Sep 11th, 2009
The shout heard ’round the world
South Carolina politics has given unprecedented inspiration to T-shirt designers this summer, with Representative Joe Wilson taking up where Governor Mark Sanford left off.
Wilson’s abrupt outburst during the President’s congressional healthcare address has provided a new, pithy catch phrase for those who are frustrated by the healthcare reform debate – which is to say that “You lie!” is the new “Obamacare” in the T-shirt world.
It’s not the first time that an inappropriate political outburst has provided creative motivation for our community. Dick Cheney’s famous Senate floor “Go f%!k yourself!” provided entertaining fodder for outraged liberals during the Bush administration; later, the infamous Iraqi shoe-thrower inspired some equally creative T-shirts on the matter. Television interviews have also proven to be a fertile inspiration ground – Rick Perry’s long-ago “Adios, MoFo” and Jesse Jackson’s emphatic, emasculating wishes for Obama were both seized upon by designers within hours of the utterances. Which is to say that the immortalization of such occasions tend to precede (and long outlast) the public apologies. Perhaps part of the fascination with such events is that these incidents are simply so fundamentally human, and an unexpected departure from the scripted polish usually seen from American politicians.
This time around it would seem that Joe the Heckler is the new Joe the Plumber, in that he’s been elevated to a symbolic encapsulation of the Right’s concerns about the Obama administration. With the 9/12 Tea Partyers getting ready for a weekend march on Capitol Hill, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not the “You Lie!” shows up as a crowd favorite in signs, stickers and T-shirts. Time will tell…
Methinks that South Carolina should give up on politicians. (Who IS Joe Wilson, anyway?)
Obama lies so frequently that he will provide a lot of “material” for the fellow t-shirt designers LOL
But Joe Wilson lied – not Obama.
There is not a provision in the three plans that allows illegals to receive benefits. It is a negative fairy tale that the right wing believes is reality.
[...] Joe Wilson might breathe a sigh of relief today, with Kanye West capturing the headlines in this week’s Inappropriate Outburst/Public Apology. [...]
Free speech is for everyone, even people we don’t agree with. I may not agree with Joe Wilson, but I support his right to call the President a liar in any venue he chooses.
http://www.cafepress.com/mindajar
tall texan, there is also nothing in the house bill to prevent illegals from getting health care.
lemme ask you this, are their gays in the military?
we both know the answer.
but that stands in contradiction to the established policy of the military doesn’t it? so how’d that happen?
the military doesn’t ask, so they can’t prevent. once a person’s homosexuality becomes an issue, they are processed out this it true, but they already reaped the benefits.
if you are not allowed to prevent something by asking you allow it omission and oversight.
additionally, the Dems had two chances to approve amendments to prevent illegals from getting health care under this bill and they refused to support those amendments. hmmmm. why do you think they would do that?
Wilson didn’t lie. Obama told at least 15 lies/non-truths – you should defend them (http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=337562347635294)
you can have your own opinions, but you can’t have your own facts.
I’m just not allowed to state an opinion like most Americans of the past.
[...] the latest installment of off-color political statements, Barack Obama made his opinion of Kanye West’s VMA grandstanding public by calling him a [...]