Congressman Joe Wilson

So the President gave another speech after the last one that I blogged about. (I know that ending sentences with prepositions is not grammatically sound. I feel terrible that I just did it.)

Now that 3 days have passed since the President addressed a joint session of Congress, I am beginning to wonder if Joe Wilson got more mileage out of President Obama's speech than the President did. Since the President's stemwinder on health care, Joe Wilson has:

1) Been on Sean Hannity's radio show
2) Been on Sean Hannity's TV show
3) Been booked for Fox News Sunday
4) Obtained thousands of Twitter followers, including yours truly
5) Raised somewhere around $700,000 for his 2010 re-election campaign and perhaps most rewarding of all,
6) Really gotten under the skin of our Democrat friends.

Rush Limbaugh was disappointed that Joe Wilson apologized to President Obama for shouting "You lie" as the President made an assertion that health care for illegal aliens would never be a part of any legislation to cross his desk. I humbly differ with MahaRushie on this one. Wilson did the right thing to apologize, as befits a Southern gentleman of his stature.

But as "National Review's" Kevin Williamson put it, "Joe Wilson was rude, but also right." Columnist Rich Galen expands and somewhat echoes, "Turns out there is nothing in any of the four or five or 27 versions of this legislation which specifically requires proof of citizenship - or even legal immigrant status - so Wilson was right, if rude."

I would only add one more comment to all of this: Wilson's response to the President was not only both of the above, but also understandable. Wilson is a flesh and blood player in a high stakes game on which the quality of millions of lives and trillions of dollars, not to mention the future of the Republic, are riding. That he got a little carried away in the heat of the moment is, to me, more comforting than disconcerting.

So does the office of the President still merit respect, especially in the chambers of Congress. Affirmative! But I will still be doing my part to render Joe Wilson's campaign coffers just a tad more fulsome. After all, didn't someone famous once say that "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing"?