Obama Accepts Wilson's Apology

By: Mark Knoller
Topics: Congress

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Embracing a spirit of reconciliation, President Obama today said he accepts the apology offered by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who shouted "You lie!" during Mr. Obama's address to Congress last evening.

"I'm a big believer that we all make mistakes," said the president in response to a reporter's question during a photo op at the end of a Cabinet meeting.

"He apologized quickly and without equivocation and I'm appreciative of that," said Mr. Obama.

The president said he would "absolutely" be willing to take a phone call from Wilson. "I speak to everybody," he said.

On Capitol Hill today, Wilson said that at the direction of Republican leaders last night, he immediately called the White House to offer an apology for his excited utterance doubting the president's veracity when he said his health care plan would not provide coverage for illegal immigrants.

Mr. Obama said he wants political figures to be able to have a conversation about important issues "without vitriol, without name-calling, without the assumption of the worst in other peoples' motives."

"I hope some of the fever breaks a little bit," said the president. And he urged the news media to help it along by "not giving all the attention to the loudest or shrillest voices."

Doubtful, Mr. President. Doubtful.

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(CBS)

Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here. You can also follow him on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/markknoller.

Mark Knoller
Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent.
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by watkinsjr2000 September 11, 2009 9:17 PM EDT: Rep. Joe Wilson claims that he was caught up in a moment of passion & momentarily lost control of himself when he yelled that President Obama was a liar during the president's address before Congress on Wednesday.He then issued a perfunctory apology that I believe totally lacking in sincerity.This belief is reinforced by Wilson's vow later in the day that he would "not be silenced".

Rep. Wilson was making a calculated & scripted move designed to get him more votes in his re-election bid next year.He represents a district in S.C. that is heavily republican& heavily racist.He's playing to the same sort of hate-filled voter that Jesse Helms & George Wallace courted during their years in the spotlight.

Judging by the response to this from the people in his district, he's a shoo-in for sainthood in their eyes now.Or at least a shoo-in for a leadership position in "redneck nation". Wilson's outburst in Congress was disgraceful.The fact that people in his district view what he did as a good thing is even worse. Jim Crow is still very much alive & well in certain parts of this country.; Reply to this comment


by timthompkins September 10, 2009 8:10 PM EDT: Obama should tell the GOP to go and stuff it. Not one American feared Regans speech to children in 1988. Now this disrespect to the office. Would this happen to a white President? I think not. It is racist and Obama needs to stop being civil. This is America at its worst. Wilson should step down. He is an embarassment.; Reply to this comment


by formrusmcsgt September 10, 2009 7:47 PM EDT: Onama showed he's a bigger man than Wilson.; Reply to this comment


by erasmus111 September 10, 2009 7:05 PM EDT: I guess one of the racist "sickie" didn't like my post, huh?

Sometimes the TRUTH hurts, doesn't it?; Reply to this comment


by msimamaji September 10, 2009 7:04 PM EDT: Last night Joe Wilson said he was "sorry" and guess what? He got $400,000 in campaign contributions. How many of these contributors are members of the Ku Klux Klan? How much of this money comes from health insurance companies? At least if health insurance rates spike in South Carolina, we'll know why.
Truth told. Joe Wilson does not need the money. I conducted some research on Center for Responsive Politics.
Among the industries that contributed to Wilson's political campaigns, Health professionals took 1st place. Joe Wilson also gets hefty campaign contributions from lobbyists, for-profit hospitals and nursing homes, pharmaceuticals/health products, insurance companies, and securities and investments. If I conduct a sector analysis, the for-profit health sector is Wilson's biggest contributor. Individual corporations which contribute heavily to Wilson's political campaigns include American Hospital Association and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
So it's small wonder why Joe Wilson hates Obama passionately. Obama is a threat to his source of revenue.
In the meanwhile, South Carolina has a soaring rate of poverty and unemployment. It has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country. If Joe Wilson really wanted to apologize, he'd donate all this newly-gained wealth to Charity. But obviously Wilson cares more about those Benjamins than he does about the people of South Carolina.
Joe Wilson really meant it. He's sorry -- Like everyone else in the GOP, Joe Wilson is a sorry excuse for a human being.; Reply to this comment


by texbelle123 September 10, 2009 6:41 PM EDT: Oh boy. It just keeps happening. H.R. 3200, the health-care bill under debate in the House, explicitly prohibits coverage for illegal immigrants. To call out, "You lie," when the President obviously is NOT lying. . . to keep referring to the "lies" when commenting here, just keeps proving that too many people (even those elected to Congress from a conservative district in South Carolina) have simply left their brains behind.
When is someone going to shut down the propaganda machine called Fox News so that republicans who are actually willing to use their brains can come back into the discussions? Everyone, literally EVERYONE who watches Fox is now an idiot saying things like, And he urged the news media to help it along by "...Because he wants all the attention to push his lies."

Which one? The one about health care cost being out of control, the one about the 14,000 Americans per week who lose their coverage, the one about the deficit being made worse by medical costs?

Oh wait. Those are all FACTS!

Never mind.; Reply to this comment


by HGOODGUY September 10, 2009 5:05 PM EDT: Someone had better plaxce an order at the local slaughterhouse because all these bolgs are running out of ********!!!!; Reply to this comment


by Wolf1944 September 10, 2009 4:36 PM EDT: The President was very gracious in overlooking the fact that Wilson did not really apologize. He said he still disagreed with the President's statement, a statement that was exactly true.; Reply to this comment

by noloyalisti September 10, 2009 3:48 PM EDT

Obama got the last laugh anyway, because he got the whole world to see just what these extremist wacko Republicans are about.

Reply to this comment


by spiritwalk September 10, 2009 3:54 PM EDT: Extremist wacko gets fed up with having to sit and listen to a bunch of lies and he finally calls Obama on his lying?

Maybe we need more extemist wackos to call politicains on their lying, then we might start hearing the truth once in a while.


by spiritwalk September 10, 2009 3:54 PM EDT: Extremist wacko gets fed up with having to sit and listen to a bunch of lies and he finally calls Obama on his lying?

Maybe we need more extemist wackos to call politicains on their lying, then we might start hearing the truth once in a while.


by spiritwalk September 10, 2009 3:32 PM EDT: White House: 1 Million Jobs Saved, Created or Census: Ranks of Poor, Uninsured Grows

Which headline tells the truth? And is this headine what the White House what they want yot to concentrate on today to forget the first two?

Lawmakers Condemn Outburst at Obama

Yesterday Obama was criticizing the state of journalism, but Washington seems to like it the way it is when it helps to keep us confused and looking in the wrong direction.; Reply to this comment