Word: wilsonism
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...when Representative Joe Wilson, a little-known Republican and Army Reserve veteran from South Carolina shouted them at the nation's Commander in Chief on the night of Sept. 9, heads snapped. The House chamber took a collective gasp. Nancy Pelosi, sitting behind Obama, tensed and scowled as if she had just witnessed a crime, her disgust unhidden. (See TIME's photo essay "The Health-Care Debate Turns Angry...
...Even President Obama, who had just dismissed conservative claims that illegal immigrants would be able to take advantage of health-care reform, was taken aback. He looked to his left, adjusted his arm, part nervous twitch, part macho posturing, and shot back at Wilson, "That's not true." And there, for a moment, the nation watched two men, elected to lead, call each other the worst thing in politics - dishonorable deceivers. (See 10 players in health-care reform...
...moment Wilson exploded, the outburst seemed like an assault on the President. Soon afterward, it was clear that it had been a gift. Wilson had, in an emotional expression, proven Obama's point: the summer of town halls had been less a discussion than a circus, a forum where misinformation was vindicated by passion, where disrespect was elevated to a virtue. Now the circus had come inside Congress...
...take long for the condemnations to rain down on Wilson. Republican Senator John McCain went on CNN to call Wilson's behavior "totally disrespectful" and to ask for an apology. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy was beside himself as he walked out of the House chamber. "I've been here for 35 years. I've been here for seven presidents. I've never heard anything like that," he said, adding that he had no doubt how it would play in the hinterlands. "It strengthens the President, because it demonstrates what he is facing. Most people have respect for the President...
...Sure enough, the apology was quick to come, in a statement from Wilson's office, which disowned only the tone, not the substance, of his comments. "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," the statement said. "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." Wilson later called White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who accepted the apology on behalf...