There’s something mighty strange about the immediate reaction of those listening as U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson screamed “you lie” at President Barack Obama. Look at these pictures.
No heads turn
Heads Turn
Now, all of us have been in a room when a scream comes out of nowhere. It’s impossible not to look. Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned. Vice President Joe Biden Turned. Obama turned. Why aren’t Wilson’s Republican colleagues startled? Not one has turned to see what the outburst, coming from right next to them, is all about. This is, at the very least, quite odd. One thing that might account for the stoic response from those around Wilson is that they knew it was coming. Were they prepared? It’s a question that should be pursued. Despite the feigned GOP repudiation of Wilson, one could conclude it was a planned disruption.
The comparison of these pictures is not conclusive proof. I’m not much for conspiracies, not because I’m naive, but because people usually foul them up and are easily found out. But this sure has all the typical features of an old trick: stepping on your opponent’s story.
Faced with post-Obama speech coverage about the President and the case for health care reform, the GOP wouldn’t want to just react and feed into that. They needed a stunt. Wilson would be their man. Of course, it would have the additional benefit of pointing out to the racists (the GOP is counting on them to stay fired up) that it’s entirely appropriate, even necessary, to disrespect a person of color. Judging from the reaction, it appears to fired up the extremists. They are handing out T-shirts adorned with Wilson’s picture and carrying signs that say, “You Lie.”
When Republicans subsequently criticized Wilson, it just extended the interruption. More minutes of TV coverage, more space in the newspaper, less space and coverage of health care. Democrats had little choice but to condemn Wilson, though the White House tried to keep the focus on health care.
The GOP could have picked their moment ahead of time, since the speech was pre-released. Or maybe Wilson picked his moment — conveniently, while the subject of immigration was discussed — and merely told those around him. Or maybe they were so embarrassed they couldn’t look at him. However, they appear to have avoided any surprise, and how they could manage that is a mystery, given that even the millions of Americans watching at home were startled.
It’s not news that the GOP would engage in dirty tricks. Knowledge of the tricks, or even the possibility of the tricks, can help us defend against them and call them out when they happen again.
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About Glenn W. Smith
Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”
Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.
In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.
As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.
Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.
Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.
As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”
I thought the very same thing when I saw this photo! Sad isn’t it? But clearly, very stategic. Glenn, you rock! I’m gonna tweet this on Twitter
As the black helicopters descend on Glenn’s house….
“maybe they were so embarrassed they couldn’t look at him”
Bingo.
from my understanding, they were mumbling under their breath the enitre time…so no, they weren’t surprised
The thing about these photos… The one of Wilson being an ass is immediately while he’s saying it. There is no time for his neighbors to have reacted. So if you’re basing your whole analysis on these photos, you might want to re-think.
That said, however, it’s clear to me that this moment was chosen carefully, and that Wilson was chosen to deliver it. But these two photos, in contrast, don’t really prove it.
What proves it is that there are so many other moments where Wilson (or someone else) could have heckled, but didn’t. Only on the immigrant issue did he perform his outburst.
No, they don’t prove it. They just raise a suspicion, a suspicion justified by past behavior etc. etc. That’s why I put so many qualifiers in the piece. Thanks for coming to the Canyon, by the way. We need fact-checkers, ideas, challenges, support, etc. etc.
It seems to me that the more important question is, “does it matter?” It’s utterly academic to me whether the outburst was planned or not. Either way, it speaks of an underlying pathology in our politics. It gets meaner and baser every day. Not to mention stupider. Wilson’s claim that Obama is lying about covering immigrants is demonstrably false. Not to mention, the president’s plan is only half the story. When (if?) Congress stops circle-jerking long enough to construct a bill, they can fight over the immigrant question then. The GOP is acting as though the president has drafted a bill for them to sign, rather than the other way around. Hell, I’m a high school dropout, so I may be full of it, but if somebody asked me to sit down for the salary of the average congressman and learn enough about healthcare to write a reform bill, I’d be staying up late and hitting the books. I won’t keep going, because I could spit all day about this horseshit, but simply stated: intentional or not, it’s a symptom of the illness we’re all suffering from, and that needs to be addressed yesterday. Unfortunately, it’s a preexisting condition, so we’re all screwed.
it’s a bit odd that there was such a great photo of wilson at the moment of his outburst, of course; why was the camera pointed at him at that moment?