Yet while West has expressed real remorse for hismisbehavior at the MTV Video Music Awards, Wilsonhas swiftly left behind a quick apology to cash in on his historic insult tothe president of the United States.
The South Carolina conservative's political consultants haveraised upward of a million dollars from donors across the country who want toexpress solidarity with him for blurting "You lie!" on the Housefloorand they're peddling T-shirts emblazoned with "I'm With JoeWilson." Those same consultants are now promoting his noxious outburst asan act of patriotism.
Nothing surprising there, however, to anyonefamiliar with the Wilsonentourage and outlook. The consultant behind the excitable right-wingcongressman is Richard Quinn, long a central figure in both South CarolinaRepublican politics and the "neo-Confederate" movement, notably aseditor and publisher of a periodical called TheSouthern Partisan.
As a staunch defender of the antebellum way of life,he has advocated displaying Confederate symbols on public property and opposedthe Martin Luther King holiday, and sought to restore the reputation of slaveowners.
Long before Quinn started selling those Joe Wilsontees, his magazine used to market T-shirts denigrating Abraham Lincoln, whichdisplayed a portrait of him above the slogan "Sic SemperTyrannis"the phrase shouted by John Wilkes Booth after shooting the CivilWar president. No doubt Quinn considered that to be an expression of"patriotism," too, although not to the United States of America.
It is not accidental that Wilson is a client of the Quinn firm (whichhas also represented Arizona Sen. John McCain, much to his shame). The South Carolinacongressman is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, once a relativelyharmless organization of nostalgic Southerners that has been transformed into avirulently racist outfit in recent years.
Before his election to Congress, Wilson was amongthe tiny minority of state legislators in South Carolina who fought to thebitter end for the right to fly a Confederate flag over the statehouseacampaign in which those die-hards enjoyed the support of Quinn's fund-raisingand publicity apparatus.
Republicans' Ugly Underside
This is the ugly underside of the furthestright-wing elements of the Republican Party. Promoting Joe Wilson as a symbolof the GOP is a dangerous game, but it is nothing new for a politicalleadership that has been flirting with the neo-Confederates for decades now.Ever since Strom Thurmond left the Democratic Party in 1948, what was once theparty of Lincolnhas veered closer and closer to the ideology of his assassins.
Even now, Republican leaders in Washingtonpresumably including the blackchairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steelemake common causewith the neo-Confederates. They pretend not to notice the Dixieflags, the habitual expressions of racism and bigotry or the poisonous attitudetoward Lincoln, King and other heroes of the nation. And they pretend that thepoliticians who stoke these smoldering hatreds are loyal to the same ideals asthe rest of us.
Such weird political configurations also appearedbriefly during the candidacy of Sarah Palin, whose career in Alaska was promoted by the secessionistparty there. That strange interludewhich also embarrassed McCainis similarlyan artifact of the Republican attraction to the extreme right.
Whether this extremism will help the party regain amajority next year, or hinder its prospects, isn't yet clear. The HouseRepublicans are staking their reputation on support for Wilson against a censure resolution.Fortunately for the people of South Carolina,he will have to face Democrat Rob Miller, a Marine veteran of the Iraq war whoseservice to country and political maturity are not in question.
Early polls after the Wilson disgrace suggested that the outcome ofthat contest is anything but assured for the incumbent.
© 2009 Creators.com.
