Stupidity not good politics

The Democrats are a bunch of idiots.

Why else would they think it was a good idea to reprimand Midlands congressman Joe Wilson for yelling "You lie!" at President Obama during a nationally televised joint session of Congress last week?

Wilson called the White House and said he was sorry. Even if he didn't mean it, and only did it because Republican leadership ordered him to, that should have been the end of it.

But many Dems insisted Wilson take the floor of the House to apologize for his horrible breach of etiquette and apparent lack of respect for the institution. To show they meant business, they passed a resolution.

Yep, that showed him.

Wilson did take the floor earlier Tuesday but did not apologize. He instead boasted of holding the four largest town hall meetings in South Carolina's history -- which explains where he picked up his public speaking manners.

Here's the real problem. For months, Democrats have complained that the Republicans sabotaged any chance of rational health care debate by spouting nonsense about "death panels" -- which they have. But then the Democrats choose to devote an entire week to this.

Pot, meet kettle.

This didn't help

This has done nothing but make Wilson a folk hero to some people, and the Democrats are insane if they don't realize that.

Already, you've got people riding around with "the president lies" signs (which they probably bought from Democrats who had them left over from the last year). The Democrats don't get it: they will never convince some people that Wilson's assertion was incorrect, no matter what The Associated Press, the nonpartisan Factcheck.org and national cable news channels say.

Pundits say this whole stunt was an attempt to paint the Republicans as obstructionists who are more interested in handing the president a defeat than working across the aisle to craft some sort of health care reform that might keep insurance rates from going up faster than inflation.

Duh.

But here's a news flash: most moderate, independent voters -- as well as Democrats and many Republicans -- had already made up their minds. Beating the dead horse didn't change anyone's mind.

It just prolonged the state's embarrassment and gave our tourism officials fits.

Losing proposition

Since politics became a sport, the Republicans have consistently proven themselves better at the game.

They know how to play to people's fears and biases, how to evoke emotional, gut-level reactions -- Obama wants to kill grandma.

Democrats deliver prissy House reprimands for Joe Wilson, whose 15 minutes of fame should already be over.

Instead of taking the high ground, the Dems are trying to debate people who call them socialist/liberal/fascists without understanding the inherent contradictions of that description. That's a losing proposition.

Meanwhile, all the Democrats have done is show that they can be just as petty and politically motivated as the GOP.