The racial subtext of the Joe Wilson outburst didn’t escape Maureen Dowd:
What I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!
That’s one reason for the House leadership to push through a resolution of reprimand. (Censure now seems to be off the table).
I think it’s appropriate for the President to deprecate the idea of reprimanding Wilson, and for the House leadership to move forward with it anyway. The President was injured; his acceptance of Wilson’s apology closes the matter as between the two men. But the House was also injured, and Wilson’s refusal to apologize for that injury makes it all the more important for the House to put its views on record. I look forward to the rollcall vote, which will force Republicans either to identify with the Teabagger movement or disown it.
Update Some racially-themed posters from the 9/12 rally, just in case you were in any doubt:
That link goes to a WP administrative page
Fixed now. Thanks. Matt.
I hope you don’t really think that hearing unspoken words says anything about the person who didn’t speak them. Might say volumes about the people who manage to hear them anyway, though.
Oh, no, I have no reason to expect that a former Strom Thurmond staffer harbors any racial animus. Certainly not! Dowd and I are just imagining things.