"A Member should avoid impugning the motives of another Member, the Senate or the President, using offensive language, or uttering words that are otherwise deemed unparliamentary."
And
[I]t is not permissible to use language that is personally offensive to the President, such as referring to him as a "hypocrite" or a "liar."
Wilson's outburst is also putting what would otherwise be a difficult House seat in reach for Democrats:
In a matter of seconds Wednesday night Joe Wilson went from being pretty safe for reelection to one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the country.
Wilson trails Democratic challenger Rob Miller 44-43 in a PPP survey conducted Thursday night and Friday morning. Last year Wilson defeated Miller 54-46.
Health care reform and President Obama have received a bounce from the President's speech:
If we simply take the three polls at face value and average them together (6.7 points), they in fact point toward a statistically strong likelihood of a bounce.
While it is difficult to say if any of this bounce is due to Joe Wilson, at the very least it has kept Republicans on the defensive Passing this resolution keeps them in that position for another couple days, and also drives a wedge through the GOP. It isn't hard to see why:
"Do you support or oppose what Joe Wilson did during the speech?"
Suuport 21%--68% Oppose
It is a good organizing tool. Organizations like the DCCC, MoveOn.org, and the PCCC have all either raised money or acquired new emails from the Democratic outrage over Wilson's outburst. If you are a progressive and / or Democratic organization not only does it make sense to organize around Democratic / progressive anger, but you also provide a useful outlet for the outraged Democrats / progressives.
So, the resolution is tactically smart, and easily justifiable. I also like and respect a lot of the people pushing the resolution, many of whom are not only lot smarter about politics than I am, but who wrote in favor of hitting back at Wilson on the front page of Open Left.
And yet, despite all of this, in an alternate universe where I am Congress, I would have voted "present" on the resolution disapproving of Wilson.
Personally, I just can't stand Congressional resolutions changing the names of government buildings, congratulating a championship sports team, recognizing the contribution of some individual or group to something, or condemning someone's actions. Congressional resolutions like these that only express an opinion, and don't actually accomplish anything in terms of public policy or federal appointments, are just too much political posturing for my tastes.
Eventually, I would like to get to a point where even submitting these resolutions is considered a political faux pas. For now, voting "present" is the best means I can think of to reject the entire culture of these resolutions.
So, this is one of those times where I disagree with the majority of my colleagues. There are, however, five Democratic members of Congress who seem to agree with me: Bill Delahunt, Eliot Engel, Bill Foster, Barney Frank and Ike Skelton. A mixed and small bag, but not an insignificant one.
I have some fun news- I'll be on Rachel Maddow's show tonight at 9 PM EST (leading off at the top of the hour) talking about my post here at OpenLeft regarding Joe Wilson, John C. Calhoun conservatism and the modern Republican party.
And David Sirota is going on at 9:15. It's OpenLeft-tastic today at MSNBC.
Ezra Klein has been arguing that the public option, and other progressive elements of the Democratic agenda, can't pass because the Obama administration is unable to pressure conservative Democratic Senators. Klein tells us those Senators, after all, aren't shrinking violets:
The unifying idea here is that someone can just go into a back room and torture Max Baucus and Kent Conrad. But how?
The controversy over Republican Rep. Joe Wilson's shouting out "You Lie!" at the President over his claim that illegal immigrants wouldn't benefit from health-care reform apparently sparked some reconsideration of the relevant language. "We really thought we'd resolved this question of people who are here illegally, but as we reflected on the President's speech last night we wanted to go back and drill down again," said Senator Kent Conrad, one of the Democrats in the talks after a meeting Thursday morning. Baucus later that afternoon said the group would put in a proof of citizenship requirement to participate in the new health exchange - a move likely to inflame the left.
So, there you have it. That is how you pressure Senators like Kent Conrad and Max Baucus to change legislation. They aren't shrinking violets, but they will cave to an obscure South Carolina Congressman calling President Obama a liar on national television, even when that Congressman's apology has been the main focus of the news cycle for the last 36 hours..
But remember--there is no way that the Obama administration could possibly apply the same sort of pressure to Baucus and Conrad and Joe Wilson can. Wilson is just vastly more powerful and influential than the Obama administration. And don't even get me started on the relative power balance between the Progressive Block and Joe Wilson. That is a mismtach if I ever saw one.
Given the power balance at play, this is a pretty smart move by Baucus and Conrad. First, it will undoubtedly get a lot of Republicans to support health care legislation. Second, it will also go a long way to discrediting Joe Wilson, and keeping the media tide of this story in our favor. Third, it is a good idea to deny legal, documented immigrants who are not yet citizens health care. Fourth, it keeps me excited and engaged in the fight because it shows that progressives have a real role in determining the outcome of health care legislation, especially compared to Joe Wilson. Fifth, I feel very confident now that Democrats won't back down to Republican lies. In total, few moves could have done more to strengthen the Democratic position on health care than this. Brilliant stuff.
Last night, at 3:31am, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee launched a petition asking Congress to censure Rep. Joe Wilson:
"Enough is enough. On an issue as critical as health care reform, it's time to stop the lies, the misinformation, and the uncivil disruptions. Rep. Joe Wilson went way over the line by yelling 'You lie' during President Obama's speech, and Congress should censure him immediately."
Today, we will also be placing $10,000 in online ads -- including blog ads and Google ads, in South Carolina and Washington, DC calling for Wilson to be censured.
In addition, we'll be asking all 31,000 folks who signed the petition so far to call their Representative at (202) 224-3121 to ask them to call for censure.
Why censure? From our PCCC email last night:
Right-wing Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) played the roll of teabagger by yelling "You lie!" at the president. Let's go on offense...
Censure could be a real possibility if we go on offense now. Sen. John McCain called Wilson's yelling "totally disrespectful." Wilson later called his own actions "inappropriate and regrettable" but repeated the same misinformation he yelled out at President Obama -- about 'illegal aliens'.
Frankly, an apology is not enough. Apologies weren't enough for Van Jones, the bold progressive who right-wingers forced to resign from the White House this past week for remarks taken out of context. And House Rules of Decorum specifically state that it is not permissible to call the President a "liar" -- let alone yell it.
Today, Arlen Specter even called for censure. (Man, I'll miss that guy's newfound boldness when Sestak crushes him.)
Now's the time to push this, and teach the far-right a lesson. Please sign the petition -- and then call your Member of Congress today at (202) 224-3121.
Last night, President Obama laid out his vision for health care reform before a special joint session of Congress. The pillars of his plan are: i) Curbing the worst abuses of private insurance, ii) Requiring everyone to have insurance, iii) Insurance exchanges, which are basically government websites where customers can order insurance off a "menu" of plans, the idea being that if tens of millions of people order the #2 Combo, everyone's lunch will be cheaper.
The president made it clear that the country can't afford to wait for reform. Last night, he took on the self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives who claim that they oppose reform because it would increase the deficit. "Put simply, our health care problem is our deficit problem. Nothing else even comes close," Obama said. The president reminded the audience that each of us pays a "hidden tax" of $1000 dollars a year to subsidize charity and emergency care for the uninsured.
It was an impressive performance, but as John Nichols of the Nation observes, it was hardly a rousing, "to-the-barricades" oration:
Obama still talked about "options" and "choices." But he suggested that they would be offered mainly by insurance companies that would be enjoy "incentives"-i.e., new streams of taxpayer dollars-if they agree to abide by consumer-friendly regulations and come up with strategies for covering more of the uninsured.
The president expressed support for a very limited public option, a kind of welfare program that only about 5% of Americans would choose to join. This is not the public option his liberal supporters had in mind. It's non-threatening to the insurance companies, though. Private insurers love the idea of the government low-grading the insurance pool and taking on the sickest people who can't get coverage anywhere else. That means private insurers can make even more money off the remaining healthy, paying customers.
James Ridgeway of Mother Jones is even less optimistic, "As for the public option, that's pretty clearly gone down the drain."
One GOP legislator decided that a joint session of Congress was basically a town hall with the president. Rep. Joe Wilson (SC) screamed "You lie!" when the president explained, for the umpteenth time that undocumented immigrants will not be covered. As with the town halls, Wilson's performance had a whiff astroturf about it. Sure enough, Sue Sturgis of Raw Story found that Wilson pocketed over $2 million in campaign contributions from the health care industry.
The president also reminded America that health care reform will not pay for abortions. (For more on myth-making around women's health, see Laurie Rubiner's excellent post at RH Reality.)
Instead of presenting a vision and asking Congress to line up behind him, the president stressed that he was synthesizing a compromise position incorporating ideas from the left and the right. Instead of a coherent vision, the president's scheme sounds more like a last-ditch compromise plan to enable him to declare victory. Like many Democrats, the president seems to be confusing the strategic with the expedient. If "reform" means saddling ordinary Americans with expensive mandatory insurance without a meaningful public option to keep costs in check he could doom the electoral fortunes of the Democrats for years to come.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about health care and is free to reprint. Visit Healthcare.newsladder.net for a complete list of articles on health care affordability, health care laws, and health care controversy. For the best progressive reporting on the Economy, and Immigration, check out Economy.Newsladder.net and Immigration.Newsladder.net. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of 50 leading independent media outlets, and created by NewsLadder.
This past Saturday, Ambassador Joe Wilson came to Charlotte, NC to support Larry Kissell in his second bid to unseat Robin Hayes in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District.
I had not had the pleasure of meeting Joe Wilson prior to Saturday's event and was honestly expecting the man to be just a wee bit of a stuffed shirt. I found instead, a man who is generous, patient and funny. He did not leave the event until he had met each person who desired an introduction, stood for pictures with all waiting in line and signed every spare scrap of paper, every book and every Creative Loafing shoved in front of him. That's quite a chore when the total attendance is over 200 people.
I don't think much of Dave Reichert in Washington's eighth district, and Bush is coming into town on Monday to deliver a half a million in fundraising muscle. I do think much of Darcy Burner, who is running against Reichert.
Here's Joe Wilson, helping Burner set up a town hall opposite Reichert's visit, on the subject of Iraq.
This past Saturday, Ambassador Joe Wilson came to Charlotte, NC to support Larry Kissell in his second bid to unseat Robin Hayes in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District.