The GOP At Its Best (Unfortunately)

In case you missed it, the Republicans were disgusting at last night's speech, but Republicans being disgusting is not news. What's news is they're even disgusting the Washington Village people.

All in all, it looks like a debacle for the GOP. John McCain was on Larry King later in the evening, calling on Congressman Wilson to apologize.

It will be interesting to see how the evening plays out over the next few days. It didn't take very long for the Repulsives to come up with their first attempt at deflecting criticism. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham:

I was incredibly disappointed in the tone of [Obama's] speech. At times, I found his tone to be overly combative and believe he behaved in a manner beneath the dignity of the office.

They'll try that for a few days and see if it works.

Update: It doesn't look like it's going to work. Steve Benen has a good wrap-up here. Some outtakes:

When Wilson accused the president of lying, Wilson was, in fact, lying. Even in Congress, facts should matter, and the right-wing Republican wasn't just obnoxious with his idiotic interruption, he was also wrong.

...Joe Scarborough, a former Republican member of Congress, said, "Whoever shouted out that the president was lying is a dumbass." John McCain denounced Wilson's outburst as "totally disrespectful." While right-wing blogs were thrilled, Republican lawmakers have been entirely unwilling to defend Wilson's behavior.

...President Obama couldn't have been more magnanimous last night, highlighting a plan that "incorporates ideas from many people in this room tonight, Democrats and Republicans." He made frequent references to Republican lawmakers and even George W. Bush. Obama even talked up medical malpractice reform. It was in this context that Wilson decided to lash out? As Gail Collins noted this morning, "Let me go out on a limb and say that it is not a good plan to heckle the president of the United States when he's making a speech about replacing acrimony with civility."

...It's striking that Wilson, unable to find any support from his allies, quickly apologized....

But the damage has been done. Indeed, Wilson's outburst is an almost perfect summation of 2009 -- President Obama appears big, Republicans appear small. Democrat show class, Republicans act like children. One side is serious, one side is shrill. The White House says something true, Republicans lash out with falsehoods.