You Lie!

Joe Wilson, The Action Figure

A company called Herobuilders has rushed out a Joe Wilson action figure. Other figures in the line include Sarah Palin, Joe The Plumber, and Obama The Joker. HuffPo rants:

Look who got an action figure! South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson, that's who! Thanks to the good people at HeroBuilder.com, if you are looking to part with a cool $39.95 on a needless recession-era purchase, you can now be the proud owner of a mini-fig that ably chronicles that time in American History where a guy yelled at the President during a speech to a joint session of Congress. While the figure is so cheaply made that it sort of looks like a repurposed Howard Dean-on-ecstacy action figure, the Joe Wilson mini-fig is programmed to utter "You Lie!" You can listen to it here. Then, after fifteen minutes of shouting "You Lie!" the Joe Wilson action figure starts whining like a milquetoast and starts asking your other action figures to fight his battles for him.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/joe-wilson-gets-his-own-a_n_295985.html

You may recall that the same company sells a Larry "I Am Not Gay" Craig doll.

Quote Of The Day - Jimmy Carter

"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African American. I live in the South, and I've seen the South come a long way, and I've seen the rest of the country that shared the South's attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African Americans. And that racism inclination still exists. . . . It's an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply." - Former president Jimmy Carter, speaking to NBC News.

Maddow On Wilson Rebuking

Barney Frank voted "present" on the Wilson rebuking because he thinks "it's a bad precedent to put us in charge of deciding when people act like jerks." Maddow goes on to list the various merchandising that has sprung up with "You Lie!" slogans.

House Rebukes Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)

The House of Representatives voted 240-179 (pretty much right along party lines) to formally rebuke Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) for his outburst during President Obama's speech on health care reform.

Whereas on September 9, 2009, during the joint session of Congress convened pursuant to House Concurrent Resolution 179, the President of the United States, speaking at the invitation of the House and Senate, had his remarks interrupted by the Representative from South Carolina, Mr. Wilson;

And Whereas the conduct of the Representative from South Carolina was a breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives disapproves of the behavior of the Representative from South Carolina, Mr. Wilson, during the joint session of Congress held on September 9, 2009.

Ooh, they disapprove. That'll learn him. A resolution of disapproval is the lightest punishment for Congress members. List of Congressional censures here. Neither a rebuke or censure has any effect on a Congress member's duties, it's just a scolding.

UPDATE: Seven Republicans voted for the resolution, 12 Dems voted against. Five Democrats voted "present," including Barney Frank.

Democratic Leaders Call for Official Censure Of Rep. Joe Wilson

Top Democrats are calling for an official censure of Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) after his unprecedented heckling of President Obama during a nationally televised speech to the joint chambers of Congress.

Joe Wilson’s flat refusal to apologize to the entire House for heckling President Barack Obama rekindled a push by some top Democrats to introduce a censure resolution — despite Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to consider the idea on Thursday. Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) are considering the move after Wilson adamantly refused to offer a mea culpa in the well of the House. Clyburn buttonholed him on the floor and asked him three times to publicly renounce his “You lie!” outburst, according to my colleague Victoria McGrane. “If he had just said he was sorry, nobody would be considering any of this,” added a senior Democratic aide. The aide said it was too late to push for a resolution this week — and that any resolution would hit the floor next week, giving Wilson more time to reconsider his decision.

Wilson apologized to the president almost immediately after his outburst, drawing howls of betrayal from wingnuts who were already canonizing him as the new leader of the GOP. Since then, Wilson has retreated on his apology somewhat. Meanwhile, Rob Miller, Wilson's 2010 Democratic opponent, has benefited from an avalanche of donations, raising his election fund from $20K to almost $800,000 in less than 36 hours.

CNN: Teabaggers Back Rep. Wilson

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) who famously texted throughout Obama's health care speech, knowing the camera was on him, came to the defense of Rep. Joe Wilson as teabaggers screamed their new battle-cry, "Obama lies!" In this clip, "head of the teabaggers" Mark Wilson claims Obama "knows that any ban on federal health benefits for illegal immigrants would never stand up in court."

Olbermann's Special Comment On Wilson

Another classic rant from the king of these things.

Already

Rep. Joe Wilson's Dem Opponent Raises Over $100K Overnight

In less that 12 hours since SC GOP Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst, his 2010 Democratic opponent, a young former Marine named Rob Miller, saw over $100,000 flood into his Act Blue donations account. About half of that money came from Daily Kos readers alone.

UPDATE: Holy crap! The donations have soared to $375,000!

Mr. Unpopular

Rep. Joe Wilson is the most unpopular guy on both sides of the aisle right now, judging by this story in South Carolina's The State.

Democrats and Republicans alike are denouncing Rep. Joe Wilson for shouting "You lie" at President Barack Obama during his speech to Congress, an extraordinary breach of decorum for which the South Carolina Republican swiftly apologized. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouts as U.S. President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress at the U.S. Capitol September 9, 2009 in Washington, DC. Obama addressed the joint session to urge passage of his national health care plan, the centerpiece of his domestic agenda.

"There'll be time enough to consider whether or not we ought to make it clear that that action is unacceptable in the House of Representatives," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said late Wednesday on WTOP radio when asked about possible punishment for Wilson. "I've talked to Republican members who share that view." "Let's see what he does," Hoyer said before Wilson issued an apology. "Then there's time enough to consider further action." House Republicans did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but there was widespread condemnation of the outburst from members of both parties.

The comments on the story are a hoot. Many support him, but this is more typical: "Wilson's true colors shined in the glare of the national spotlight; he is a redneck, good ole boy racist who is upset with the fact that America has a black president. The sad truth is he represented South Carolina just as one would expect."

THAT Was The Dude I Voted For

Seriously. Fantastic speech.

But we need to put a WORLD of hurt on GOP South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson for screaming "YOU LIE!" at the President of the United States during a nationally televised speech before Congress. That has never happened, to my memory. Not even when Dubya was announcing the invasion of Iraq.

Rep. Joe Wilson 803-939-0041
UPDATE: Sen. John McCain: "Wilson was totally disrespectful, for this or any other setting, and should apologize immediately.
UPDATE II: Rep. Wilson must have had a look at Twitter tonight, where he is the #1 trending topic as tweets demanding his censure (and worse) flood in. Many are directing people to the Facebook page of Wilson's Democratic opponent, a young former U.S. Marine named Rob Miller, whose donation page has reportedly been overloaded for the last two hours. Wilson has just issued an apology:

“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”