"You Whore!" -- Calling Out Joe "You Lie" Wilson

As most of you probably know by now, as President Obama stated that no health care reform bill would mandate coverage for aliens who entered the United States without permission, one Congressman from the Republican side of the chamber shouted, "You Lie!"

That Congressman was Rep. Addison Graves "Joe" Wilson, Republican from South Carolina.

Facing South, the blog of the Institute of Southern Studies, has a good piece out this morning about Mr. Wilson. It turns out that the vociferous representative has been a longtime recipient of largesse from the health care industry. Sue Sturgis of Facing South writes:

Wilson is a major recipient of contributions from the health care industry. In fact, over his entire congressional career, health professionals represent Wilson's top industry contributors, donating a total of $244,196 to his campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics OpenSecrets.org database.

He received another $86,150 from pharmaceutical companies, $73,050 from insurance companies and $68,000 from hospitals and nursing homes. Among Wilson's top contributors are the American Hospital Association, a lobby group that represents the interests of hospitals and health networks, and the American Medical Association, which represents physicians.

When the incident happened, I was wishing the President would have beckoned to the Republican side, invited the vicious commenter to the podium, and had it out with him. There is, of course, nothing in the legislative pipeline requiring treatment of immigrants who entered the country illegally.

But having read Ms. Sturgis' report, I now wish the President had merely fired back, "You Whore!"

But, if course, the President has more class than that.

Unconstrained by such impulses, I will say it myself: "Joe, you lying whore, crawl back under your rock. And say hello to your Governor when you get there."

And if you agree with me, please consider contributing to Rob Miller, the Democrat running against Mr. Wilson.