And all of us won’t lose any sleep tonight whatsoever. We will simply continue to work on making sure our ‘disapproval’ of Democrats is felt much more distinctly next year and in 2012.
House Votes to Discipline Wilson for Outburst
The House of Representatives, on the heels of an impassioned and lively debate, voted Tuesday to formally admonish Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., for accusing the president of lying during a joint session of Congress a week ago.
The vote was 240-179. Five lawmakers voted “present.” [cowards].
Ahead of the tally, lawmakers hurled an arsenal of accusations at each other over the issue, with Republicans calling the effort a “partisan stunt” and Democrats stepping up their condemnation of Wilson’s original offense…The punishment took the form of a “resolution of disapproval,” which is a milder version of other more traditional means of congressional discipline. Democrats said last week Wilson could avoid the slap on the wrist by apologizing to his colleagues on the House floor, but Wilson declined, noting his previous apologies.
A “resolution of disapproval” is not one of the four forms of discipline typically meted out in the House. The most commonly used means of punishment are expulsion, censure, reprimand or fine.
For instance, in 1997, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was both reprimanded and fined for his book deal. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., was reprimanded in 1990 for ethical breaches tied to a male prostitute. Republicans tried to censure Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., in 2007 for comments he made on the House floor about President Bush. But Democrats voted to set aside that effort.
On today’s Tammy Radio I played audio of Pete Stark calling President Bush a liar, twice, from the House floor. You can see the commitment to ‘decorum’ then when it came to one of their own. Pathetic. Here’s the text of the resolution. Politico notes this:
House Democrats dealt South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson a formal rebuke Wednesday, taking the rare step of passing a resolution of disapproval for his famous “you lie!” outburst last week in the House chamber.
The vote was 240-179, falling almost exclusively along party lines…Wilson himself was defiant to the end, calling the action unnecessary and a waste of time. He also used his floor speech to criticize the Democratic health care plans and government spending in general.
“The challenges this country faces are greater than any member of this House,” Wilson told a packed chamber. “…When we are done here today, we will not have taken any steps to improve the country.”
According to a C-SPAN count, 11 Democrats voted no on the resolution, and seven Republicans voted yes.
Related Link:
I say we Censure NBC if they don’t apologize for being stooges for Obama.
I hate to break it to the Leftists but we are done caring if we piss people off when we speak the truth — and it is about damn time. What the hell are they gonna do now that their hypocritical righteous indignation doesn’t phase us? They’re done.
I expect that the American people will be voting in 2010 to “discipline” the House.
And yet they remain SILENT on ACORN’s apparent support of CHILD SEX TRADE!
The irony is that Wilson must be censured because he was so gauche as to point out the elephant in the room, the thing we’re not supposed to talk about. Nobody did anything about the ridiculous charges against Bush because it was tacitly understood they were ridiculous. We all know Bush wasn’t a bigger liar than a typical politician (admittedly that’s not saying much); in particular that he didn’t lie us into war. But Obama’s words are deceitful from start to finish, and serve only to mask the reality. This is so obvious that someone like Joe Wilson becomes dangerous. He’s the child that doesn’t understand he’s not supposed to notice the naked emperor. It’s necessary to beat that child, quickly and severely, so that everyone may understand the price of acknowledging reality.
Me thinks that Joe Wilson is yesterday’s cold toast – a one hit sound bite. But it was fun while it lasted.
I would certainly not rule out the possibility the RuBegonia is correct. I applaud Joe Wilson; we must not silently acquiesce to Obama’s lies and the suicidal agenda (silence implies consent!), and Wilson was in a unique position to make his protest count. Thank God for a few men (and women) with backbones!
But having a backbone doesn’t say anything about the breadth of Wilson’s skill set. He’s a good man, but that in itself doesn’t mean he should become a big player in the days ahead, anymore than it means he should do brain surgery. We must seek the right tool for the right job. Is Wilson the right tool for greater tasks to come? Or was his task merely to shine a light at this crucial moment in history and then rejoin the crowd?
I wonder if they give you an actual letter of reprimand, if so Wilson might want do what Rush Limbaugh did and put it in a nice frame and put if up for bid on eBay. Rush got $35,100.00 with all of it going to charity. Just think of Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and James Clyburn faces when they see it on eBay. Priceless
ROFLMAO!! Damn that Joe Wilson, Now their are Cocker Spaniels Everywhere and I think I just stepped in a poodle
And now, I see, that Jimmy Carter has limped up to a microphone to point out – Wilson’s outburst was based on – yup, you guessed it – racism -fear of a black president! Wow, why is it so hard to understand that this was not a “trick comment” that “you lie” could actually mean “you lie”! I can’t keep myself from projecting into the distant future and reflecting on the prose of future historians to describe the particular culture we are slumming around in – they will probably present this period as cartoon and buffoon. If I weren’t so upset all the time, I would be laughing as it is all so surreal!
On the other hand, there are rules, and Joe Wilson broke an explicitly defined rule that applied to all members equally. He did apologize to the President and did not supplicate himself to the ‘Queen Pelosi’. In the end, he paid the price, a slap on the wrist…. but not a beating. Joe got the better end of the deal for ‘inappropriately’ telling the truth. He stole away Obama’s thunder, captured a few days of the media cycle, raised a bunch of money and created a positive symbol for countering the intimidation tactics always used by Democrats. I do not include the added bonus of the Democrats who exposed themselves as fools for attacking Joe’s character, they tend to do that regardless of the situation. I am just amazed at how our divine system of governance works. This incident further proves that Truth and Justice overcome any kind of assault in ways we can never predict.
WOOF-ON!
Keep a watchdog eye out on Rep. Joe Wilson (R), South Carolina to see if he is a puff or a promise.
I see it as a badge of honor for Mr. Wilson and not a scarlet letter. Let them play their little games, in the end they are meaningless and we will tump over the House in 2010.
Hey Tammy,
I contributed the second time for our guy Joe Wilson today!
Joe SAID IT FOR US ALL.
lovya, lj
That’s okay Joe….many of us disaprove of the House! And the Senate! And the White House!
They needed something to take peoples minds off their horrible Obamacare, ACORN and the CZARS! (should the State Run Media ever decide to report the REAL news….highly unlikely!)
I understand that Obama is going to be on all the Sunday News Shows…except FOX…and Letterman on Monday night…..CAN WE ALL SAY DESPERATION! How about megalamaniac. (hope I typed that correctly I forgot my glasses!)
Oh please. . . Wilson apologized to the president. I find myself saying the same think every time I hear the president speak. Another colossal waste of my hard earned money was the time they spent drafting and passing this censure. Boy hidee, they can sure feel good about themselves and the work they did for the American people on this one!! These people are right on top of it, and I know my life is now so much better because they took the time to censure Joe Wilson! And to come up with the list of things you can and cannot say about the president and legislation. Is that giant sucking sound our free speech going down the toilet?
Does the word racism even bother anyone any more? When I hear it I think “desperate attempt to respond to valid criticism”
Thieves, prevaricators, casting stones at a man speaking an inconvenient truth. ‘ Let us now praise famous men’ , and take a bucket of rocks to the next election.
the body whose own approval rating dipped bellow 20% this past summer disapproves of someone? do they think anyone cares anymore what they think of anyone when the public thinks they’re all a bunch of loser a-holes in whom there is no confidence ? if we were in that chamber do they understand we’d be screaming things a lot more distasteful than liar at them? do they get in now that we have the power to pry their cushy lard asses out of those seats permanently? maybe it’s time to head on down to acorn before it’s too late to get some career advice and financial planning tips once they’re ousted out of the congress.
when cocker spaniels and french poodles attack …