Should Rep. Wilson Apologize to House

This is not a defense of rudeness, but Rep. Wilson does not work for President Obama. Congress and the Presidency are two separate branches of a government established by the People and for the People of the United States.

Members of the House of Representatives also do not work for the Speaker of the House; they were elected by their congressional district to represent them in Congress (congress means a formal assembly of representatives).

The House has an established a code of conduct and procedures to be followed and the Speaker or someone standing in for the Speaker usually maintains order. Protocol has been established that it is inappropriate to call another representative of the assembly a liar or even to read a statement made by someone else that refers to a fellow representative as a liar. The Speaker of the House should uphold this practice.

Other than having the Speaker state for the Congressional Record during a regular session that Rep. Wilson was inappropriate in calling the President a liar, I'm not sure that any precedent exits to do more or that anything more needs to be done by the Speaker.

I have no doubt that Rep. Wilson believes that the President was fabricating the facts. I also believe that it would be mannerly of him to stand up during a session of the House to apologize for his outburst. It may open up another barrage of media attention, which Rep. Wilson could use to explain his disbelief of the merits of the President's health plan. But he better be prepared with accurate facts and figures and not just gut reactions.

Unspoken words

I hate it when people try to marginalize presidents of the United States by attacking them personally instead of effectively promoting or explaining their differing point of view .

I hated it when Bush was called a liar and stupid in every media and venue, except during a presidential address in the House, although looks of contempt and body language clearly conveyed that message. Both Bush and presidential rival Kerry had solid C averages at Yale, with a slight edge to Bush. It may be said that being an average student at Yale means more than achieving an average ranking at a state university, but why quibble. Bush and Kerry were distant cousins, both came from moneyed families, and both had relative success in their political careers before running against each other. The media labeled Bush a bumpkin and Kerry urbane.

I hated it when Congress and conservatives spent massive amounts of time and our money on impeaching Clinton for doing something many in politics do with a great deal of frequency – engaging in sexual indiscretions and lying about it. Yet the eight years during Clinton's presidency were very prosperous for our economy; perhaps due to the fact that government was too busy airing Clinton's dirty linen than messing with businesses.

The reality is that almost every president has had detractors and media attempting to marginalize their efforts in office. Maureen Dowd mentioned a few in her column today – Father Coughlin against FDR, Joe McCarthy against Truman, John Birchers against JFK. She failed to mention the entire liberal media against Bush. As a matter of fact, she omitted any detractors of conservative presidents. Being part of the liberal press, I guess Dowd can't see the forest for the trees or doesn't care.

Rep. Joe Wilson was disrespectful to President Obama during his speech before the House last week. For heaven sakes, people, this is the US House of Representatives not the British House of Commons!

But I have to say that I was appalled by columnist Dowd's inflammatory reflection that she heard the unspoken word “boy” at the end of Wilson's shout out. More fuel for the liberal fire, I guess.