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As I sat down to watch the president's speech last night, I silently nursed the hope that maybe, just maybe, with him bringing both parties together in this forum, that common sense might prevail and some sort of sanity could be returned to the politcal arena.
All that went out the window when I saw Rep. Joe Wilson (R) shout "You Lie!" at the American president as he addressed a joint session of congress in front of the American people.
In my 48 years, I have never seen such blatant disrespect shown to an American president by an American politician. The withering glares of Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden, as well as the uncomforable shifting in their seats of republicans and even a momentary pause by the president himself, told me that no one else had ever seen such a display either.
As a democrat, despite the call by some in our party for Obama to pass the health care reform and stop trying to "bring in" republicans (who clearly don't want to cooperate), I was still a little uncomfortable with the idea of passing something this important without at least some sort of concensus among the parties.
But after watching the republican performance last night, I think I have changed my mind. I'll wager I'm not alone in that.
What Joe Wilson did was not only a slap in the face of the president, but it was also a slap in the face of every democrat, independent, and yes, even republicans that voted for him.
While the recent behavior of the republican party, (or in fairness, some of the republican party) has been both bizarre and extreme, it was bearable because deep down, we all knew that these republican politicians don't ACTUALLY believe that Obama is not a U.S. citizen, nor do they actually believe his is creating "death panels", nor did they really believe his speech to the school kids was going to turn them all into "Obama-zombies", nor do they actually believe he is some sort of hypnotizing anti-christ-nazi-socialist-communist-muslim.
Deep down we all understood that such claims "make good theater" as they say. They say things like this to keep the president in a position of constantly defending himself against silly accusations. It's done to try to keep him off-balance, or to put a constant "cloud of suspicion" over his head. It's done to slow his progress.
But in the end, we knew it was all nonsense, and something the republicans could or would "reel in" if need be, if it started to go too far.
But now, after last night, I have to wonder if they actually can reel in the monster they've set loose?
What I saw when Joe Wilson shouted at the president was a party that has truly become no-holds-barred scary. I believe the wickedness ran too deep and has taken root, and that there is nothing now that they will not do or say in their efforts against the president. The open display of hostility and disrespect, while making me furious, also makes me fearful for the president's safety from these people, or any democrats or liberals safety for that matter.
After all, they speak about us as if we are evil as well.
What Jo Wilson did is make me remember the 8 years of disrepsect we suffered at the hands of George Bush and the republican party. It made me remember how we (the american people) were virtually ignored as they robbed and pillaged the nation's coffers and gave our money by the billions to their friends in the military arms and oil industries.
It made me remember 9/11 and all the ties the bush family had to the key players and the attacks themselves. I remembered the huge cover-up that followed. I remember Bush lying to us, insisting we were going to disappear under a mushroom cloud from Iraq, and I remember the American peoiple being ignored when we demanded answers for all these lies.
And now a republican DARES to shout YOU LIE to the new president that is trying to clean up the mess THEY left behind?
I'm glad I'm a democrat. I'm glad Joe Wilsons upcoming opponent (a democrat) was donated $100,000. over night last night because of Wilson's remarks. I think the republicans have forgotten that the same mountains we moved to elect Obama can be moved to get rid of any one of them.
Am I pissed? You betcha!
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2:52 PM
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