Citizen B's Headlines: At Least There Were No Canes Involved

Last night, President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress about health care reform legislation. The speech was exactly what was expected- now is the time for reform, it must pass, will not increase the deficit, etc. But what made the headlines this morning was not the speech itself. As President Obama denounced the myth that illegal immigrants will be covered with federal dollars, amidst protests from the Republican side came a loud "You lie!" from Congressman Joe Wilson (R- South Carolina). He wasn't the only one getting upset at that point; he just happened to be the loudest. See the video if you don't believe me.

This morning he called White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel to apologize for his conduct, and the 24-hour news channels have been rehashing and bashing all day long. Everyone was shocked that someone would dare interrupt a president's Congressional address so rudely. Rude? Absolutely. Worst thing to happen in Congressional chambers? Definitely not.

I'll take you back to how Congress was pre-Civil War, when tempers really got heated in the House and Senate. People think the fights get dirty between Democrats and Republicans now, but back then it could literally be a bloodbath.

In 1856, Democratic senator from Massachusetts Charles Sumner took his abolition beliefs to the Senate floor. He attacked the Fugitive Slave Act in a three hour speech, which didn't really please the South. He then later denounced the Kansas-Nebraska Act (you know, that bill that was supposed to decide how new territories became slave or free states?) and called the authors of the bill names during his address to the Senate. He called Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois a "noisome, squat, and nameless animal ... not a proper model for an American senator." In the rest of his three hour speech (that seemed to be his lecture length of choice) he also made fun of Andrew Butler, the bill's second author, by mocking his speech and mannerisms. Butler had a stroke several years before. In other words, Sumner got to the point of calling his opponents ugly and stupid.

But two days later Preston Brooks, a representative from South Carolina, walked up to Sumner at his chamber desk and accused him of libel against South Carolina. Butler was his uncle, and he was a bit pissed off about Sumner making fun of him in a speech to the Senate. Brooks then started beating Sumner with his gold-topped cane, breaking the desk Sumner sought refuge under. Other congressmen tried to help Sumner, but Laurence M. Keitt also of South Carolina and Henry A. Edmundson of Virginia held them off. Brooks continued beating him until his cane broke, and Sumner crawled off covered in his own blood only to fall unconscious on the floor.

Talk about things getting ugly. Sumner spent three years trying to recover from head trauma and PTSD before returning to Senate. But when a senator from the South beats the ever-living crap out of a senator from the North, is it any wonder the mood in Congress darkened, leading to an inevitable split during the Civil War. In this light, I'm going to go with a Congressman shouting "You lie!" to the President during his speech a rude faux-pas. When the canes come out, then we should get nervous.