Worst Member of Congress? Joe Wilson of South Carolina
The Curse of Richard Nixon lies very heavily indeed on the Republican Party.
Joe Wilson seems to spend a lot of time calling Black people "liars."
Justin Elliott:
Flashback: Last night, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) issued an apology -- "I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President's remarks."... [I]t's not, it turns out, the first time Wilson's emotions got the best of him and he was forced to apologize. Flashback to mid-December 2003, when Essie Mae Washington-Williams came forward with the bombshell that she was the illegitimate daughter of the recently-deceased patriarch of South Carolina politics, Sen. Strom Thurmond.
Rep. Wilson, a former page of Thurmond's, immediately told The State newspaper that he didn't believe Williams. He deemed the revelation "unseemly." And he added that even if she was telling the truth, she should have kept the inconvenient facts to herself:
"It's a smear on the image that [Thurmond] has as a person of high integrity who has been so loyal to the people of South Carolina," Wilson said.
Of course, Williams' story was entirely true -- and never really in doubt.... The State story continued with Wilson wondering aloud how anyone could dare "diminish" one of his personal heroes.... Six days and several furious letters to the editor later, Wilson was forced to apologize. But, amazingly, he maintained that Williams should not have gone public...
