U.S. President Barack Obama was giving a speech to Congress Wednesday night about health care. Until Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina decided to interject.
Here’s how the exchange (if you can call it that) went:
- Barack Obama: ” … There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false … the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”
- Joe Wilson: “You lie!”
This is, truly, the classiest, most effective way to disagree with someone.
You might expect such a response to Obama’s address to school children … actually, no you wouldn’t. Five-year-olds typically have better manners than this.
Perhaps it was a perfect storm of controversial topics helped evoke Wilson’s bizarre, negative and universally-criticized outburst. It was the South Carolinan who had been reinforcing the belief that health care reform includes “Death Panels.”
YOU LIE: Hopefully Joe Wilson doesn’t subscribe to OK! Magazine. We imagine him calling them out when he opens the mail and sees every Robert Pattinson cover.
Wilson called it an “end-of-life counseling program, which has been highlighted by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a program which could lead to seniors being encouraged to seek less care to protect the government´s bottom line.”
Minutes before Wilson’s outburst, Obama’s speech debunked that: “It’s a lie, plain and simple,” he said, which brought most of Congress to its collective feet.
After the speech, reaction to Wilson’s remark was bipartisan.
Sen. John McCain, among many others, said the outburst was “totally disrespectful” and demanded that Rep. Wilson apologize to the president, which he did.
Check out the video of Joe Wilson’s “You Lie!” moment …
