Joe Wilson vs. John Lewis

[Suburbia]

Two Southern congressmen, who defied the presidents of the 21st century as of now. One a white man, Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) who shouted down President Obama with "You Lie" during his 2009 Healthcare Joint Session Address. The other, a black man, John Lewis; a civil rights hero (D-Georgia) who said that Donald Trump is an illegitimate president due to Russian hacking and influence of the 2016 election. Who is better?

[Grumpier Than Thou]

I get who the OP is, but how is this even a question? Joe Wilson is an irrelevant footnote who only attained that status by being a jerk. John Lewis is a living American icon who has more dignity in his pinky finger than Wilson does in his entire body. Lewis has earned his place in history, and is not wrong to say the President-elect is illegitimate because he was not popularly elected. Joe Wilson rode the wave of subtly racist Obama hatred and has now faded into obscurity.

[Suburbia]

I get who the OP is, but how is this even a question? Joe Wilson is an irrelevant footnote who only attained that status by being a jerk. John Lewis is a living American icon who has more dignity in his pinky finger than Wilson does in his entire body. Lewis has earned his place in history, and is not wrong to say the President-elect is illegitimate because he was not popularly elected. Joe Wilson rode the wave of subtly racist Obama hatred and has now faded into obscurity.

I am not a bad person.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The fact that you need to ask says a lot about you.

[Xing]

Even if you think Lewis went too far with his recent comment, that doesn't change how much he has done for civil rights in this country.

[Santander]

Even if you think Lewis went too far with his recent comment, that doesn't change how much he has done for civil rights in this country.

Yeah, like protesting against civil liberties last year with his gun control sit-in stunt.

[Suburbia]

The fact that you need to ask says a lot about you.

I am a good man. I am not a bad person.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Even if you think Lewis went too far with his recent comment, that doesn't change how much he has done for civil rights in this country.

Yeah, like protesting against civil liberties last year with his gun control sit-in stunt.

I'm not as uncritically pro-gun control as I used to be, mainly because I think it'd end up being selectively enforced against minorities and the poor, but is what you're implying here that supporting gun control is a bad enough transgression to cancel out all the merits of being a Freedom Rider, the chairman of SNCC, etc.? Really? Really?

[Santander]

Even if you think Lewis went too far with his recent comment, that doesn't change how much he has done for civil rights in this country.

Yeah, like protesting against civil liberties last year with his gun control sit-in stunt.

I'm not as uncritically pro-gun control as I used to be, mainly because I think it'd end up being selectively enforced against minorities and the poor, but is what you're implying here that supporting gun control is a bad enough transgression to cancel out all the merits of being a Freedom Rider, the chairman of SNCC, etc.? Really? Really?

No, I'm saying that it's rather sad that he has gone from protesting for civil liberties and individual rights as a young man to protesting against them as an old man.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The sit-in was a pointless attempt at raising a spectacle over a stupid, unfair, mostly meaningless policy that, thankfully, has already become more forgotten as was ignored in the first place.

People around here will also remember John Lewis literally pretending not to know Bernie Sanders during the presidential primaries. And I remember him showing up at Occupy Atlanta, unannounced, and expecting every other speaker to yield to him so that he could get on camera delivering his standard talking points without waiting for his turn to speak as everyone else did.

The salient point is that a person can have a heroic past while also being a partisan hack, and maybe even a bit washed up and out of touch. It's cringeworthy to watch as that past is invoked even in situations in which its relevance is questionable.

For some reason I thought the Congressman who pretended not to know Sanders was someone else.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Anyone who chose Joe Wilson is a partisan hack.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Lewis on balance, but he's not so great either.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Lewis on balance, but he's not so great either.

Indeed.