Profitable to Claim Obama is a Liar

Published in Aftenposten
(Norway) on 17 September 2009
by Alf Ole Ask (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Lars Erik Schou. Edited by Alex Brewer.
The dollar bills are pouring into the campaign war chest of Joe Wilson, the Republican congressman who yelled “You lie!” during the president’s address to Congress last week.

The congressman from South Carolina, who has become a national celebrity in America and a mascot for the conservative part of the media world, is up for election next year.

The Democratic Party is hoping Wilson’s verbal attack on the president will hurt him so much that his political career will end.

Right after Joe Wilson made his infamous statement, reports came that his challenger had collected more than $1 million in campaign funds. The challenger is Democrat and Iraq War veteran Rob Miller.

But now the Republican sponsors are also mobilizing for Wilson. The latest numbers the Republican Party has made public shows that Wilson has raised $1.5 million to campaign with. And so it would seem that the name-calling incident has increased the intensity of the South Carolina race and given Wilson additional funds to campaign with.

But if Wilson is popular among his own, he was penalized by Congress.

Tuesday, Congress passed a resolution to admonish Joe Wilson because he refused to offer an apology to Congress during Tuesday's session. That very night, he called The White House and apologized for interrupting the president and for yelling “You lie!” to him. He was asked to do so both by fellow party members and political opponents. Via his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who has years of experience as a representative himself, the president accepted the apology. Wilson said this was enough, but a majority of Congress' members underlined that this too was a breach of code. This is why the majority decided to admonish him. Many see Wilson’s outburst as a sign that the more uncivilized tone from the town hall meetings on health care reform has spread to Congress.

It was when President Obama stated that his health care reform would not insure health care for illegal immigrants that Wilson interrupted him with his outburst. This is a myth about the reform that has been difficult to rebuff.

Wilson got the mildest form of admonishment from the House of Representatives. He is the second since the turn of the century that has been admonished. Democrats mainly voted for his admonishment while Republicans voted against it. The treatment of Wilson and the debates show that the fronts are hardening in the debate on American health care reform. The possibilities to come up with reform that will gain support from Republicans seem small.



Lønnsomt å påstå at Obama lyver

Dollarsedlene ruller inn i valgkampkassen til Joe Wilson, den republikanske kongressmannen som ropte «du lyver» under presidentens tale til Kongressen for en uke siden.

Kongressmannen fra Sør-Carolina, som nå er blitt rikskjendis i USA og en maskot for den mer konservative delen av medieverden, er på valg neste år.

Det demokratiske partiet håper at Wilsons utfall mot presidenten skal skade ham så mye at den politiske karrièren er over.
Irak-veteran.

Rett etter at Joe Wilson kom med sine famøse uttalelser, kom meldingene om at hans utfordrer hadde samlet inn mer enn 1 million dollar i valgstøtte. Utfordreren er demokraten og Irak-veteranen Rob Miller.

Men nå mobiliserer også de republikanske sponsorene til fordel for Wilson. De siste tallene som Det republikanske parti offentliggjorde tirsdag viser at Wilson på en uke har fått 1,5 millioner nye dollar til å drive valgkamp for. Dermed synes det som om utskjellingen av Obama har økt intensiteten i valgkampen i Sør-Carolina, og i tillegg gitt Wilson mer penger å drive valgkamp for.

Men om Wilson er populær blant sine egne, måtte han gå en strafferunde i Kongressen.
Refs i Kongressen.

Tirsdag vedtok et flertall i Representantenes hus en refs av Joe Wilson, fordi han nektet å be Kongressen om unnskyldning under debatten tirsdag. Samme kveld ringte han Det hvite hus og ba om unnskyldning for å ha avbrutt presidenten og for å ha skreket «du lyver» til ham. Dette ble han bedt om både av partifeller og politiske motstandere. Via sin stabssjef Rahm Emanuel, som selv har mange år bak seg i Representantenes hus, godtok presidenten unnskyldningen. Dette mente Wilson var nok, men det mente ikke flertallet i Kongressen som understreket at dette også var et brudd på de reglene den har. Derfor vedtok flertallet å refse ham. Mange ser på Wilsons utbrudd som et tegn på at den mer usiviliserte tonen fra folkemøtene om helsereformen spredde seg til Kongressen.
Folkemøter.

Det var da president Obama slo fast at helsereformen ikke vil sikre illegale innvandrere helsetjenester at Wilson avbrøt ham med sitt utbrudd. Dette er en myte om helsereformen som har vært seiglivet.

Wilson fikk den mildeste formen for refs fra Representantenes hus. Han er den andre etter århundreskiftet som er refset. Det var stort sett bare demokrater som stemte for refsen og republikanere som stemte imot. Behandlingen og debatten viste at frontene hardner ytterligere til i debatten om den amerikanske helsereformen. Mulighetene for å til en reform som også samler en støtte av betydning blant republikanere synes vanskelig.
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