Demagogue-in-chief on Joe Wilson’s apology: I just wish we could be less vitriolic, you know?

I know you do, champ. That’s why you farm out the rhetoric about “evil-mongers” and “political terrorists” to halfwits like Harry Reid and Democrats in the House instead of dirtying those dainty hands of yours. But as painful as the vitriol might be to your tender Hopenchangey heart, you never open your mouth to specifically rebuke your own side, do you? A wise man once had something to say about presidents who don’t keep their surrogates in line, but never mind, I guess. Enjoy the lecture from Captain Civility:

After what he called an “excellent and informative Cabinet meeting,” President Obama told reporters that he accepts the apology of Rep. Joe Wilson, R-SC, who shouted “You lie!” during the president’s address to a joint session of Congress last night.

“Yes I do,” the president said. “I’m a big believer that we all make mistakes. He apologized quickly and without equivocation. And I’m appreciative of that.”

Mr. Obama then turned to use Wilson as something of an example – making this a teachable moment, perhaps – saying that “we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big, important issues that matter to the American people without vitriol, without name-calling without the assumption of the worst in other people’s motives.”

That’s from Tapper, who uncharacteristically lets this insulting garbage go unchallenged. Meanwhile, remember how the media started digging into Joe the Plumber’s financial past after he had the temerity to question The One? History repeats itself, my friends. And that’s not the only thing Wilson and JTP have in common. As I recall, Wurzelbacher’s concern was that Obama would raise his taxes — which, of course, he will, for the simple reason that our enormous deficits now demand it. Wilson’s concern about ObamaCare is similarly well founded. You can watch him explain his reasoning below (or read Ramesh Ponnuru elaborating on it), but there are at least three good reasons to think coverage will eventually expand to include illegals. One: That’s what federal programs do. Public schools weren’t designed to serve non-citizens either but compassion and equal protection rulings by a left-leaning Supreme Court changed that. No reason to think it won’t happen with ObamaCare. Two: As noted by MayBeeTweet, Obama’s argument in wanting to give driver’s licenses to illegals was that it was a “public safety issue.” It’d be very easy — although maybe not politically salable — to expand that logic to covering illegals under ObamaCare because it’s a “public health issue.” And three: When you’ve got The One and Harry Reid angling to pass an amnesty bill next year, it doesn’t matter if ObamaCare covers illegals or not. If the White House gets its way (which it probably won’t), those illegals will soon be legal anyway.

One other point. I realize that the media generally and NBC in particular need to spin Wilson’s outburst as some sort of big victory for Obama, but how stupid would one have to be, exactly, to believe that? The “Republicans behaving badly” meme failed epically last month, and the headline “You lie!” surely wasn’t what the White House wanted to see on Drudge this morning. Says Tom Price of Wilson, “What it has done has drawn attention to the fact that the president’s statements so often are at variance with the truth.” Indeed. Or, if you prefer the blunter Tancredo version, “Joe is right. Obama is a liar.” So he is, and so he’ll remain as long as he keeps trying to sell this boondoggle as some deficit-neutral emergency rescue plan to solve a crisis that, for most people, simply doesn’t exist. You lie, Barry. And lie and lie and lie.

Blowback