E.J. Dionne: Wilson and Our National Character

from Truthdig:



Wilson and Our National Character

Posted on Sep 14, 2009
By E.J. Dionne


If you saw a woman struck by a car, would you call an ambulance right away? Or would you first ask for her papers to make sure she was not an illegal immigrant?

If someone living down the street from you was suffering from the H1N1 flu, wouldn’t you want him to get immediate medical help? Would you rather see him in pain and perhaps spread the disease to others in your neighborhood?

Rep. Joe Wilson deserves all the condemnation he’s received for his boorish behavior during President Barack Obama’s address on health care. No Democrat ever shouted “You lie!” during a George W. Bush speech to Congress.

But at least as consequential for our politics was the issue that moved Wilson to his outburst. Wilson accused Obama of prevarication when the president declared: “There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms—the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”

Obama sandwiched this denial between his knockdowns of two other claims about his health reform plan: the ludicrous charge that it would create death panels, and the accusation, also false, that it would promote abortions. In fact, the administration is negotiating very hard with pro-lifers to make the bill “neutral” on abortion. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090913_joe_wilson_and_our_character/?ln