US: Obama heckler refuses to apologise in the House
Mon Sep 14 04:59:59 EST 2009
Sun Sep 13 18:59:59 UTC 2009
WASHINGTON, Sept 13 AFP - The lawmaker who shouted "You lie!" at President Barack Obama during his speech to Congress on health care says he will not make a further apology on the floor of the House.
Republican congressman Joe Wilson has apologised to the president -- and has had that apology accepted -- but still faces possible censure if he fails to stand up and issue another one in the House of Representatives.
"I am not going to apologise again. I apologised to the president on Wednesday night," Wilson told Fox News. "People know my civility; they know that this was a one-time event and was out of frustration."
Leaders of the Democrat-led House have threatened to censure Wilson if he fails to issue a formal apology on the chamber floor, calling his outburst during Wednesday's keynote Obama speech a shocking breach of political decorum.
Wilson, a conservative who represents a district in the southern state of South Carolina, said moves to sanction him were politically driven.
"It's politics. This is exactly what the American people do not want to see, do not want to hear," he said. "As the White House advised, let's get to the issues."
Wilson's outburst came at a point in Obama's speech when the president declared that illegal immigrants would not be covered under his proposed health care reforms.
Obama said on Thursday he accepted the apology from Wilson, an outspoken opponent of expanding rights for illegal immigrants.
The White House has refused to be drawn on whether the Republican congressman should face a formal censure.
"I'll let the House figure out how to deal with that," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Despite his apology, Wilson has since insisted he had some justification for his outburst. "I believe in the truth. What I heard was not true," he told Fox News.
