No doubt spooked by the surge of donations to presumptive 2010 opponent Rob Miller-Miller's raised over $700,000 as of this writing-South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson has released this video, apologizing for shouting "You lie!" at the President of the United States and, uh, also asking for some money so that he can continue to "speak up and speak loudly," which I'm sure the Republican House leadership will be totally thrilled by. Meanwhile, for historical perspective, the Washington Post has an infographic of other wacky South Carolinian political activities throughout history; it mentions Strom Thurmond twice but respectfully neglects that whole Fort Sumter unpleasantness. Anyway, Wilson's probably got another week of publicity left; let's try to enjoy each and every minute of it.
Friday, September 11, 2009
8
Despite raising $700K, nobody knows much about Rob as all the money is coming through Act Blue. His own campaign website http://www.robmillerforcongress.com has been redirected to an Act Blue donantion page with a sad little note from him to look "personal." On cue here's Joe's plea to get opposition GOP money. The result will be a seat going for $2 million in OUT OF STATE MONEY… the majority of this money will come from people with no idea what these guys' local positions are which now have essentially become “NOT THE OTHER GUY,†This is exactly the mindset that resulted in the “you lie†comment to begin with. Circle of life.
Oh Hey, look, countering GOP money flooded in, as expected, and now the house seat's going for more than $2 in out of state money. Yay democracy.
From what I've heard over the last day or so about Wilson's district in South Carolina it doesn't seem like Miller has a snowball's chance in hell of winning there. The longer this goes on the more calculated Wilson's outburst seems. He's positioning himself for something bigger than Congress member and I won't be surprised if he goes for governor, or more likely, bachelor gentleman, Lindsay Graham's Senate seat. Lindsay is nowhere near religious conservative enough for the likes of Jim Demint and crew and with the former bachelor gentleman and moderate, Charlie Crist heading towards the Senate the hardcore right-wingers need Lindsay out...Southern Strategy at play underneath it all.
There's a person who should not read out loud in public.
At times like these we should revisit President Carter's prescient speech, Crisis of Confidence which he gave more than 30 years ago.It seems truer today than in the 70's.
"As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning".
A long weekend of personal reflection along the Appalachian Trail would be therapeutic for the soul.
Apparently Rush Limbaugh has promised to match the amount raised by Miller. So perhaps it's a strategy to bankrupt him?
I predict a visit (or two) to Joe Wilson's district by President Obama during the campaign next year. Rob Miller is a Marine and an Iraq war vet and I'm sure that the DNCC would love to get him in office (even if he's a Blue Dog).
Addison Graves "Joe" Wilson's district is NOW IN PLAY.