Why the shock about Joe Wilson?

By Julian E. Zelizer
Special to CNN

Editor's note: Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. His new book, "Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security -- From World War II to the War on Terrorism," will be published this fall by Basic Books. Zelizer writes widely about current events.


PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- When Rep. Joe Wilson interrupted President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress by yelling "You lie!" a livid House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looked as if she was about to jump out of her seat and give her colleague a five-minute "time out" for misbehavior.

Majority Whip Jim Clyburn warned that he supports reprimanding Wilson unless he goes to the well of the House and apologizes. Many pundits and politicians have subsequently lamented that the incident has revealed a new level of incivility in Congress.

And certainly this was an embarrassing moment for the GOP, which looked more like the party of Joseph McCarthy than Ronald Reagan. This has been a summer when some members of the Republican Party outside of Congress have chosen a strategy of yelling and screaming, rather than debating and legislating.

The GOP would do well to remember the warning of Maine Republican Margaret Chase Smith, who worried in 1950 that her party was trying to achieve victory on "the Four Horsemen of Calumny -- Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear."


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He sure does know where to advertise. I can tell those contributions are going to be very well spent!

its a DU ad box.

What makes Wilson different is that the object of his attack was the POTUS, a guest of the House. The other incidents cited were arguments, fights between members of Congress, not the President.

It was boorish and disrespectful, and was fully intentioned, as he had received a copy of the speech several hours before the President delivered it. His subsequent actions prove that his outburst was neither spontaneous nor something he regrets. His pseudo-apology was a direct result of pressure from the Leadership.

The sight of a white, southern member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans calling the first African- American POTUS a liar reeks of what it really is, racism, and he needs to be censured.