You Lie!

In a move that makes one question how large the human ego can possibly become, Republican Congressman Joe Wilson from SC shouted, "You Lie," at President Obama on Wednesday night during his address to Congress on Health Care Reform. The incident has since been roundly condemned by both Republicans and Democrats as out of line and an embarrassment to our country. Making the incident even more embarrassing to me personally, Mr. Wilson is an alumni of both my undergraduate institution, Washington and Lee University, and my law school, University of South Carolina School of Law. He has since 'apologized' to Obama repeatedly, the apology usually being prefaced by the assertion that he was told to apologize by party leaders, an apology somewhat akin to apologizing to someone who heard you call them fat by saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't know your fat ears were in the room to hear me say that." It's not really an apology, is it?

The absurdity of the situation aside, I find it odd that good ole' Joe decided to scream out in protest at that juncture in the speech. Non partisan fact checking organizations have jumped all over this one and have unanimously confirmed that Obama was not in fact lying, making one wonder if Joe would fit in better at a townhall meeting than the US Congress.

Regardless, Joe Wilson will likely face severe political repercussions for this nonsense. A mere 24 hours after the incident, Mr. Wilson's congressional rival for 2010 had raised over $500,000. Oops.