In one of the most embarrassing moments to come out of Congress in the last decade, South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson lost his cool last night – shouting “You lie!” at President Barack Obama in the midst of his speech on health reform – all captured on video, of course.
Regardless of one’s opinion on the health care reform issue, yelling at your President during a live speech to a joint session of Congress is just embarrassingly juvenile. President Obama managed to ignore Joe Wilson’s outburst, but the nation was abuzz the Joe Wilson You Lie! video of the incident Thursday morning.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to take any formal action against Wilson for his outburst, either during or after the debacle, but reportedly said she was “shocked” by his behavior.
“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me,” Wilson said in a press statement last night after the President’s speech. “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”
Even though Joe Wilson apologized for screaming at the President, he’s too late to prevent himself from becoming a household name – in a bad way. Even worse for Joe Wilson, his most favored opponent for re-election, Marine Corps veteran Rob Miller, is already using the incident as fodder for fundraising and attacking the incumbent Congressman from South Carolina.
As of this report, Congressman Joe Wilson’s website has been crashed since last night due to “exceptionally high traffic.”