Well Damn! Somebody finally SAID IT!!

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's not a cow. It's a damn duck. Pretending not to see the ugliness of racism when it's staring you in the face doesn't make it go away.

so let me get this right.......every time that you are sure that you are being treated substandard because you don't have a dick do you throw a little (or large) hissy fit about your situation, and give a lesson on feminism? If so how well does that generally work for you? because all the women who advance women's rights effectively that I know about go about it in a different way

American women were formally granted the right to vote August 18, 1920 as a result of the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution, which proclaimed: “The right of citizens in the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The 36 states needed for ratification had done so by March 22, 1920; all states ratified the amendment except traditional southern states, Vermont, and [believe it or not] Connecticut.

Women’s suffrage was a heated battle nationwide in the first two decades of the 20th century. Born in New York in 1848, the suffragette movement quickly moved west. Women filed lawsuits, chained themselves to fences, were arrested, and spent time in jail; a few died.

so let me get this right.......every time that you are sure that you are being treated substandard because you don't have a dick do you throw a little (or large) hissy fit about your situation, and give a lesson on feminism?

so let me get this right.......every time that you are sure that you are being treated substandard because you don't have a dick do you throw a little (or large) hissy fit about your situation, and give a lesson on feminism? If so how well does that generally work for you? because all the women who advance women's rights effectively that I know about go about it in a different way

Wilson's statement was not racist. To claim that it was and to argue that it was is to believe something that has not even a glimmer of evidence of truth.

So then, why is the White Caucus going to object to his censure after he clearly broke House rules?

"White Caucus" is a code word. It means "You are a racist".

"You lie" is another code word with the same meaning.

Defending a Member of Congress who tells his President "You lie" means you are a racist.

The prohibition on attacking the president’s integrity dates back to Thomas Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States, which he wrote in 1801. In 1909, the House made his proscriptions the explicit rules of decorum, and has put abridgements of his manual in a pamphlet titled, “Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and Rules of the House of Representatives.”

It stipulates that: “Personal abuse, innuendo, or ridicule of the president, is not permitted. Under this standard it is not in order to call the president, or a presumptive major-party nominee for president, a ‘liar’ or accuse him of ‘lying.’ Indeed, any suggestion of mendacity is out of order.”

If Wilson has any doubts about the prohibition, he needs only goes back to June 6, 1996, when his current Republican colleague in the South Carolina delegation, Rep. Bob Inglis, was holding the gavel.

“The chair admonishes members not to refer to the president in terms personally offensive,” Inglis told the House that day.

Inglis has urged Wilson to apologize for his outburst.

If Rep. Joe Wilson is finding parliamentary procedure to be a bit of a nuisance in the wake of his “you lie” attack on President Barack Obama, he has his Republican forbearers to thank.

On June 26, 1985, Rep. Robert Walker " a Pennsylvania Republican who beat the drum for decorum throughout his 20 years in the House " took issue with Rep. James Traficant for saying that then-President Ronald Reagan had deceived the senior citizens of the United States.

“Is it not a violation of the rules of the House to question the motives of the president and to refer to him as being someone who lies?” Walker asked on the floor.

“The gentleman is correct,” agreed then-Speaker Tip O’Neill . “It is not proper.”

O’Neill ordered that Traficant’s offending remarks be stricken from the record and directed the congressman " subsequently convicted on federal corruption charges " to “revise his remarks.”

Traficant’s toupee wasn’t Walker’s only scalp.

At Obama's speech to Congress on health care, Rep. Wilson embarrassed himself and the party. But he did so by tapping into a long-standing tradition. This is the uglier side of our democracy.

What distinguishes the Wilson incident is the context. Today, we have a 24-hour instantaneous, sound-bite media that is obsessed with these kinds of stories rather than the substantive issues. Legislators know that these kinds of incidents will surely garner media attention. So if a politician wants to deflect attention from his opponent, this is an effective course of action.

The idea that we will ever achieve total civility in our democratic politics is a myth. The real question is whether our party leaders and the media will continue to focus on the nastier aspects of our political system or if they will give more attention to the substantive debates that other members of both parties want to have.

This summer it unfortunately seems as if the balance tipped toward the yellers. With so many major challenges facing the nation, let's hope our leaders refocus on more honorable political traditions.