# Who heckled Obama during his address to Congress? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 10, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496 "2009-09-10T00:52:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/321 "2009-09-11T03:15:06Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Define ‘propose’. If you mean ‘send to Congress’ then I’ll take that bet in a second. Either send to congress or publicly ask for legislation to that effect. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/322 "2009-09-11T03:15:28Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I know you’d love to believe that Wilson is in trouble. Sorry to break the news: > > \*Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina was sharply criticized by both Democrats and his fellow Republicans for shouting “You lie!” during President Obama’s health care address on Wednesday. But here in \*\*his strongly Republican Congressional district \*_on Thursday, he was **celebrated** by many of his constituents for his outburst._ > [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/us/politics/11wilson.html?\_r=1](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/us/politics/11wilson.html?_r=1) > > So keep on telling us how much money his opponent is raising! I’m sure it’ll make you feel better. 😃 I don’t care how much money his opponent gets. Wilson is just another ill mannered conservative. I don’t expect a lot. I said he would be a hero to his peeps. He will be palling around with Palin soon. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/323 "2009-09-11T03:16:06Z")
> [@Jerseyman](#): > > Like it was when the USA was the Big Bold New Opportunity at its greatest period in the late 19th century you mean? Yes. You’re probably making some erroneous assumptions about me. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/324 "2009-09-11T03:16:14Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Does anyone know the name of Joe Wilson’s wife? 😛 If you think for one minute that I’m gonna be the one to “out” Joe Wilson’s wife, you’re crazy… ---
**Author:** ![Fantome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Fantome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fantome)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/325 "2009-09-11T03:18:02Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > If you think for one minute that I’m gonna be the one to “out” Joe Wilson’s wife, you’re crazy… Can you answer my question? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/326 "2009-09-11T03:20:17Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > I have no problem with what Wilson did; he spoke “truth to power.” How many Democrats apologized for booing Bush? But given that the Democrats did it for the same reasons Joe Wilson did, why should they have apologized? They were speaking “truth to power.” (I think that heckling by its nature, especially the short time given, is about as contentless as booing, so I think the two are equivalent.) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/327 "2009-09-11T03:33:00Z")
First off, just for starters, Bush was lying, and Obama ain’t. And even if he were, which I am not about to concede, Obama was lying to bring health care to people who need it, Bush was lying to turn thousands upon thousands of innocent people into corpses. Is it just me, or is that a pretty big difference? ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/328 "2009-09-11T03:35:23Z")
> [@Fantome](#): > > Can you answer my question? Thanks. Do I really have to spell it out for you? OK. If Bush gets booed or heckled or called a name, it’s mentioned in passing by the mainstream media; if any disrespect is shown to _Obama_, however, it dominates the major news cycles for at least 24 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Fantome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Fantome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fantome)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/329 "2009-09-11T03:39:53Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > If Bush gets booed or heckled or called a name, it’s mentioned in passing by the mainstream media Any examples you can share? I don’t recall anything similar happening to Bush and the “mainstream media” brushing it aside. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/330 "2009-09-11T03:49:38Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > **Dio, Dio, Dio**. “American cheese on white bread with Minnesota mayo” **Dio**. > > Hillbillies are like Tennesee, Arkansas, Kentucky… South Carolina is dead solid cracker, similar to the peckerwood, but lacking the culture and sophisitication. Excuse me? Were you under the impression that everybody in South Carolina is likewise illiterate and unburdened by internet connections? ETA - and here I was about to agree with you that Glen Beck’s Halloween costume hat doesn’t fit. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/331 "2009-09-11T04:09:52Z")
Certainly not, I simply won’t stand for an upstanding cracker being referred to as a “hillbilly”! True, you don’t rise to the Olympian heights of a Texas peckerwood, but you didn’t have our advantages, either. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/332 "2009-09-11T04:24:46Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Do I really have to spell it out for you? OK. If Bush gets booed or heckled or called a name, it’s mentioned in passing by the mainstream media; if any disrespect is shown to _Obama_, however, it dominates the major news cycles for at least 24 hours. Bush was not “heckled or called a name” during any address to Congress. When people like Cynthia McKinney said inflammatory or crazy things about him, they were named. I think last night’s events show that booing and other vocal responses are bipartisan, no names of booers were named. The only people whose names circulated took part in more obvious and more individual protests. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/333 "2009-09-11T04:26:20Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > I removed this link based on this rule from the Pit Rules sticky: > > **Gfactor** > Pit Moderator Why didn’t either of the other two Mods who posted in this thread break the link? It wouldn’t be political bias, would it? Also, why is a '99’er allowed to break the rules with impunity? It’s obvious she knew better, but she went ahead anyway, because she knew she could get away with it. This is the problem with your whole “no warning issued” approach. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/334 "2009-09-11T04:26:35Z")
Yep, but there’s a new sort of creature, behold, the Bellignerant ! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/335 "2009-09-11T04:33:21Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > First off, just for starters, Bush was lying, and Obama ain’t. And even if he were, which I am not about to concede, Obama was lying to bring health care to people who need it, Bush was lying to turn thousands upon thousands of innocent people into corpses. > > Is it just me, or is that a pretty big difference? I think you’re wrong here on a matter of fact - when the Democrats booed Bush wasn’t talking about the war - he was talking about Social Security. Now, _you_ certainly may have wanted to boo Bush over the war, but that was not what it was about. And frankly Social Security reform and health care reform might rank as roughly equivalent issues when you account for the amount of people affected by changes in the law and the amount of potential harm to the budget by poor policy. So no, no real differences. The war has jack to do with this. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/336 "2009-09-11T04:38:51Z")
Fair point, they should have booed him like crazy, but had not the required balls, when it came to Iraq. Few enough of us have anything to be proud of about those days. Except for those of us who were right all along… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/337 "2009-09-11T04:39:17Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > Why didn’t either of the other two Mods who posted in this thread break the link? It wouldn’t be political bias, would it? > > Also, why is a '99’er allowed to break the rules with impunity? It’s obvious she knew better, but she went ahead anyway, because she knew she could get away with it. This is the problem with your whole “no warning issued” approach. Well, if you don’t end up getting a warning for the rule you apparently just broke there, I guess there’s no issue, eh? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/338 "2009-09-11T04:42:19Z")
What the hells a “99er”, anyway? Is that like a “neener-neener”? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/339 "2009-09-11T04:44:06Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > What the hells a “99er”, anyway? Is that like a “neener-neener”? Yeah, it doesn’t look right without “luftballoons” following it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496/340 "2009-09-11T04:49:35Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > Why didn’t either of the other two Mods who posted in this thread break the link? It wouldn’t be political bias, would it? Curses, **Carol Stream** is onto us! “Today the second district of South Carolina, tomorrow the world!” The link was broken a little while after the post was reported. (You may have skipped this step by accident.) The rule about campaigns doesn’t come up much in IMHO or GQ, which may account for **samclem** and **Czarcasm** not acting on it. It comes up in MPSIMS and the Pit, and rarely anyplace else. And while I appreciate your wish for swift and brutal justice on the person who posted the link, I’ve never seen anyone warned for doing this. Usually the link is just broken and life goes on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-heckled-obama-during-his-address-to-congress/509496.md?page=18)