Last night, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) issued an apology — “I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks” — and called the White House after heckling Obama during his nationally televised health care speech.
That’s the first time most Americans heard of Congressman Wilson, but it’s not, it turns out, the first time Wilson’s emotions got the best of him and he was forced to apologize.
Flashback to mid-December 2003, when Essie Mae Washington-Williams came forward with the bombshell that she was the illegitimate daughter of the recently-deceased patriarch of South Carolina politics, Sen. Strom Thurmond.
Rep. Wilson, a former page of Thurmond’s, immediately told The State newspaper that he didn’t believe Williams. He deemed the revelation “unseemly.” And he added that even if she was telling the truth, she should have kept the inconvenient facts to herself:
“It’s a smear on the image that [Thurmond] has as a person of high integrity who has been so loyal to the people of South Carolina,” Wilson said.
Of course, Williams’ story was entirely true — and never really in doubt. Thurmond was 22 and Williams’ mother, a black maid working in his family home, was 16 when Williams was born in 1925. Thurmond supported Williams financially for decades.
The State story continued with Wilson wondering aloud how anyone could dare “diminish” one of his personal heroes.
Wilson said it is unfair to debate rumors about Thurmond when he can no longer defend himself.
The same goes for discussion of an affair Thomas Jefferson is said to have had with a slave.
“Sometimes these things just go on,” Wilson said. “These are heroes of mine. I really hope these would be heroes to future generations of Americans. (The stories) are … a way to diminish their contributions to our country’s existence.”
Six days and several furious letters to the editor later, Wilson was forced to apologize. But, amazingly, he maintained that Williams should not have gone public.
“I have the utmost respect for Essie Mae Washington-Williams and wish her and the Thurmond family all the best,” he said.
Late Update: Greg Sargent has more on Wilson’s anger management issues.
Late Late Update: Again via Greg Sargent, here’s the video of a furious Wilson accusing another Congressman of being anti-American during a 2002 debate about Saddam Hussein.
