(Edit to add second article) First -- The 'You lie!' aftermath, and second --Analysis: 'You lie!' further erodes discourse
Categories: Conflict, Health, Politics, Economics, National, Journalism, news
Play Video WWL-TV, Channel 4 New Orleans – Raw Video: Congressman heckles Obama, calls him a liar 
Though President Obama has formally accepted the apology of Joe "You lie!" Wilson, the fallout from the emotional outburst continues to ripple across the nation, even raising doubts about the Republican congressman's political future.
Ninety minutes after Obama finished his address, the South Carolina representative—who yelled out "You lie!" after the president said he had never proposed providing coverage to illegal immigrants—issued a statement explaining he "let my emotions get the best of me." According to the congressman's office, Wilson also made a personal phone call to the White House in hopes of apologizing to Obama himself, but instead had to express his apologies to gatekeeper Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
Disapproving co-workers
Amid the regret and confessions of guilt, USA Today reports on the disapproval coming from both sides of the political aisle:
"There ought to be a reprimand or censure of Rep. Joe Wilson to discourage that kind of conduct in the future," Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., said via Twitter.
"I cringed," Rep. David Dreier, the top-ranking Republican on the House Rules Committee, said about his reaction to the outburst. "I think it's just unfortunate."
"I've been here a long time," said House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.,a 23-year House veteran, "I've never heard anyone accost a president like that."
Even Sen. John McCain, Obama's recent opponent, chimed in on CNN to call it "totally disrespectful" and was one of several senior Republicans to urge Wilson to apologize.
Campaign gets new life
In addition to the flak Wilson's received from his colleagues, the American people are making their disdain known as well. According to The Nation, Rob Miller, a Democrat and Marine Corps veteran, who was planning to run against Wilson in 2010, raised more than $50,000 for his campaign within just a few hours after Wilson's outburst.
Miller, who ran in 2008 without any help from national Democrats, lost to Wilson 46 to 54 percent. But with his newfound boost in popularity, his campaign has been given a new life. He tweeted Wednesday night: "55K raised, let's double THAT in 12 hours."
According to Miller's site, ActBlue.com, Miller has raised over $300,000 since Thursday afternoon. Almost half of the money has come from readers of the progressive blog Daily Kos, who created a fundraising page called "Defeating the man who yelled 'liar' at Obama."
But who's the liar?
As it turns out, the man who called Obama the liar may actually be off base. According to Politifact.com, a nonpartisan site dedicated to fact-checking the claims of "candidates, elected officials, political parties, interest groups, pundits, talk show hosts," Obama wasn't lying when he said the health-care reforms he's proposing would not apply to illegal immigrants.
"Obama can make a pretty thorough case that reform doesn't apply to those here illegally. We don't find the public option argument enough to make the case that Obama 'lied.' We rate Wilson's statement False."
From tearful town halls to emotional public outbursts, from finger-pointing to even finger-biting, if we've learned anything from the past few months it's that debating health care has the ability to elicit the rawest, sometimes basest emotions from the people of this country.
We've also learned it's a bad time to be a congressman with the last name Wilson. (Ohio congressman Charlie Wilson, with no relation to Joe Wilson—or to Texas politician Charlie Wilson of the movie "Charlie Wilson's War"—has since been put in an awkward position.)
— Allison Louie-Garcia
Article: HERE
In this Oct. 16, 2008 photo, U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., right, speaks with Jean Carlino, Lib Sanders and her husband Bill Sanders, from left, while sharing photos of his family at the Bluffton, S.C., Republican Headquarters. President Barack Obama accepted a South Carolina Republican's apology for shouting, 'You lie!' during his speech to Congress, and House Democratic leaders showed no interest in sanctions against Rep. Joe Wilson. Obama said Thursday that Wilson apologized 'quickly and without equivocation' and the congressman told reporters the shout-out was 'spontaneous.' (AP Photo)
Analysis: 'You lie!' further erodes discourse
WASHINGTON – Screams of "Socialism!" Conservative talk show hosts peddling debunked "death panels." Placards likening Barack Obama to Hitler. And now, to the president's face: "You lie!" A breach of civility? Absolutely. A strategic political mistake? Maybe.
GOP Rep. Joe Wilson's personal attack on Obama and jeering from other Republicans as the president spoke to Congress escalated the opposition's outrage machine that over the summer framed the health care debate and knocked the White House back on its heels.
The rare lack of decorum on the House floor as Obama addressed lawmakers could provide him with a much-needed opening to retake control of the national conversation over a health care overhaul by turning off Americans to his critics' acerbic claims.
Or, people could dismiss derisive laughter and head-shaking from Republicans and embrace the opposition's broader argument that Obama's prescription for the ailing health care system would expand the government's reach into people's lives.
At the very least, Wednesday night marked the further erosion of long deteriorating discourse in a country where political opponents increasingly try to out-yell each other, vocal extremes of each political party shape the debate and a 24/7 media focused on ratings amplifies the tit for tat while latching onto phrases that fan the flames.
"What we've seen all summer was the worst of debate," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on political communication. "It does suggest a decline."
That's not lost on voters.
"We are becoming more adversarial and more shrill," says Jeffrey Howell of Cincinnati, 43. "We don't have discourse anymore."
It's become so bad that Donna Schwinghammer of Washington, Pa., 54, has stopped listening — to both sides. "I'm tired of all of it. There's so much fingerpointing," she says.
The latest low point in the nation's political dialogue came Wednesday when the vitriol of the summer's town-hall style events spilled into the Capitol as Obama addressed a joint session of Congress, saying: "The time for bickering is over ... Now is the season for action."
Some Republicans applauded and gave standing ovations through the speech. But, at times, GOP critics also shouted "not true" and "shame." There were boos, hisses and grumbles.
It was Wilson's boorish outburst that froze Republicans in their seats.
"You lie!" the South Carolina congressman shouted and jabbed a finger in the air when Obama said that Democratic plans do not cover illegal immigrants.
Taking advantage of the extraordinary accusation, Obama calmly replied, "That's not true," and went on with his speech.
Will personal attacks on a president who people generally like — even if they disagree with his policies — ultimately prove to have gone too far?
Certainly, in the short-term, the chorus of criticism painted an unflattering — many Republicans say embarrassing — picture of the GOP. Wilson apologized shortly after the speech, which some say may have limited the fallout.
But the outbursts also gave Obama an opportunity that he seized, pleading for civil discourse and bipartisan solution-making. And they added fuel to Democratic arguments that Republicans simply belong to "The Party of No."
The Democratic-aligned Americans United for Change quickly rolled out a Web video, saying: "It's Official — The Party of NO Has Become the Party of No Shame."
What's more: the behavior highlighted personal volleys coming from the GOP's far right wing just as party leaders in Congress are trying to position themselves as centrists debating policy. The Republican base and right flank may be energized by what they saw and heard but independents and moderates may have cringed.
That could spell trouble for Republicans looking ahead to next year's midterm elections.
While midterms typically are base elections and vitriol will get hard-core party loyalists to turn out, Republicans also don't want to look too extreme as they try to pick up seats in Congress.
Several Republicans called the outbursts unhelpful — particularly Wilson's.
"It combined two things that just aren't the same: legitimate outrage people feel over government-run health care and manufactured vitriol that I think most people dismiss," veteran Republican communications strategist Todd Harris said. That, he said, plays into the Democrats' hands.
But Republicans also are betting that there's no long-term damage to the GOP's strategy because Republicans have tapped into fear among Americans about the government intruding into their lives.
"Intemperate and clearly a mistake," Phil Musser, the former executive director of the Republican Governor's Association, said of Wilson's remark. But, he added: "It didn't shift the debate."
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EDITOR'S NOTE — Liz Sidoti has covered national politics for The Associated Press since 2003.
Article: HERE
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