During his speech last night, Obama flatly stated that illegal aliens would not be insured under his health care bill. From the floor, South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson called out, “Lie.”

Obama: “There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms… the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”

Wilson: “You lie.”

Obama: “It’s not true…”

Here’s the exchange:

At best, Obama was using a semantic ploy to mislead the audience. Illegal aliens will not all be in possession of a piece of paper titled Health Insurance Policy. But they will be assured of receiving care any time they need it at the taxpayers’ expense. If they go to any emergency room they will receive care — it’s the law.

And many will also get care under the provisions of the current health reform legislation, in direct contradiction to what Obama claimed. This is not just the opinion of a group opposed to the legislation. It is the finding of the Congressional Research Service (CRS). From the CRS report Treatment of Noncitizens in H.R. 3200 (PDF), August 25, 2009, under the heading Exchange:

H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitzens — whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently — participating in the Exchange.

So, as per this government report only two weeks old, whether intentionally or unintentionally, tonight Obama stood before Congress and lied to the members. Rep. Joe Wilson has read the bill. Barack Obama has not read the bill, and is relying on his handlers to tell him what to say.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle called upon Wilson to apologize, which he did. Many, including John McCain, seemed to think that Wilson was rude for calling out from the audience. Personally, I believe that Obama was rude for lying to Congress and to the American citizens who were watching and listening. And Obama was arrogant and disdainful for assuming that we are stupid enough to believe his lie.

ActBlue immediately created a fund-raising page for Joe Wilson’s 2010 Democratic challenger Rob Miller titled No More Name Calling. So far they have raised a grand total of $100 from three supporters. And Wikipedia had to disable editing of their article on Joe Wilson due to vandalism.

Which is more important — the veneer of manners or the gut of honesty? Have any of these pantywaists ever watched a session of the British parliament?

In any event, the future probably will favor Wilson. We understand that he has aspirations for higher office, and the governorship in his state may soon be vacant. In this timely moment, he has just become a national ideological hero. He gave voice to the frustrated silent majority, and they are ecstatic:

The shout heard round the world!!
The new battle cry of all TRUE AMERICANS: YOU LIE!!!!!
Joe has just been launched into superstardom.
I want to bear his rebel children!!!
I’m definitely adding him to my list of Great Americans!

Before the Obama speech, Joe Wilson had 2,800 followers on Twitter. Within an hour after his shout, he had more than 4,200 followers. From Twitter:

45 min. Primetime Speech $72M, Obamacare $1.6T, Pelosi’s face after Obama called a liar…Priceless

Here is the priceless moment after:

Tweets about the Obama speech:

“Pimping dead Ted”
“BS from BO”