” (McClatchy, “Big bucks pour into campaign after Wilson’s ‘You lie’,” 9/11/09). So, I guess Joe is going to become a proponent of health care for the masses, at least until the 2010 elections are over.
Joltin’ Joe, with his outburst against the President the other night, united the nation against boorish behavior, and he did it just before the anniversary of the 9/11 attack. Remember 9/11 and the days afterward, when we were respectful of our differences but nice and civil to each other?
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