By a 240 to 179 largely party-line vote, the House of Representatives has passed a rather tepid resolution expressing disapproval of Joe Wilson’s now-famous “You lie!” outburst. The resolution states that Wilson’s conduct “was a breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings of the joint session, to the discredit of the House.” Before the vote, Wilson stood and said that “there are far more important issues to this nation than what we are addressing now.” Minority leader John Boehner called it a “witch hunt” and “partisan stunt” that could set a dangerous precedent. “My goodness, we could be doing this every day of the week,” he claimed. Speaker after speaker on the GOP side mentioned that Wilson is “a good man” who has children in the military, which hardly seems relevant. South Carolina Democrat James Clyburn, a leading proponent of the resolution, insisted that the vote was about “the rules of this House and reprehensible conduct.” Interestingly enough, Wilson would have been acting totally within the rules had he simply shouted that Obama’s message was a “disgrace to the country.”
