President Obama--and the rebuttal we'll actually remember.

Of course, I'm not talking about Rep. Boustany's rebuttal speech, because....snore, but this:



Honestly, Rep. Joe Wilson's untimely and uncouth outburst was, in its brevity and vehemence of delivery, a more eloquent summation of the GOP message in this long health care debate. The president was in the middle of one of, I think, the most important and sadly necessary parts of his speech--debunking the misinformation, when he apparently must have gotten to the congressman's pet talking point, I guess. So he hollered, "You lie!"

It was rude (actually, House rules on parliamentary language stress that one does not refer to the President as a liar), it was actually wrong in that illegal immigrants aren't covered in the bill, and he already has apologized for it. But that brief outburst displayed the disrespect that has been shown for this President by many on the right as well as the sheer stubborn opposition to actually talking rationally and usefully on the issue. If Obama says "day"--they believe that the answer must be "night", regardless of the appearance of daylight streaming through their windows.

That being said, Obama's speech made clear more of the specifics of the plan as well as bringing home why health care reform is necessary and moral. His voice of sweet reason was only enhanced in a way, by the shouted response.

So, in a weird way, Wilson did a good thing by showing how worked up and inappropriate some people have gotten. And his Democratic challenger Rob Miller probably sees it as a net positive, too. (Yes, most of that was in the hours right after the speech.)