For the record, I believe that Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) was out of order for his "You lie!" outburst during U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech last night on health care reform. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) looked like she wanted to commence a beatdown LOL. President Obama had that "I don't know who that was, but white boy, please!" look on his face:
Come on, now, Joe. Respect the office of the presidency, even if you don’t like President Obama. Interrupting the president's speech like that is unprofessional and déclassé (and yes, I'm aware that Democrats mildly booed former President George W. Bush's speech to Congress back in 2005, and that wasn't right either). Even though liberal Democrats have blocked every amendment to put in measures to ensure that illegal immigrants don’t benefit from the health care bills, it was not the time to be boorish. Forced by Republican leaders, Rep. Wilson did quickly apologize and President Obama accepted it. While I think calls for the conservative Republican politician to resign are silly, I do think a Congressional censure is warranted.
Look on the bright side, the U.S. Congress is still quite mannerable compared to the British Parliament. Check out the rowdy response of Conservative Party backbenchers during one of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's weekly Q&A sessions last year before Parliament:
By the way, I do like to catch an occasional British parliamentary debate. I once saw one between former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Conservative Party leader David Cameron that was spectacular. Man, were they going back and forth. Respectful, but going for the jugular.
It Could Be Worse: Rep. Joe Wilson Vs. British Backbenchers
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3 comments:
Your comparison with Parliamentary question period is inaccurate. The Head of State, the Queen is not present as was the President last night. Furthermore even during question period, when the gloves appear to come off, calling another member a liar, is unparlimentary language - the Speaker would interrupt, ask the offender to apologize, and if they didn't they would be thrown out of the House by the Sargent-at-Arms. They could only return after they stood before the speaker and apologized to the Speaker, the House, and the target of the offending language.
Bill is exactly right. Debates in the House of Commons may be rowdy, but their rowdiness is cabined by rules -- something that apparently escaped Rep. Wilson last night.
Hi, I live in England and love to watch debates in the House of Commons. The point about 'unparliamentary language' is correc.
The equivalent in Britain would be for a Lord, Baroness or MP to shout 'You Lie!' at the Queen during the Speech from the Throne, which is as unthinkable a thing as could possibly be. I can imagine that a Member would be very foolish to do such a thing, he might not even make it out of the House of Lords alive!
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