Freedom is Hammered Out on the Anvil of Discussion, Dissent and Debate

-Hubert Humphrey

So, Joe Wilson. As a student of Forensics and Debate I in no way condone ad hominem remarks. Undoubtedly, this a fair evaluation of the statement "You lie"made by Representative Wilson at President Obama during the latter's speech to Congress. I believe that the halls of Congress and the decorum traditions of this country would admonish this statement as both ill-timed and inappropriate when viewed in the totality of the circumstances. (To quote The Big Lebowski, this isn't Vietnam, there are rules.)

However, I think the 'outcry' from the American public and ESPECIALLY the House Resolution officially reprimanding the Representative is nothing short of lunacy.

1. If Congress keeps insisting that something "must be done" about health care, the economy, public schools, etc. THEN WHY WOULD YOU TAKE THE TIME TO DRAFT, INTRODUCE, SPEAK AND VOTE ON A RESOLUTION FOR THIS ??

2. Instead of protecting President Obama from "racist comments" (believe me, this idiocy will be addressed further below), we should be saving Rep. Wilson from discrimination. No House Resolutions were created to castigate President Clinton for embarassing the highest position in the country, nor to scold President Nixon for his Watergate Scandal, nor to chide former Representative Spitzer for his involvement with a prostitute...

3. NOR was a Resolution adopted when Democratic Representative Pete Stark in effect called President Bush a liar while the former was addressing Congress on the House Floor (I say 'in effect' because the Representative talked about the 'lies told to us by President Bush' which, grammatically speaking, differs from Rep. Wilson's comment but mirrors it rhetorically).

Please see this link to view the speech (only about 2 mins. long) :http://www.thefoxnation.com/pete-stark/2009/09/15/flashback-pete-stark-d-calif-calls-bush-liar-house-floor

4. So maybe the only difference really is that President Obama is black and former President Bush is white. But that difference is not echoed in Rep. Wilson's comment but rather in the reaction to it.

It now appears that we live in a country where the only people who are not shielded from criticism by racism are affluent white males.