Presidential discourse: lies, insults and, of course, healthcare
September 16th, 2009
“You lie!”—Representative Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) to President Obama during the President’s September 9th health care address to both houses of Congress.
It is emblematic of America’s sadly degraded and unceasingly hateful political discourse that the most memorable line from the President’s health care address came not from his speech, but from a verbal insult flung by an obscure, southern back-bench Republican. Students of history will recall that South Carolina is known for this sort of thing: a congressional predecessor of Wilson’s, Preston Brooks, savagely beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in 1856 over differences about slavery and, of course, the opening shots of the American Civil War were fired in that state. more »
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