The proper time and place

This is just a quick note about the furor over Joe Wilson's interruption of Obama's speech. There are two separate issues involved:

1. Was Wilson right in identifying Obama's statement as a lie?
2. Was it a good idea to shout it out in the middle of the speech?

The President claims that the bill will not cover illegal immigrants, and he bases that claim on a provision in the bill which states that it will not cover illegal immigrants. But as we all know, writing it in a bill does not make it so. Obama could say "People can't come into this country illegally" and back that statement up by pointing to the immigration laws, but the fact is that millions of people do come into the country illegally. Medicare and Medicaid both have provisions written into the law saying that illegal immigrants will not be covered, but millions do receive benefits from those programs. The bill as it exists now does not contain any enforcement provision to implement the "no coverage for illegal immigrants" assertion, and when such an amendment was presented, Democrats voted it down. Illegals will certainly be covered by Obamacare, Obama was lying about it, and Joe Wilson was correct when he said "you lie".

But being correct is not always enough. You also have to be smart. Yelling it out in the middle of the speech was not smart. There is a proper time and place to point out the numerous fallicies in Obama's speech. I will do it here, Republicans had a chance to respond to the speech, and anyone else can point out the factual shortcomings verbally or in writing after the President is done speaking. Wilson's outburst gives ammo to those trying to shove this bill down our throats, deaf to the majority of Americans who oppose it, and it distracts from the important message of why Obamacare is bad for America.