"You lie!" The way Republicans treat a Democratic President.

It's hard for me, talking from the other side of the ocean, to appreciate the difference in the way Democratic presidents are treated when compared with Republican presidents.

The vitriol employed against Obama by the right has happened from the millisecond he entered office. The bile of people like Beck, and their baseless charges against him have left me feeling momentarily winded; stunned that there are a group of people who care so little for the truth, such is their desire to stop him.

But even I never imagined that I would see a President of either party heckled as he addressed the nation.

And yet, as Obama attempted to debunk some of the most colourful lies employed by the Republicans - death panels, health insurance for illegal aliens etc - one Republican, they are saying it was Joe Wilson, heckled the president as he spoke by shouting out, "You lie!"

I can't imagine any Republican president ever being treated with such disrespect and can only speculate on what the consequences for any Senator would have been had he behaved in this way towards George W Bush.

Obama is blatantly getting nearer to passing healthcare reform than any previous US President, which perhaps accounts for the anger and the bile being expressed here; but I am left with the distinct feeling that no Republican president would ever have been treated with such disrespect.

Wilson has issued a sort of an apology:

"This evening, I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill," the statement said. "While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility."

So he's still calling the president a liar. These people are simply beneath contempt.

UPDATE:

Far be it for this tiny blog to correct The Daily Kos, but needs must:

If Congress were Parliament and the President were Prime Minister, the guy who called him a liar wouldn't really have been out of line, would scarcely have been noticed.

The only thing that one is never allowed to do in the House of Commons is to call someone else a liar. Had Wilson done this in the British parliament, the speaker would instantly have asked him to withdraw that remark and, if he failed to do so, he would have been ordered to leave the chamber.

Tags: Obama, Joe Wilson, Congress, You liar!