Bill Kristol: Leave Joe "You Lie!" Wilson Alone

Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress at 7:00 AM on September 14, 2009.

On Fox News Sunday, Rep. Joe "You Lie!" Wilson (R-SC) said that he will not offer an apology to the House for his conduct during President Obama's joint address to Congress. The House leadership has said that unless Wilson apologizes, they will introduce a resolution of disapproval. Later in the show, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol issued a desperate plea for Democrats to leave Wilson -- who has a "reputation for bipartisanship" -- alone. He said that Pelosi will be leading the party "off the cliff" if they rebuke Wilson:

KRISTOL: Can I just say one thing? He [Obama] is leading his party off a cliff, and Speaker Pelosi is going to lead his party -- her party off the cliff if they try to rebuke Joe Wilson.

He has apologized. It will be a disgrace if they do some stunt in the House to try to humiliate this man, who is, in fact -- has a reputation for bipartisanship on the Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee he’s on.

Obama and Pelosi are leading the party off a cliff, I think, and I hope a lot of Democrats say, Slow down. Let's take a look at this bill.

Watch it:

Republican leaders, including Minority Leader John Boehner (OH), have also been pressuring Wilson to apologize to the House.

Tagged as: barack obama, nancy pelosi, joe wilson, bill kristol, fox news sunday

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Deputy Editor for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.