Wilson Won't Apologize to Congress

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) will milk this for as long as he can. After his "You lie!" outburst during Barack Obama's health insurance reform speech on Wednesday night (and some said he planned that "outburst," as the text of the speech was known to all), he apologized, though somewhat unrepentently. He told Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Sunday that he won’t apologize to Congress.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has expressed support for a “resolution of disapproval” if Joe Wilson refuses to apologize to his colleagues in the House. He said:

“I’ve apologized one time. The apology was accepted by the president, by the vice president whom I know. I am not apologizing again."

To be honest, while some have asked why the big deal, after all Democrats booed and hissed Bush when he was President. The big deal, as NPR correspondent Daniel Schorr said on Saturday:

But let me say speaking purely personally that when you talk to the president of the United States in a Hall of Congress and say, you lie, that is a different order of things. And I think it's not the same as saying boo or something like that.

Joe Wilson also denied some pretty blunt assertions made by New York Times columnist Maureed Dowd on Sunday. She noted that no one ever said "You lie" to Bush, and she added:

The congressman, we learned, belonged to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, led a 2000 campaign to keep the Confederate flag waving above South Carolina’s state Capitol and denounced as a “smear” the true claim of a black woman that she was the daughter of Strom Thurmond, the ’48 segregationist candidate for president. Wilson clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber. [...]

Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.

Wilson's response:

“No no, I respect the president. Actually, there is a relationship, in a way,” as Michelle Obama’s family comes from a South Carolina town near where Wilson himself originates. Oh, yeah, that's a real relationship.

Watch the video, via Raw Replay: