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Cynthia Tucker

Clyburn’s point about reprimanding Wilson

7:35 am September 14, 2009, by ctucker

I was ready to forget about Joe Wilson.

I had initially thought a formal rebuke of the South Carolina Congressman was a waste of time, a purely partisan, feel-good gesture that takes precious time away from more important things — like reforming health care, passing energy legislation and regulating Wall Street.

A “resolution of disapproval” also runs the risk of further elevating and sanctifying Wilson among his rabid rightwing base, who have already made him a hero. Several of the tea party protestors at Saturday’s anti-Obama rally in Washington were waving signs or wearing shirts in praise of Wilson. And, while the GOP leadership seems uncomfortable with the attention Wilson is getting, some of his GOP colleagues are only to ready to up the ante. Steve King, GOP Congressman from Iowa, is circulating a letter asking his Republican colleagues to come to Wilson’s defense.

Joe Wilson is taking a lot of heat and some of it is coming from Republicans. He may be the subject of a disciplinary resolution on the House floor as early as Tuesday. We all know Joe for the officer and gentleman that he is. I have penned a letter to him that urges him to stand his ground. It also points out that President Obama accused “prominent politicians” of lying in the sentence just prior to Joe’s outburst.

Now, it’s easy to see why Democrats are insisting on a reprimand. Wilson’s apology is looking less and less sincere as he makes the round of rightwing talk shows to portray himself as a victim standing up to oppression. He has also refused to publicly apologize before the House, which he should do, since he violated House rules of decorum.

But I was most convinced by Majority Whip James Clyburn, veteran South Carolina legislator and highly respected member of the House, on his reasons for pushing for a reprimand. (He was quoted in Maureen Dowd’s column yesterday.):

A lot of these outbursts have to do with delegitimizing him as a president,” said Congressman Jim Clyburn, a senior member of the South Carolina delegation. Clyburn, the man who called out Bill Clinton on his racially tinged attacks on Obama in the primary, pushed Pelosi to pursue a formal resolution chastising Wilson.

“In South Carolina politics, I learned that the olive branch works very seldom,” he said. “You have to come at these things from a position of strength. My father used to say, ‘Son, always remember that silence gives consent.’ ”

I defer to the wisdom of the gentleman (that would be Clyburn, not Wilson) from South Carolina. He knows a lot more about the politics of his state than I do.

Besides, there does come a point where you have to stand up to a bully. And since Republicans already smell blood in the water, maybe Democrats should draw a line in the sand at yelling “You lie” during the president’s speech to a joint session of Congress.

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39 comments Add your comment

Jen

September 14th, 2009
7:48 am

First?

joe matarotz

September 14th, 2009
8:02 am

Of course.

Agnes

September 14th, 2009
8:08 am

I am in favor of a public debate in the House regarding Wilson’s statement and apology. In the end it will be a good thing for Republicans if the House reprimands Wison. I can’t wait to count the number of House Democrats who do not vote “yes”.

Tall

September 14th, 2009
8:08 am

We have a first term president with no experience in the private sector. He is going to “reform” an industry that accounts for one sixth of the U.S. gross domestic product. One of the few industries where the U.S. is still competitive, by the way. This is going to happen without expanding the deficit, and expanding healthcare coverage as we know it. While we’re at it, let’s villify the insurance industry and ignore the fact that state mandates and legislation(see New York State) have consolidated the private health insurance market into the hands of six large players(whose stock prices are rallying).

Yes President Obama did a great job of stating the obvious last Wednesday. But, he left out a few details. How will this get paid for? Maybe Senator Wilson has a point.

Agnes

September 14th, 2009
8:09 am

And by the way Cynthia, I don’t believe you when you say that you initially opposed the reprimand.

bob

September 14th, 2009
8:18 am

Why can’t we accept the fact that like most politicians, Obama is a liar. He is going to cover 30 million and not a dime in the red ? He believes in competition, do I get to invest my own Social Security money, you know, let the private sector compete with Gov. The Baucus bill mandates that private insurance companies fund the government option, is that competition ?

Phil McCall

September 14th, 2009
8:24 am

It was not an “anti-Obama rally in Washington” movement. A significant number of Americans are tired of big government, period. Big government did not start with the 110th Congress or this Administration. Big government – or out of control government – began sixteen years before the current Congress and Administration and has escalated more out of control since the beginning of the Clinton years. George Bush continued the slide to the point Socialism is now on the horizon under the current Congress and Administration. So you need to get your facts correct; not an anti-Obama movement it is a anti-big government movement.

Jackie

September 14th, 2009
8:45 am

James Clyburn and other black members of the South Carolina congressional delegation SHOULD refuse to speak with Rep. Wilson. Rep. Wilson and those that speak of President Obama in less than a positive manor, exhibit a proclivity to believe the President is not valid and is not in a position to speak to him and many his supporters, do not have the right to speak up and speak out on a problem that affects ALL of us.
Is this because President Obama is black, or, the President is not intelligent?

jt

September 14th, 2009
8:46 am

Poor liberal statists.

Obama has even failed as an insurance salesman. There will be no public option.

The liberal statists now must fall back to apologies, legislating climate, and nagging us about polysatuated fat and cigarette smoke.

donald jensen

September 14th, 2009
9:24 am

Why when the dems have felons still in power are you worried when someone calls a spade a spade. Obama has twisting the truth since he came into power and has surrounded himself with people that could not pass a basic security test.

norman ravitch

September 14th, 2009
9:37 am

It’s refreshing to have someone tell the President he is a liar. He is.

Sissy

September 14th, 2009
9:46 am

We’re sending Joe Wilson a donation only if HE DOES NOT apologize to the house for his comment! He has nothing to apologize for as what he said was the truth. Sounds like they might make a change after he brought it up for closer inspection — the health care that everyone is voting for without reading what is in it!

Lara

September 14th, 2009
10:12 am

This administraion has put convicted felons in the white house and are annoyed because Joe Wilson called a liar, well, a liar?

jconservative

September 14th, 2009
10:13 am

Wilson apologized the the President & the President accepted the apology.

Those two grownups handled the issue. Now if all you kids will listen to the grownups we can continue the class.

Hannibal Lechter

September 14th, 2009
10:21 am

Tall, you write like you know the issue, then refer to the House member as a senator. Tall, you come up short.

new_york_loner

September 14th, 2009
10:28 am

It appears that Americans were ready to elect a black man as president, but they are not ready to let that man lead the nation.

The Obama-haters, when pressed for a rationale for their discontent,usually explain their position by saying, “Oh, it’s not because Obama is black, it’s because he is ________ .”(fill in the blank)

The most common excuse for the impssioned disloyalty is that Obama is “a socialist” or “a communist”. Sometimes the blank is filled in with “a non-US citizen” or ” a Muslim”. The more rabid Obama-haters fill in the blank with “a terrorist sympathizer” or “the Manchurian candidate”.

The tea baggers have crafted a credible good reason to disguise the real reason for their disgust with President Obama. Their mantra: “Oh, it’s not that he’s black, it’s that he is spending us into national bankruptcy”.

Of course, the tea baggers were no where to be seen when the Bush boys, George and George Jr., were spending money like drunken high-rollers in Las Vegas.

It’s going to be difficult to protect the president from an armed nutjob, hopped up on the hate speech. May God preserve and protect Barack Obama.

Sinthia

September 14th, 2009
11:03 am

I find this statement interesting – “My father used to say, ‘Son, always remember that silence gives consent.’ ”

That’s why Wilson spoke up in the first place.
You can’t have one side do all the talking.

The Snark

September 14th, 2009
11:29 am

Sinthia:

I would love to see the Republicans do some talking. All they’ve done since November 2008 is shout.

Joan

September 14th, 2009
11:31 am

New York Loner–well, we didn’t have to wait long for the race card to be played. That is what liberals do–when the facts fail them, they resort to bs. About apologizing to Congress–my heaven, if they did an audit of every Congressman’s tax returns first, and only let those who complied with the law vote, there wouldn’t be many votes of censure. And anyway, it would be a badge of honor to be censured by this corrupt group of people.

Sinthia

September 14th, 2009
11:34 am

Snark – blanket statements do nothing.

The Oddball

September 14th, 2009
11:35 am

It seems odd to the Oddball that the modern day Republican party has no respect for the institutions it covets. President Reagan used to say that “government is the problem,” but at least he considered it legitimate. Since 1992, his party seems to believe government is legitimate only when they control it. Shameful — and even more shameful because they are no better than the Democrats.

Kamchak

September 14th, 2009
11:47 am

And by the way Cynthia, I don’t believe you when you say that you initially opposed the reprimand.

It’s never good manners to call your hostess a liar. Just sayin’.

Agnes

September 14th, 2009
12:43 pm

Kamchak, I do not believe Cynthia’s claim because of her 2nd paragraph where she gave us her reasons for being against censoring Wilson.

Robyn

September 14th, 2009
12:58 pm

The leftist are getting a little payback for the way they treated Bush. They can’t stand it.

Midori

September 14th, 2009
1:37 pm

where the @$$%%^%@% did all these fire breathing wingnuts come from??

Wade

September 14th, 2009
1:42 pm

The anti-Obama crowd can call it what ever they like, but it’s racism, pure and simple. Look at their pictures in the paper and read the things they say (in code, of course). On the whole, it’s pretty obvious that the president’s entire life is a rebuke to their misguided and deep-seated sense of white priviledge and white superiority. The latter are the only things that stand between them and confronting their own failures. I would wager that most of them are unmotivated, uneducated, have a deep sense of race-based entitlement, and come from dysfunctional families riddled with mental illness and substance abuse. This is why they are unable to reason. They are a hopeless lot whose country has left them behind, literally, in its election of a black man to the presidency.

bob

September 14th, 2009
1:50 pm

Wade, you are correct about the racism. If the white half of Obama gave us better healthcare, free no less, we would never ask how it would be paid for or why medicare has Billions of waste. We would follow whitey just like we followed Hillary when she wanted to give us better healthcare, Oh, Hillary was white ? Why didn’t we take her free, better healthcare ? Cowards hide behind color.

new_york_loner

September 14th, 2009
2:15 pm

Joan, thank you for reading my post and responding. I hope that you are right in your refutation of my charge that the nature of the anti-Obama movement is fundamentally race-based. I also hope that I am proven wrong about the president’s personal safety. Nothing in your post, however, has convinced me that I am in fact incorrect in my analysis of the situation. The GOP-sanctioned resistance to the Obama Administration goes beyond the sore loser explanation. This de-legitimization of the president’s authority borders on sedition.

Agnes

September 14th, 2009
2:21 pm

Probably came from the same places as the slithering slimey name calling Left-wing-wackos came from.

Kamchak

September 14th, 2009
2:27 pm

Agnes–Do you mean this paragraph?

I had thought a formal rebuke of the South Carolina Congressman was a waste of time, a purely partisan feel-good gesture that takes precious time away from more important things — like reforming health care, passing energy legislation and regulating Wall Street.

All she is saying is that at first she believed there were bigger fish to fry. But she goes on further to say that standing up to a bully is more important. Being able to change one’s mind is not lying–it’s reassessing a previously held position.

I believe Ms. Tucker is wrong in this case. Giving that puerile panty-waist Wilson any more time in the spotlight only gives rise to his whining victim-hood.

John Morrical

September 14th, 2009
2:53 pm

Dear Jackie, The fact that you want to gather all the “black” legislators to affront a white man for a black President demonstrates how much of a racist that you are. Can’t you see that? Obama is not unintelligent, but he did lie both about abortions not being funded by this new health plan and by asserting that illegals would not be able to get coverage under this health plan scenario. Truth does not know color, or its lack. John

Agnes

September 14th, 2009
3:06 pm

Kamchak;
I read and understood what Cynthia wrote. I stand by my comment. I do not believe that she really wanted to let Wilson go with just the apology to President Obama.

Wade

September 14th, 2009
3:10 pm

Bob, I was not speaking specifically of health care, although if you look back at 1994 you will note that there was no coalition comprised of health care special interests supporting reforms as there is now, and much of the legislation was put together behind closed doors, by the President’s wife. These nutcases that you defend, and Joe Wilson speaks for, will latch onto any crazy notion as long as it is against Obama.

As for goverment waste, where were you guys when Bush was lying us into war, demanding billions from Congress for his war (and accusing those who complained of siding with the terrorists), handing out no-bid contracts to his cronies, cutting taxes for the wealthy, pushing through Medicare Part D, etc. I will note that, on the last one, it was not the Republicans who wanted the goverment to be able to import drugs from Canada. Quite the opposite, actually.

All this “concern” at the moment over deficits, after years of Republican overspending, seems disingenuous. Or maybe they only think spending money is okay when the boys want to play army.

P.S. The Iraq war is going to cost well over one trillion by the time all is said and done. A huge, sad, waste of money, brought to us by the Republicans.

John Morrical

September 14th, 2009
3:16 pm

Dear Oddball, Government is not about “Control”- it’s about service. Those we elect are to provide an environment for us to try to succeed. They are to serve US in this way. They, whatever party has been voted in, are NOT voted in to CONTROL us. They are also not voted in to give us a chicken in every pot.We are ENTITLED to SEEK life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness-we are not guaranteed that the government will give us those three on a silver platter.All three must be earned and protected.
If they will keep our enemies at bay, and otherwise just stay the heck out of the way, we’ll do just fine.
They should also welcome the input of those they are purported to serve and should not attempt to stifle their concerns by name calling(leftists,rightists, tea partyites,tree huggers). The freedom of speech for which many have given their lives should not be infringed, but should be honored and nourished. Whenever any politician attempts to infringe upon the right of free speech, he makes himself a traitor.When those who have taken a vow to protect the general populace and the Constitution do just the opposite, they demonstrate the definition a LYING TRAITOR.

Kamchak

September 14th, 2009
3:20 pm

Agnes

Then I stand by my comment—Calling your hostess a liar is display of bad manners. Check with Judith Martin–I’m sure she will back me up on this

Pat Ham

September 15th, 2009
12:39 pm

hope clyburn enjoyed his time in washington…Very possible he will not make a tenth term

Jerry pass

September 16th, 2009
9:05 pm

I know there will never be a response from my comments because
she is myoptic in her thinking and never listens to anyone
conservative. This is why MsTucker emits the black cloud of her
personal racism each and every time she criticises conservative decent
as racist. I oppose president Obama because he is so radical in
his thinking as every word he speaks is prepared carefully for
deniability. This means he may not be lying but neither is he being
truthful. Misleading is a powerful deception for the unsophisticated
and intelligently challenged so to speak. I admire the philosophy
and readings of Thomas Sowell. I like Michael Steele, head of the
Republican National Committee. I enjoy and admire the radio
commentary of Herman Cain and Larry Elder. These are all Black
Americans with conservative common sense.
Ms Tucker there are independent Black Americans that actually
get it when it comes to understanding the wisdom of our forefathers
as the foundation of our country. Read Thomas Sowell and
learn about conservative common sense for keeping America
strong.

Globals

October 3rd, 2009
1:07 am

all good things

Romase

October 3rd, 2009
11:29 pm

site best