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Submitted by .Sean on September 14, 2009 – 9:33am

Thomas Jefferson

On KCMO yesterday, Roy Blunt stood by Rep. Joe Wilson’s false assertion that Barack Obama was lying in his Wednesday speech when he said, “The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.” Blunt did not support the manner in which Wilson (described by Blunt in the interview as “a friend of mine” and “a really good guy”) chose to deliver his attack, but did stand up for the substance of his accusation.

The facts are not on Roy Blunt’s side. Consider the following:

CQ Politics’ Political Wire: “Actually, Wilson was the Liar”

It’s not often that a president gets heckled during a speech to Congress. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) did just that last night yelling out “you lie” when President Obama said his health care reform effort would not insure illegal immigrants. Though Wilson apologized later, he insisted he was correct in his assertion. The facts, however, are on the president’s side.

Time: “‘You Lie!’: Representative Wilson’s Outburst”

The President’s seemingly simple statement that “the reforms I am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally” is not hard to check. In the Senate Finance Committee’s working framework for a health plan, which Obama’s speech seemed most to mimic, there is the line, “No illegal immigrants will benefit from the health care tax credits.” Similarly, the major health-care-reform bill to pass out of committee in the House, H.R. 3200, contains Section 246, which is called “NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.”

Politifact.com: “Joe Wilson of South Carolina said Obama lied, but he didn’t”

The best argument that we find that health reform would help illegal immigrants is that some might be able to purchase the public option — if it passes, and it might not — on the new health insurance exchange. They would purchase that at full cost. Obama said, “The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally,” which Wilson said was a “lie.” Actually, Obama can make a pretty thorough case that reform doesn’t apply to those here illegally. We don’t find the public option argument enough to make the case that Obama “lied.” We rate Wilson’s statement False.

Last night, the Democrats showed who we are and the Republicans showed who they are. The President reminded Americans that achieving a decent, affordable health care plan was a “moral imperative” and a measure of our national character. He vowed to fight on and “call out” those who would try to defeat health care reform with lies and deception.

While Democrats jumped to their feet in applause time after time, Boehner, Blunt, and Luetkemeyer were seen on camera grimacing and squirming like 10-year-old boys sitting in the principal’s office.

But Joe Wilson couldn’t contain himself.  He felt compelled to inject some 2009-style townhall-ism into the august gathering.

The Republicans unwittingly sent forth their spokesman in this boorish South Carolina congressman, who will forever be remembered as the jerk who cried “you lie” during a joint session of Congress. His response overshadowed that of Rep. Charles Boustany, who gave the official GOP reply — essentially a call to scrap the health care bill and start over. Yawn.

It was not Wilson’s first rude outburst. On the House floor, Wilson once called a colleague “viscerally anti-American” and a hater of America for disagreeing with him on the Iraq War. But the backbench Congressman may find his time in the national spotlight his undoing. In 2008, he won election against Democrat Rob Miller with 54% of the vote. That compared with the whopping 84% he received in 2002 shows his constituents are having some serious misgivings. And, Miller, a retired Marine who served in Iraq, is running again in 2010. The word around the blogosphere is that Miller’s campaign coffers are filling fast after last night’s eruption. (A tidy $300,000 given on line at last report.)

Governor Mark Sanford, move over. South Carolina has found its new village idiot.

President Barack Obama’s address to Congress and the nation was clear, simple and direct. He succeeded Wednesday night in promoting a strong package of needed health care reforms in America.

It’s time for Congress to follow the president’s lead. Stop the partisan bickering. Start the constructive debate.