The notion that dissent, temperately voiced, was in principle out of place seems to me odd. This wasn’t a church service. It wasn’t a ceremonial occasion to celebrate some event inspiring or requiring national unity. It was a highly political address about a passionately contentious topic. It was laden with sentences carefully crafted to elicit applause from Democrats, while the TV cameras could show the Republicans sitting in surly silence. Why is silence thought the only proper means of dissent ?

The notion that dissent, temperately voiced, was in principle out of place seems to me odd. This wasn’t a church service. It wasn’t a ceremonial occasion to celebrate some event inspiring or requiring national unity. It was a highly political address about a passionately contentious topic. It was laden with sentences carefully crafted to elicit applause from Democrats, while the TV cameras could show the Republicans sitting in surly silence. Why is silence thought the only proper means of dissent ?

—Barry, who makes the excellent point that, while Joe Wilson wasn’t the most courteous of listeners, we all have the right to express our opinion. (via newsweek)