Joe Wilson Lies

After his embarassingly infantile display last night, South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson apologized, but maintained that he still disagreed with President Obama. Problem is, he's still wrong. As Rob explained on CNBC recently (see video below), the bill does not confer any benefits upon undocumenteds that they do not already have. In fact, as this Salon article points out, the bill actually puts undocumented immigrants at a pretty serious disadvantage:

The real irony is that, for all the talk about illegal immigrants benefiting from Americans' tax dollars, if the House bill passed in its current form, it would be just one more way in which they're actually disadvantaged when it comes to entitlements. Because of a loophole in existing federal law, illegal immigrants would be subject to the mandate that everyone buy health insurance -- the same way states require drivers to have car insurance. But they wouldn't get the tax credit everyone else will get to help them comply with that mandate. Similarly, when it comes to Social Security and taxes, illegal immigrants often pay in to the system without any hope of seeing a return, whether in the form of benefits or tax refunds.

Joe Wilson, it seems to me, exemplefies a recent trend in GOP behavior; still flat-out wrong, but in a more petulant, defiant manner. They don't just ignore the facts, they give them the proverbial finger. As our President once said, "It's like they're proud of their ignorance."