The Glade 4.0

Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst last week drew new recriminations from his colleagues Tuesday, with a member of the Congressional Black Caucus suggesting that a failure to rebuke the South Carolina Republican would be tantamount to supporting the most blatant form of organized racism in American history.

Making an obvious reference to the Ku Klux Klan, Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said Tuesday that people will be putting on "white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside" if emerging racist attitudes, which he says were subtly supported by Wilson, are not rebuked. He said Wilson must be disciplined as an example.

Hours later, the House passed a resolution to formally admonish Wilson, who bellowed "You lie!" as President Obama delivered a health care reform address to a joint session of Congress last Wednesday. House Democratic leaders had decided days ago to move forward with the measure if Wilson did not apologize on the House floor.

But although Wilson was widely condemned by colleagues on both sides of the aisle for breaching protocol, some went a step further and accused Wilson of being racially motivated.

"He did not help the cause of diversity and tolerance with his remarks -- if I were a betting man I would say it instigated more racist sentiment," Johnson said Tuesday. "And so I guess we'll probably have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside intimidating people. ... That's the logical conclusion if this kind of attitude is not rebuked, and Congressman Wilson represents it. He's the face of it."

Johnson seemed to reference the protests held in Washington, D.C., on Saturday in making his claim. While many protesters were there to demonstrate against big government and federal over-spending, Johnson argued that a "fringe" element is motivated by race and that Wilson "winked" at that fringe with his behavior.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote in her column Sunday that Wilson's outburst convinced her that racial angst is the underlying motive among Obama critics like Wilson.

"I've been loath to admit that the shrieking lunacy of the summer ... had much to do with race," she wrote. "But Wilson's shocking disrespect for the office of the president -- no Democrat ever shouted 'liar' at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq -- convinced me: Some people just can't believe a black man is president and will never accept it."

Dowd wrote that Wilson "clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber."
Asked about the claim Sunday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said race is not the factor.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday that he "did not take a racial connotation" from Wilson's outburst.

"The attacks on President Obama are harsh. I hope they are not racially motivated," he said.

Can you find a single instance of a democrat doing what Wilson did? Because I can't. However, that's sort of beside the point.

The only thing missing from Joe Wilson's explosion at the president, in my opinion, was the word "boy".

Can you find a single instance of a democrat doing what Wilson did? Because I can't. However, that's sort of beside the point.

The only thing missing from Joe Wilson's explosion at the president, in my opinion, was the word "boy".

Can you find a single instance of a democrat doing what Wilson did? Because I can't. However, that's sort of beside the point.

The only thing missing from Joe Wilson's explosion at the president, in my opinion, was the word "boy".

Can you find a single instance of a democrat doing what Wilson did? Because I can't. However, that's sort of beside the point.

The only thing missing from Joe Wilson's explosion at the president, in my opinion, was the word "boy".

Explain why being angry at something the President is saying must necessarily result from racism.

That wasn't what I argued. I will thank you to not build straw men out of my argument. It's a logical fallacy. My point was about Joe Wilson in particular, and I never argued that anger at the president constitutes racism necessarily. You constructed that out of my statement, and I neither intended to imply or explicitly state anything of the sort.

I believe that his comment was born of racism at least in part. I believe he is likely to be a racist, given his willful association with the Sons of the Confederacy and his support for maintaining racist imagery like the confederate flag on public grounds. I think they only thing preventing Joe Wilson from shouting "boy" or "nigger" when he said that to the president was his knowledge that he would have no wiggle room if he did. He would not, in my opinion, have treated a white president in such a fashion.

Now, you may not agree that the confederate flag is a racist symbol, and that's fine for you, but I was speaking of my opinion, and I have given my reasons for it. Again, please do not construct arguments I have not made out of what you think my statements mean. If you have a question, please feel free to ask.

That wasn't what I argued. I will thank you to not build straw men out of my argument. It's a logical fallacy. My point was about Joe Wilson in particular, and I never argued that anger at the president constitutes racism necessarily. You constructed that out of my statement, and I neither intended to imply or explicitly state anything of the sort.

I believe that his comment was born of racism at least in part. I believe he is likely to be a racist, given his willful association with the Sons of the Confederacy and his support for maintaining racist imagery like the confederate flag on public grounds. I think they only thing preventing Joe Wilson from shouting "boy" or "nigger" when he said that to the president was his knowledge that he would have no wiggle room if he did. He would not, in my opinion, have treated a white president in such a fashion.

Now, you may not agree that the confederate flag is a racist symbol, and that's fine for you, but I was speaking of my opinion, and I have given my reasons for it. Again, please do not construct arguments I have not made out of what you think my statements mean. If you have a question, please feel free to ask.

Sorry, but you did. The word "boy", when referring to a black man is generally accepted to be racist.

Once again, no one constructed any argument for you. All of this information could have been in your original post. You chose not to include it, and what I said was not a strawman of what I did say. It's my job to ask for clarification if what you say is unclear to me, not to make sure you haven't withheld part of what you're trying to say.

In any case, Wilson's association with a group you find racist doesn't in any way establish how "You lie!" is racist or how there was a "boy!" missing from the end of it.

Racism does not have to be overt. One doesn't have to use a racial epithet in order to have racism as a motivating factor for such an outburst. I think Maureen Dowd was spot on with her column. I think that Joe Wilson didn't like being rebuked for his dishonesty, I think he especially didn't like hearing it coming from a black man, and that had Obama been white, he would never have made such an outburst. I think his support for keeping confederate imagery prominently displayed is born of a fetishism with the confederacy, which ultimately culminates in a fetishism for a time when white people enslaved black people in this country.

I think a black president offends the "natural order" in the mind of Joe Wilson, and in the mind of many people who can't seem to keep themselves from screaming and shouting at the man. I agree with Jimmy Carter - there are people all over this country that do not believe an African American is qualified to lead the US, no matter his ability or qualification.

It explains why people are so willing to take to the streets with Obama-as-hitler signs over policies that are no more socialistic than the white, republican, conservative president before him.

I don't necessarily believe that race tops the list for why they hate him in most or many of the cases I am referring to. I think his status as a liberal (and anti-liberal bigotry espoused on Fox and other outlets) is responsible for a lot of it. However, given some of the messages on the signs at the Tea Party protest in washington, I don't think it's so irrational a position to say race has something, if not a significant amount, to do with it.

I didn't deflect. It's not the words he used, but the context he used them in, and the vehemence in which he said them (never mind the irony that *he* in fact was lying in his accusation. No currently proposed plan, nor the president's outlined plan include coverage for undocumented workers). Again, he didn't have to tack "boy" to the end of "you lie" in order for it to be at least in part about race.