you lie! you hush!
the winds of change have started to blow over my life. today, i received my acceptance letter from eckerd college and had a dream about one of the design star contestants and it stood so rich that i wrote for two hours afterwards basking in the glow that that dream provided. even as i'm entering a life-changing time in my life, we've witnessed the pyschotic frenzy our world has become: on the occassion of this post, our politics continues to reel from one crazed exclamation from one man who embodies everything wrong wiht our body politick: the absolute lack in this country of the ability to critically think. in what country do we live where half of the population thinks the president's words so toxic that they make a fuss about their children hearing anything he says at their schools, but then go even further as to trample the solemnity of the chamber of the house of representatives and disrespect the office of the president by making an infantile outburst during a nationally televised address! further, what sort of bipartisanship do we have where democrats and republicans agree to do nothing when a congressman steps out of bounds and does not receive censure or sanction! i'd rather the congressman get up in leave, mumble, moan, or boo than to call the president a liar before the entire world. imagine if someone would have called george bush a liar during one of his speeches where he claimed iraq had weapons of mass descruction? we'd hear calls for removal from office.
on monday afternoon, after i wrote the post catching up on my life, i went over to the exsomeone's during my lunch break from pier one and while we attemtped to have a quickie interlude, things did not follow through to their natural conclusion because not only did i have to keep watching the clock, but the exsomeone kept talking. i'm sorry, but increasingly, i need real, palpable, coital silence. it's one of the reasons we're not completely sexually compatible. the exsomeone likes to talk, i don't. i like to kiss, the exsomeone doesn't. ironically, we didn't see each other after my shift had ended and we hadn't spoken all week after that. it's like, when i want to talk, we don't, when i want silence, we talk. besides that, i saw the stockbroker's facebook and apparently i'm not the only one who's gained weight. i'm going to dinner with my high school friend because i'm literally so broke that i'm starving. it's always darkest. and i'm sorry, there's a couple of points about this healthcare debate that have made me yell at the television lately: when republicans say that this is a partisan bill, it's crazy because when you tell your entire caucus not to vote for this bill no matter what, why would people sit down with you and work out language on a bill you're GUARANTEED not to vote for because your party wants to gamble that solid opposition might actually kill this bill and/or make it so untenable that the party will win seats in the midterm. ditto on amendments, why would they accept kill-the-bill amendments when you guys don't plan to vote on the bill NO MATTER WHAT?! also, regarding "employers dropping their employees forcing them onto the government option"? right now, employers have the right to drop health care coverage putting their employees in an even worse off vote than the matrix the democrats talk about. sigh. this is why i must retreat into the warm desert winds of the fashion i'm enjoying. as much as i don't like what's going on, i'm proud to live in a country where the president pays respect for those who died on 9/11, the supreme court hears arguments about corporate interference in our politics, the house and senate continue to debate heatlhcare, new york fashion week has gotten under way, the mtv video music awards approach, "true blood" shows its season finale, "mad men" starts to get good, "gossip girl" comes back, "desperate housewives" and "brothers & sisters" prepare for a comeback, and ellen becomes even more mainstream and popular.
Here is your single's love horoscope
for Monday, September 14:
Reality may feel bleak, but love could be right around the corner. It all depends on your outlook. If you're convinced romance has passed you by, then it probably will. Give yourself a chance by believing in a happy ending.
THE COITAL HUSH. n: The act of remaining silent during sex as a means to minimize distractions that might impede one's partner's path to orgasm. (From MaHB: Man at His Best - The Vocabulary, Esquire Magazine, October 2009).
YVES SAINT LAURENT
June 24, 2009
The key that unlocked Stefano Pilati's enigmatic new collection was the T-shirt he was wearing when he took his bow. It's a universal piece of clothing-multiracial, multicultural, really a global uniform-so it made an ideal foundation for the designer's Spring show, because those were the sort of ideas he had on his mind. ("Folky but formal, what menswear should be," he free-associated at show's end.) Pilati elongated the natural fluidity of a tee into long, djellabalike pieces under tailored jackets, or into free-flowing items that sinuously wrapped the body. And, once he'd twisted such a basic, iconic item, it was no trouble at all for him to play with proportions, explode volumes, or reconfigure last season's samurai print in knit. Jackets were cutaway, low in front, higher in back, which gave an illusion of urgency, like the models were leaning forward. Into winds of change? Oh, how pat that would be. Maybe they were just twenty-first-century nomads in their zippered sandals with soles that suggested hippie tire treads.
Pilati introduced the collection with a short film made by director Samuel Benchetrit, starring his young son Jules. Aside from proving that the uniquely throaty, smoky Gallic tone of voice that is so familiar to fans of French movies is something acquired in the cradle, the film, in which Jules quite possibly-and inadvertently-reunites a couple who are having communication issues, underlined the romantic ideal that is at the core of Pilati's work. The wanting, the not having-it's all in these clothes, with their cropped, drifting, sensual shadowiness.
- Tim Blanks
DUCKIE BROWN
September 10, 2009
As polarizing a proposition as Duckie Brown is, both sides of the debate must concede that Steven Cox and Daniel Silver are fearless. After a Fall collection that they insisted was about winter sports-although it looked like outfits for an incipient apocalypse-they whisked their springwear away to George Cukor's poolside. The legendary director's very particular appetites were obliquely portrayed in the movie Gods and Monsters, and the Duckies captured, with their typical peculiar flair, the mood of decadent, sexual languor that must have prevailed in a Hollywood where anything went. Sex was, in fact, very much on their minds after their last, dark collection. "Upbeat, positive, sunny, celebratory," Silver listed the duo's goals. "We don't want to be Debbie Downer." No chance. Their celebration of the male form significantly followed the same path that their peers who design for women often take: short and sheer.
Cox's ongoing fascination with the construction of clothing was sublimated into the exploded raglan sleeve on a gauzy top (it looked like ruching) or the sun-ray pleating that was gathered to one side on a pair of shorts. The lingerie color scheme and the predominance of chiffon in the shirtings might suggest willful gender games, but filter those signatures like California sun through palm trees around the pool at the Hotel Bel-Air, and they started to look like a consummate offering for a long, hot, indolent summer. Even the Spanx-y swimsuits reminded me of a frolicking Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. Oops! I was trying to avoid the ambiguity card. Perhaps that's a futile endeavor, given that Cox threw a couple of big couture bows into the mix. But even that provocative gesture couldn't sidetrack the conviction that this might well have been Duckie Brown's most accessible-and therefore commercially successful-collection to date. We sit with fingers crossed.
- Tim Blanks
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On the Runway: Duckie Brown's Softer Side
Thursday, September 10, 2009, by Frank Gargione
http://racked.com/archives/2009/09/10/offsite_duckie_browns_softer_side.php
Duckie Brown-a New York-based menswear line known more for its hard edges and sometimes avant-garde sensibilities-just showed a slightly softer (and perhaps more wearable) side for Spring 2010 in the Salon at Bryant Park. Over-sized, flowing silk and jersey pieces in varying shades of taupe, gray, tan and champagne were sleek but not cold-and were accented by jaunty little brimless straw hats.
Shorts were short and blousey, jackets tended towards being long and drapey rather than short and tailored, and the shots of pattern came in the form of green and orange blown-out plaids screened on silk and a sort of basket-weave windowpane check. Colors were muted but injections of turquoise, green and yellow added zip. Over-sized barracudas and belted safari shirt jackets were the key outerwear pieces and swimwear-maybe the only major miss in this fun and easy-breezy collection-took the form of high-waisted, bandage-wrapped mini-trunks in unforgiving pure white. Those models really got the short end …
· All Fashion Week Spring 2010 stories [Racked]
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Duckie Brown’s Steven Cox: Fabric Doesn’t Have Genitals * 10/28/09 at 5:10 PM
http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/10/duckie_browns_steven_cox_fabri.html?mid=fashion-alert--20091029
Friday marks the launch of Edward, a new capsule menswear collection being sold at Odin courtesy of Duckie Brown designers Steven Cox and Daniel Silver, who paired up with Odin owners Paul Birardi and Eddy Chai. When we stopped by the Duckie Brown studio to preview the line last night, we asked the foursome of menswear-market experts if there was any validity to Miuccia Prada's statement that menswear should be more influenced by womenswear in the future. "Womenswear has been a huge influence for me, it always has been," Cox told us. "In Duckie Brown we can show a boat short or chiffon shirts, which is obviously from womenswear."
As for Edward, the approach didn't take any cues from the ladies. "It was more about thinking about a specific customer," Chai explained. "We actually pictured this guy named Edward. And we would say, 'Okay, what would Edward wear? What does Edward like?' And we created this character really, and this is what Edward would wear. This is his wardrobe," he said, pointing to a rack of military jackets, moleskin cotton peacoats, and blue button-up shirts, all priced under $500. "It wasn't about appealing to this and that, it wasn't trend-driven." Meanwhile, Cox doesn't believe there is much of a difference between menswear and womenswear at all. "Originally we had this whole conversation about using women's fabric. I don't really agree with that," the designer said in reference to his Duckie Brown collection. "Because what makes a fabric women's? You know, there is no penis or vagina in a fabric. Like, why is chiffon women's and why is it not men's? I don't know."
By: Sharon Clott Filed Under: men are the new women, daniel silver, duckie brown, eddy chai, odin, paul berardi, steven cox
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Lack of Swagger Hardly Suits the Men's Runway
By Robin Givhan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
NEW YORK -- Pity the poor gentleman who dares to defy mainstream cultural expectations about how men are supposed to dress. He will not merely be the subject of curious stares from street corners and taxicabs. He will be viewed with a combination of pity and disdain.
In this unforgiving economic climate, the highly judgmental masses -- the same ones who once declared that all those boys in saggy pants were thugs -- do not chuckle at male iconoclasts the way they might smile in amusement at a woman with a penchant for Deauville millinery or Twiggy miniskirts. And of all the cruel glares, the most penetrating come from the brotherhood of men who believe that a pink tie is borderline effete.
As the spring 2010 designer collections are unveiled here, the tents pitched in Midtown's Bryant Park are one of the central gathering spots for the fashion industry's most exotic creatures. The strait-laced men who make up the security staff there spend their days admiring the bright plumage of lithe female editors and retailers -- but let an unabashed peacock strut by and in his wake come guffaws and sneers.
An extreme example of this kind of prejudice bubbled up Friday, the second day of shows, when the rain and wind blew in a slender young man with a mohawk who was dressed in a black and silver body suit with winged shoulders of the superhero variety. Any man willing to go out on a brisk day with little more than a thin scrim of spandex separating his family jewels from the unkind world is brave indeed. Our young hero swaggered through the door with his head thrown back in a display of haughty self-confidence. As Captain Fashion made his way through the crowd, it was impossible not to notice a security guard -- wearing a boxy, form-camouflaging black suit -- giving him the once-over, shaking his head in dismay and finally settling on an expression of disgust.
The average man has a problem with fashion risk-taking. And that means the menswear designers who have been unveiling their spring 2010 collections here have the usual hurdles to overcome and then some.
This season is even more challenging because so many men don't have jobs, have watched helplessly as their career trajectories have nose-dived and are in an angry lather about everything from health care to corporate bailouts. They are not in the mood for fashion witticisms. So it's understandable that there's very little silliness and fun on the menswear runways this season.
But there's not much good humor, either. There's minimal tailoring and almost no suits. It's as though designers didn't want to focus on office wear for fear of reminding men of the jobs they no longer have. But Seventh Avenue isn't rolling out luxurious vacation clothes, either. Because who can afford a lavish getaway?
The designers are in the gray zone, dressing men for trips to the gym, for informal dinners out, for loitering at the corner Starbucks while browsing the job listings on Monster.com. The cool has been sucked out of these collections. And so has the confident swagger. The result is that shows and presentations are less like a display of a designer's wares and more like a 15-minute exegesis on the state of masculinity, on the shrinking male ego and on how far a man can go in the pursuit of comfort before he really is wearing his pajamas all day.
Is it too terribly retro to wonder: Where did all the manly men go? Where is all the derring-do ?
The two sets of brothers who make up the five entrepreneurs behind the label Bespoken still believe a man has a reason to put on a suit. Their work is inspired by the aesthetic of Britain's Savile Row. They tweak shirt collars so they are round and barely visible; they taper pant legs so they can be turned up at the hem and still look tidy. They produce limited-edition blazers lined with cotton shirting. (Once the edition sells out, they re-introduce it in a different fabric or color.)
For spring, they found luxurious seersucker that shimmered with texture under the lights at the Museum of Arts and Design, where they presented their collection Saturday afternoon. They tailored that fabric, which has a hint of stretch, into a slim, three-piece suit and put it on a lean model who had twisting coils of kinky hair sprouting from his handsome noggin in that splendid, anti-corporate way.
The suit is rooted in the kinds of traditional three-piece styles that men in Washington love to wear with a Panama hat during the steamiest days of August. But the Bespoken suit is leaner and more urbane. It exudes youthfulness while maintaining its dignity. Surely a regular sort of fellow -- or at least one who can and will spend $1,500 or so on a suit -- can see himself moving about the nation's capital in something like that? After all, the designers have only politely suggested that men upgrade their look. The designers have not behaved like aesthetic bullies. (Men don't take kindly to dictates. They are not Ken dolls, after all.) The Bespoken suit is the 2010 model of a style already in a lot of Washington closets -- only this one gets better mileage.
It would seem reasonable to assume that a fantasy-focused designer like Thom Browne would not be at his best at a moment like this, when the economy is down, men are feeling peevish and Seventh Avenue is awash in dysfunction. But if it's insecurity that makes a man stumble when times are tough, then Browne is a remarkably secure designer.
He has developed an aesthetic and a following based on a shrunken silhouette, in which trousers are cropped at the ankle and jackets look as though they are one size too small for the men who are wearing them. Because Browne, who also collaborates with Brooks Brothers, is so keen on his aesthetic, he is able to bob and weave, to take a couple steps back, to shift to the side and not lose focus.
His spring collection, which he showed Sunday afternoon in the narrow confines of his TriBeCa boutique, riffed on fishermen and sailors; it was filled with classic menswear shapes that had been cropped, stretched and churned through the Browne sensibility. His show was more stripped down than usual. There were no elaborate sets. There wasn't any room, really. Instead, the models simply walked down a narrow corridor lined with chairs. There was no hiding imperfections and missteps. Browne's audience was close enough to reach out and touch the passing young men.
He showed prep school navy blazers trimmed in white; bright yellow rain slickers outlined in black; and crisp navy jackets topping fire-engine-red hoodies. His trousers were as short as ever, but he often paired them with ankle boots, eliminating the usually bare swathe of hairy leg that gives so many observers the jitters.
These were clothes that stayed true to Browne's viewpoint. They were presented with panache and wit. But they were no joke. Even when a heavily tattooed model walked out in a black tank top covered in quarter-size paillettes and with a long, sleeveless knit cardigan billowing out behind, the effect was that of a rock-star lobsterman -- filled with confidence and toughness. Look at this guy with disdain if that's what your closed mind forces you to do. Just don't let him catch you staring at him in some self-righteous way because he will give you an earful, and a punch in the mouth, as well.
The menswear runways needed more of that unabashed assuredness, that ability to moderate one's aesthetic temperament without changing the fundamental message. So much of the rest of the menswear was a wash, as featherweight and unsubstantial as all the bloomers, anoraks and see-through shirts.
A good number of designers, including Duckie Brown, as well as Richard Chai and Phillip Lim, redefined "the suit" as a roomy jacket -- that looks as though it might have been borrowed from one's broad-shouldered and paunchy father -- and a pair of shorts. In this case, the shorts stop at mid-thigh. And they are lean. Some of them border on tight. They are the kind of shorts that the advertising executives of "Mad Men" would wear to a family barbecue.
At Robert Geller, a show that had the kind of urgent energy that comes from an audience thick with groupies and fans and not just the usual fashion cynics who sit stone-faced thinking "Impress me," silky knee-length shorts topped leggings. It was a more refined version of a traditional workout style and a true stroke of genius from Geller, as it takes something that men were already cobbling together and stamps it with the label: appropriate. And if men are wondering if they can wear their long underwear with a blazer and call themselves dressed, the Rag & Bone designers say: Yes, sir, you can.
Our spandex-wearing, mohawked hero, of course, would not need permission to wear anything. He would not need to feel "appropriate." Because while uptight, sober security guards -- and so many other men -- might be staring at him in disdain, our hero is blissfully and wholly unconcerned.
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Posted on Advocate.com September 10, 2009 10:42:51 AM
Security Upped After Man Kisses Nadal
A man's attempt to kiss victorious tennis star Rafael Nadal results in increased security measures at the U.S. Open, and possible jail time for the excited fan.
By Julie Bolcer
Officials for the U.S. Open have increased security measures at the Grand Slam tennis tournament in New York City after a man rushed the court to congratulate and kiss star player Rafael Nadal (pictured) following his fourth-round victory early Wednesday morning.
Noam U. Aorta ran on to the court to hug and kiss Nadal, which officials interpreted as a serious breach of security, according to Newsday.
"There definitely was a breakdown," said Tim Curry, a spokesman for the United States Tennis Association, the newspaper reported. He declined to offer details about the enhanced security measures.
Aorta, a 23-year-old Israeli national, was charged with criminal trespass and interfering with a professional sporting event. He could be sentenced to one year in jail and $5,000 in penalties if convicted.
His attorney said Aorta is “remorseful.” Aorta reportedly said about his own behavior, “Nadal was right there. I had to. I had a few drinks. In my country kissing another man is no big deal.”
The object of the fan's affection agreed that it was no big deal. "For me it wasn't a problem," Nadal said. "The guy was really nice. He was a great fan. He said, 'I love you,' and he kiss me."
Posted on Advocate.com September 08, 2009 12:55:53 PM
Naked Gay Man Makes Pass at Clooney
George Clooney got a bit of a surprise while attending the Venice Film Festival when a fan, announcing himself as a gay man, peeled off his shirt and pants while declaring his love for the actor.
By Advocate.com Editors
George Clooney got a bit of a surprise while attending the Venice Film Festival when a fan, announcing himself as a gay man, peeled off his shirt and pants while declaring his love for the actor.
Clooney was speaking at a press conference with costar Ewan McGregor to promote the film The Men Who Stare at Goats when the man stripped down. The man was a journalist…and he hadn’t even seen the film.
Clooney kept his cool, telling the room full of reporters, “There’s a little ambulance on its way.”
The actor kept the joke going throughout much of the rest of the press conference, telling the next journalist to step up to the mike and “take your clothes off before you ask this question.”
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Pitt Pokes Fun at Clooney Gay Rumors | By WENN.com | Wednesday, August 12, 2009
http://www.hollywood.com/news/Pitt_Pokes_Fun_at_Clooney_Gay_Rumors/5684852
Brad Pitt has mocked rumors about his close friend George Clooney's sexuality, by joking that he won't marry Angelina Jolie until his Ocean's Eleven co-star can legally tie the knot with his "partner."
Pitt and Jolie have vowed that they will not consider marriage until same-sex unions are legalized in every one of the 50 states.
The actor uses a new interview with People magazine to reiterate their commitment to the pledge, and take a sly dig at bachelor Clooney.
Pitt tells People, "Angie and I will not be getting married until George and his partner can legally do so."
(c) 2009 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.
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Home > News > hollywood-news
Matt Damon and Brad Pitt's gay Clooney joke prompted man to strip
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-110919.html
September 12: MATT DAMON fears he and pal BRAD PITT are responsible for prompting an male fan to strip off and proposition GEORGE CLOONEY at a recent press conference after suggesting their OCEAN'S ELEVEN co-star was secretly gay.
Clooney was promoting his new comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats on Tuesday (08Sep09) at Italy's Venice Film Festival when a stripper posing as a journalist professed his love for the Hollywood star.
Video footage of the encounter has popped up all over the internet ever since, and it has forced Damon to make a confession.
The Bourne Identity actor admits he fuelled gossip Clooney was secretly in love with another man and that the couple planned to marry.
He says, 'I was at the Venice Film Festival last week and Brad Pitt was there doing interviews for Inglorious Basterds and I guess people had been asking him, 'When are you and Angelina Jolie going to get married?' and he finally just said, 'Me and Angelina will marry when George Clooney marries his boyfriend!'
'The thing is, you do that in America and they just laugh; you do that overseas and I guess something gets lost in translation, so at eight in the morning, I'm doing interviews and this Italian journalist comes to me and says, 'Matt, is it true what Brad say (sic)?' I had no idea what he was talking about so I just said, 'Of course, yeah.'
'And he says, 'Do you mean George Clooney has a boyfriend?' I'm trying to keep a straight face so I go, 'Yeah, of course he's got a boyfriend,' and he goes, 'You mean, he wants to marry him? You know this man?' And we've been doing this for years so I go, 'Yeah, I know this man, he's great, that's why we want them to get married!''
But Damon was left red-faced when he realised the ongoing prank may have led to the striptease during Clooney's press chat later.
He adds, 'George is coming (to Venice) the next day, I go back to New York and the next day I wake up, turn on the news and on CNN the headline says, 'Man strips for George Clooney'. And there's a video of this guy who stands up and says, 'George, I am a gay and you are gay.' And George is like, 'What's going on?'
'Then this guy starts taking his clothes off, and goes, 'If you must choose, choose me!''
--IANS-WENN
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Wilson's rallying cry
Glenn Thrush Glenn Thrush Thu Sep 10, 12:44 am ET
All eyes were on Barack Obama entering Wednesday night's address to Congress, but a little-known South Carolina Republican may have done more than the president’s combative speech to unify besieged Democrats around health care reform.
The night's defining moment - which Democrats hope to transform into a turning point - came when Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted "You lie!" as Obama claimed his plan wouldn't offer free care to illegal immigrants.
Wilson's boorishness - for which he quickly apologized - enraged audience members on both sides of the aisle.
It also overshadowed a speech that included some of Obama's harshest attacks on his GOP critics to date, including a denunciation of "death panel" alarmists as liars - a veiled swipe at Sarah Palin - and a warning to Republicans who want to "kill" reform.
"What we have also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have toward their own government," Obama said. "Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge. And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned.
"Well, the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed," he added, to Democratic cheers.
The president's combativeness, coupled with Wilson's behavior, clearly energized Democrats - to the point where few were in a mood to criticize Obama's lack of specifics or the fact that he offered no ironclad commitment to inserting a robust public option in the final legislation.
Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), one of the upper-chamber Democrats most skeptical of the White House reform efforts, was impressed by Obama’s speech.
"I think it was a bit of a game changer," he said.
"The speech galvanized support along the Democratic caucus across the political spectrum, from the progressive caucus to the Blue Dogs, and everybody left determined to get something done this year," Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told POLITICO Wednesday night.
Republicans - some of whom expressed open contempt for Obama by scanning their BlackBerrys or holding up copies of GOP bills during the speech - saw the president’s remarks as a Democratic call to arms that belied the president’s oft-repeated calls for bipartisanship.
"I was incredibly disappointed in the tone of his speech,” said Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).”At times, I found his tone to be overly combative and believe he behaved in a manner beneath the dignity of the office. I fear his speech tonight has made it more difficult - not less - to find common ground.
"He appeared to be angry at his critics and disappointed the American people were not buying the proposals he has been selling... If the Obama administration and congressional Democrats go down this path and push a bill on the American people they do not want, it could be the beginning of the end of the Obama presidency."
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who is running for Obama's old Senate seat, said, "He talked at us. He didn't listen to us... It was a missed opportunity."
Added Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.): "I sat there tonight wondering what the purpose of this evening was. I was hoping to hear the president flesh out a middle ground, but instead we heard platitudes and campaign rhetoric."
But Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), one of Obama's most consistent critics, saw some room for compromise. "It was a good speech, the problem is that what he wants and what they've written are two totally different things," said Coburn, an OB-GYN. “I'm willing to compromise to get things fixed. But I'm not willing to put the government in charge because we don't have a good track record."
Despite the energized tone, Obama offered cold comforts to liberals, no detailed road map for reform and an endorsement of the public option that fell far short of a guarantee.
"It is only one part of my plan," he said of the option. "To my progressive friends, I would remind you that for decades, the driving idea behind reform has been to end insurance company abuses and make coverage affordable for those without it. The public option is only a means to that end - and we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal."
But the fight over the public plan was eclipsed by Wilson's outburst halfway through Obama's address.
Wilson was quickly shouted down by Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shot a withering glance at the GOP side of the room. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel demanded an apology from Wilson - as did Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
A chastened Wilson quickly obliged, issuing a public apology and calling Emanuel personally after the speech, according to a White House source.
"This evening, I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill," he wrote in an email to reporters.. "While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility."
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said the remark was the latest in a long line of political attacks by Wilson.
“Joe Wilson took our state's reputation to a new low. I thought Mark Sanford had taken it as low as it could go, but this is beyond the pale," Clyburn said.
"Joe is very confrontational," he added. "He held his first town hall meeting three blocks from my house at my kid's high school. Now why would he have this town hall meeting in my congressional district, three blocks from my house in my kid's high school? It's not in his district.
That's the kind of guy Joe Wilson is. He loves confronting people. So he was confronting the president, just as he was confronting me."
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, predicted that Wilson’s outburst would have consequences.
"The person who said it will pay a price,” Durbin said. “I think the average American thinks that the president and the office deserve respect and that was a disrespectful comment. They'll pay a price in the court of public opinion."
Alex Isenstadt, Ben Smith, Jonathan Martin, Manu Raju, Patrick O’Connor and Lisa Lerer contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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September 10, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
So Much for Civility
By GAIL COLLINS
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.
Most of the Republicans listening to Barack Obama’s health care address Wednesday night followed the normal rule about sitting in stony silence while the president’s party leaps up and down in rapturous applause. But there were a few exceptions, notably Joe Wilson, a member of Congress from South Carolina who loudly called the president a liar.
This was when Obama said illegal immigrants would not be covered by health care reform. It seemed like a pretty tame remark for so much disrespect, given all the recent uproar over the president’s alleged ability to brainwash elementary school students.
You might have expected Wilson to hold his tongue and wait to see if Obama would yell “Marxism is a good thing!” and send the commerce committee racing off to give workers control over the means of production.
I always wonder what the members of Congress are actually thinking while they listen to a presidential address. Maybe Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Finance Committee, was thinking about the health care reform bill he has yet to pass, although it is equally possible that he was just daydreaming about his recipe for huckleberry pie or that time he walked all the way across Montana, just because it was there and he was running for re-election.
Baucus has become central to health care reform, through the classic dithering technique. Finance has been so slow off the dime that in his speech, Obama gave it kudos for having announced “it will move forward next week.” The problem, according to Baucus, is that he wants a bipartisan bill that meets the cost-control demands of his favorite Republican colleagues.
Sure, Obama talked the fiscally responsible talk last night. But he cannot hold a candle to Baucus and Chuck Grassley, the committee’s lead Republican. These guys are really, really, really concerned about balancing the budget. And that seems only fair since they were basically the ones who unbalanced it in the first place when they worked in splendid bipartisan concert in 2001 to pass George W. Bush’s first $1.6 trillion in tax cuts.
We do not know exactly what Grassley was thinking while the president was talking. Perhaps he was mentally composing a twitter about the speech. The senator has been tweetless since last weekend, when he recorded the memorable: “Saw Ia U beat my school 17/16. UNI played best I proud of my team Pres Mason came up 22pts short of her prediction 4 victory. She good Prez.”
All summer we have heard reports that a special bipartisan group of six senators, including Baucus and Grassley, were working on a health care reform deal. Having a conversation. Talking on the phone. Posting on each other’s Facebook wall. Still, no bill and the definition of “bipartisan” shrank from 70 votes in the Senate to “Olympia Snowe seems to like it.”
We do not know exactly what Senator Snowe of Maine was thinking during the president’s speech. Probably about the president’s speech. She is really, really diligent.
It’s always possible that the Republicans will realize that their virulent opposition is not doing the country any good, and at least be obstructionist in a more cheerful way. Although Wednesday night, when the TV cameras caught the House minority leader, John Boehner, he looked as though he had just swallowed a cough drop.
Boehner got the day off to a fine start by telling reporters he expected the president would “try to put lipstick on this pig and call it something else.” It was a stunning development, suggesting that a new page in American politics was turning, one in which members of both parties could once again come together and toss around that lipstick-pig metaphor without being accused of a sexist attack on Sarah Palin.
The speech sounded fine to me, although I have to admit I’m still disappointed that Obama’s people have not done enough to start interesting rumors on their side of the debate. “Security and stability” is not quite as exciting as stories about old people being executed or registered Republicans being stripped of their Medicare.
So, I was hoping that the reform side would do some groundwork before the big address and start floating stories about how universal health care would save the car industry or combat hair loss.
I envisioned Robert Gibbs getting up at the next press conference and saying: “Look, I know it’s all over the Web that under health care reform every family will get a new wide-screen plasma TV. It’s just not so. That provision was merely proposed by the House Commerce Committee.
“However, I can confirm that the public option has been renamed the Captain Sully Sullenberger Julia Child Oprah option.”
Nicholas D. Kristof is off today.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-joe-wilson11-2009sep11,0,5584524.story
latimes.com
Outrage over Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst isn't dying down
Although President Obama accepted the Republican congressman's apology for his 'You lie' remark, Democrats are calling for a public mea culpa and using the incident in fundraising appeals.
By Richard Simon
September 11, 2009
Reporting from Washington
The congressman who heckled President Obama during a televised address found that while the president accepted his apology Thursday, the furor over his outburst did not let up.
"I'm a big believer that we all make mistakes," Obama said in acknowledging the apology from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.). The lawmaker's shout of "You lie!" during the president's speech on healthcare was a significant break in decorum.
"I do think that, as I said last night, we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big important issues that matter to the American people without vitriol, without name-calling, without the assumption of the worst of other people's motives," Obama said.
Still, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, a Democrat from Wilson's home state, said that he planned to push for a resolution expressing disapproval of the incident unless Wilson issued a public apology on the House floor.
And Rob Miller -- the Democratic challenger for Wilson's House seat -- had raked in 14,000-plus contributions totaling more than $500,000 since the Wednesday night outburst, according to the House Democratic Campaign Committee. The committee also has cited the shout-out in a fundraising appeal: "Calling the president of the United States a liar in front of the nation is a new low even for House Republicans."
A Wilson spokesman said that the lawmaker had "apologized to the president sincerely, and the president accepted and said let's move on and have a civil discourse. And the congressman agrees."
Wilson posted a video on his campaign website saying he let his "emotions get the best" of him during the president's speech. But he said he would "not be muzzled," and asked supporters to contribute to his "effort to defeat the proponents of government-run healthcare."
Wilson's outburst came in response to Obama's statement that a healthcare overhaul would not directly benefit illegal immigrants.
"There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants," the president said. "This too is false -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."
On Thursday, some people said Wilson was right in challenging Obama's statement.
"It is a real shame that the rest of Congress was not on their feet pointing out the president's lie about illegal aliens in his healthcare plans," said William Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration, a political action committee.
The healthcare bills developed by House Democrats and by the Senate's health committee explicitly prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving federal subsidies for insurance. However, the House Republican leadership has complained that there is no provision to enforce the prohibition. GOP House leaders also complain that Democrats rejected their amendment to require applicants for subsidized healthcare to verify their legal status.
Republican leaders said the furor over Wilson had distracted them from their efforts to talk about healthcare and Obama's speech. They described their colleague's prompt apology as adequate.
"I think all of us who know Joe Wilson know that he did the right thing in apologizing to this White House," said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.). "I don't think anyone accepts the type of outburst and the lack of decorum in the House chamber."
(In a separate display of Republican unhappiness, Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois walked out during the president's address. His spokesman said the congressman was frustrated that Obama was not offering any new ground and left with just minutes remaining.)
Robert Oldendick, a political science professor at the University of South Carolina, on Thursday described reaction within the state to Wilson's outburst as "surprise and strong disapproval."
But whether it will hurt the lawmaker at home is uncertain.
"There are 14 months for people's memories of this to fade before the election -- although I'm sure they'll be reminded by opposition campaign ads," Oldendick said. "While the reaction here has been pretty strongly negative, I don't get the sense that Wilson will be severely damaged."
There have been many examples of the breakdown in civility on Capitol Hill over the years, including Vice President Dick Cheney directing an obscenity at a senator on the Senate floor in 2004. In 1856, Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina entered the Senate chamber and severely beat abolitionist Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane.
Even so, the Office of the House Historian says "the rules and precedents of the House do not allow insulting language or personal attacks."
richard.simon@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
###
September 10, 2009
In Lawmaker’s Outburst, a Rare Breach of Protocol
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON - It was a rare breach of the protocol that governs ritualistic events in the Capitol.
In an angry and very audible outburst, Representative Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, interrupted President Obama’s speech Wednesday night with a shout of “You lie!”
His eruption - in response to Mr. Obama’s statement that Democratic health proposals would not cover illegal immigrants - stunned members of both parties in the House chamber.
Democrats said it showed lack of respect for the office of the presidency and was reminiscent of Republican disruptions at recent public forums on health care.
“It is outrageous,” said Representative Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York, who said it reminded him of the “antics that are being used to disrupt and fog what is going on.”
After the speech, Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff who sat a few rows in front of Mr. Wilson, said he immediately approached senior Republican lawmakers to encourage them to identify the heckler and urge him to issue an apology quickly.
“No president has ever been treated like that. Ever,” Mr. Emanuel said.
Other Democrats said they did not want to dwell on the outburst or allow it to overshadow what they saw as an effective address by the president. But they also said it bolstered their contention that some Republicans were not interested in constructive dialogue, and they noted that Democratic plans specifically barred coverage for illegal immigrants.
Republicans also said the heckling was out of line. “I think we ought to treat the president with respect,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, “and anything other than that is not appropriate.”
Mr. Wilson seemed rattled in the wake of his comment, and quickly left the chamber at the end of the speech.
His office later issued an apology, saying: “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”
Mr. Wilson also phoned the White House and reached Mr. Emanuel, who accepted an apology on behalf of the president.
Critical body language and murmurs of disapproval are typical at presidential addresses and part of the political theater. But members of both parties were trying to recollect such a pointed attack from an individual lawmaker at a presidential address and noted that a similar remark could draw a formal reprimand if delivered at a routine session of the House.
When President Clinton addressed Congress in 1993 to push his health care plan, “both sides of the aisle received the President warmly,” according to a report in The New York Times at the time.
“But when he began talking about raising taxes on tobacco to pay for the plan, or the need to cut Medicare and Medicaid, many on the Republican side of the aisle began snickering, shaking their heads skeptically and making faces at each other,” the article said.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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Both Sides Condemn Outburst; Wilson Apologizes
By Jonathan Allen and Adjoa Adofo, CQ Staff Jonathan Allen And Adjoa Adofo, Cq Staff Wed Sep 9, 11:32 pm ET
Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "Lie! You lie," at President Barack Obama during Wednesday's address to a joint session of Congress, earning repudiations from his own party and from Democrats.
Wilson took exception to a passage in Obama's speech on health care in which the president said illegal immigrants would not get health insurance coverage under the overhaul.
"There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally," Obama said.
Wilson answered the comment with his outburst, loud enough to be picked up on television and in such an unusually disruptive fashion as to merit reprimands from across the political spectrum.
House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, a fellow South Carolinian, said Wilson's heckling was more damaging to South Carolina's reputation than the exploits of Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, who admitted to having an extramarital affair with an Argentinian woman.
"I thought he [the governor] had embarrassed us as much as we could be embarrassed. But to have a congressman use the floor of the House of Representatives in a joint session to insult the president the way Joe Wilson did is as embarrassing as anything anyone could think of," Clyburn said. "Our state can do without this."
Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and a fellow veteran, denounced the comment as "totally disrespectful and called on Wilson to "apologize immediately" during a post-speech interview on CNN.
A few hours later, he issued a written statement, saying he had called White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and apologized.
"I let my emotions get the best of me," Wilson said. "While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility."
The timing could not have been worse: Wilson's son, Alan Wilson, launched a bid Tuesday for state attorney general.
And Wilson himself is facing the possibility of a credible rematch of his narrow 2008 victory over Marine Corps veteran and Democrat Rob Miller, which Wilson won with 53.7 percent of the vote.
Miller received a flood of online donations in the hour after the speech, according to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee officials, with one estimate pegging the number of contributions at more than 200.
A Democratic operative with experience in South Carolina said Wilson's treatment of the commander in chief could cost him among the district's sizable military population.
"You have a lot of military folks who, even when they don't agree with the president politically, have a lot of respect for the institution itself," the operative said. "Before the speech, I would have said Joe Wilson had that."
Clyburn said South Carolina voters may have the opportunity to redress their grievances with Wilson at the polls and elsewhere.
"I would hope that the people of South Carolina will show him, in as many as ways as they possibly can, how insulting this is and how embarrassing this is," Clyburn said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., declined to comment on the matter, according to a spokesman, but Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said he could not remember a similar incident during his nearly three decades in Congress. "It is certainly something that should never happen," Hoyer added.
Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, declined to comment through a spokesman.
Members of Congress typically observe a standard of decorum during State of the Union addresses and other presidential addresses to nationally televised audiences.
On occasion, quiet disapproval rises to vocal outburst. In 1999, for example, then-Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., admonished House members to observe standards of respect for the president some Republicans had treated President Bill Clinton in a manner viewed as disrespectful the previous year.
Kathleen Hunter, Jennifer Scholtes, Edward Epstein and Scott Ferrell contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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September 09, 2009
Categories: Congress
A voice from the floor on illegal immigrants: 'Lie'
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0909/A_voice_from_the_floor_on_illegal_immigrants_Lie.html
One of the most persistent conservative concerns about health care legislation is that it will provide health care to illegal immigrants -- and the heated claim spilled onto the floor of President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress this evening, where one Republican member called the president a liar for denying it.
"There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false - the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally," President Obama said.
A loud voice from the Republican side of the hall answered, "Lie" -- my colleague Glenn Thrush reports it was Rep. Joe Wilson (R - S.C.) -- drawing a second "It's not true," from Obama and a shake of Nancy Pelosi's head.
The bill is designed to exclude those immigrants, though some Republicans have called for more explicit bans on funding for illegal immigrants and have claimed the bill will funnel money to illegal immigrants.
FactCheck.org described those claims as "false" and noted that one version of the legislation already includes an explicit bar on federal funding for illegal immigrants' health care.
By Ben Smith 08:43 PM
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September 09, 2009
Categories: House Republicans
Wilson apologizes -- ASAP
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0909/Wilson_apologizes__ASAP.html
Joe Wilson (R-SC) has issued an apology for heckling President Obama, about an hour after the speech -- a clear sign the GOP realizes just how damaging his performance was.
His statement:
“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”
By Glenn Thrush 10:18 PM
on monday afternoon, after i wrote the post catching up on my life, i went over to the exsomeone's during my lunch break from pier one and while we attemtped to have a quickie interlude, things did not follow through to their natural conclusion because not only did i have to keep watching the clock, but the exsomeone kept talking. i'm sorry, but increasingly, i need real, palpable, coital silence. it's one of the reasons we're not completely sexually compatible. the exsomeone likes to talk, i don't. i like to kiss, the exsomeone doesn't. ironically, we didn't see each other after my shift had ended and we hadn't spoken all week after that. it's like, when i want to talk, we don't, when i want silence, we talk. besides that, i saw the stockbroker's facebook and apparently i'm not the only one who's gained weight. i'm going to dinner with my high school friend because i'm literally so broke that i'm starving. it's always darkest. and i'm sorry, there's a couple of points about this healthcare debate that have made me yell at the television lately: when republicans say that this is a partisan bill, it's crazy because when you tell your entire caucus not to vote for this bill no matter what, why would people sit down with you and work out language on a bill you're GUARANTEED not to vote for because your party wants to gamble that solid opposition might actually kill this bill and/or make it so untenable that the party will win seats in the midterm. ditto on amendments, why would they accept kill-the-bill amendments when you guys don't plan to vote on the bill NO MATTER WHAT?! also, regarding "employers dropping their employees forcing them onto the government option"? right now, employers have the right to drop health care coverage putting their employees in an even worse off vote than the matrix the democrats talk about. sigh. this is why i must retreat into the warm desert winds of the fashion i'm enjoying. as much as i don't like what's going on, i'm proud to live in a country where the president pays respect for those who died on 9/11, the supreme court hears arguments about corporate interference in our politics, the house and senate continue to debate heatlhcare, new york fashion week has gotten under way, the mtv video music awards approach, "true blood" shows its season finale, "mad men" starts to get good, "gossip girl" comes back, "desperate housewives" and "brothers & sisters" prepare for a comeback, and ellen becomes even more mainstream and popular.
Here is your single's love horoscope
for Monday, September 14:
Reality may feel bleak, but love could be right around the corner. It all depends on your outlook. If you're convinced romance has passed you by, then it probably will. Give yourself a chance by believing in a happy ending.
THE COITAL HUSH. n: The act of remaining silent during sex as a means to minimize distractions that might impede one's partner's path to orgasm. (From MaHB: Man at His Best - The Vocabulary, Esquire Magazine, October 2009).
YVES SAINT LAURENT
June 24, 2009
The key that unlocked Stefano Pilati's enigmatic new collection was the T-shirt he was wearing when he took his bow. It's a universal piece of clothing-multiracial, multicultural, really a global uniform-so it made an ideal foundation for the designer's Spring show, because those were the sort of ideas he had on his mind. ("Folky but formal, what menswear should be," he free-associated at show's end.) Pilati elongated the natural fluidity of a tee into long, djellabalike pieces under tailored jackets, or into free-flowing items that sinuously wrapped the body. And, once he'd twisted such a basic, iconic item, it was no trouble at all for him to play with proportions, explode volumes, or reconfigure last season's samurai print in knit. Jackets were cutaway, low in front, higher in back, which gave an illusion of urgency, like the models were leaning forward. Into winds of change? Oh, how pat that would be. Maybe they were just twenty-first-century nomads in their zippered sandals with soles that suggested hippie tire treads.
Pilati introduced the collection with a short film made by director Samuel Benchetrit, starring his young son Jules. Aside from proving that the uniquely throaty, smoky Gallic tone of voice that is so familiar to fans of French movies is something acquired in the cradle, the film, in which Jules quite possibly-and inadvertently-reunites a couple who are having communication issues, underlined the romantic ideal that is at the core of Pilati's work. The wanting, the not having-it's all in these clothes, with their cropped, drifting, sensual shadowiness.
- Tim Blanks
DUCKIE BROWN
September 10, 2009
As polarizing a proposition as Duckie Brown is, both sides of the debate must concede that Steven Cox and Daniel Silver are fearless. After a Fall collection that they insisted was about winter sports-although it looked like outfits for an incipient apocalypse-they whisked their springwear away to George Cukor's poolside. The legendary director's very particular appetites were obliquely portrayed in the movie Gods and Monsters, and the Duckies captured, with their typical peculiar flair, the mood of decadent, sexual languor that must have prevailed in a Hollywood where anything went. Sex was, in fact, very much on their minds after their last, dark collection. "Upbeat, positive, sunny, celebratory," Silver listed the duo's goals. "We don't want to be Debbie Downer." No chance. Their celebration of the male form significantly followed the same path that their peers who design for women often take: short and sheer.
Cox's ongoing fascination with the construction of clothing was sublimated into the exploded raglan sleeve on a gauzy top (it looked like ruching) or the sun-ray pleating that was gathered to one side on a pair of shorts. The lingerie color scheme and the predominance of chiffon in the shirtings might suggest willful gender games, but filter those signatures like California sun through palm trees around the pool at the Hotel Bel-Air, and they started to look like a consummate offering for a long, hot, indolent summer. Even the Spanx-y swimsuits reminded me of a frolicking Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. Oops! I was trying to avoid the ambiguity card. Perhaps that's a futile endeavor, given that Cox threw a couple of big couture bows into the mix. But even that provocative gesture couldn't sidetrack the conviction that this might well have been Duckie Brown's most accessible-and therefore commercially successful-collection to date. We sit with fingers crossed.
- Tim Blanks
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On the Runway: Duckie Brown's Softer Side
Thursday, September 10, 2009, by Frank Gargione
http://racked.com/archives/2009/09/10/offsite_duckie_browns_softer_side.php
Duckie Brown-a New York-based menswear line known more for its hard edges and sometimes avant-garde sensibilities-just showed a slightly softer (and perhaps more wearable) side for Spring 2010 in the Salon at Bryant Park. Over-sized, flowing silk and jersey pieces in varying shades of taupe, gray, tan and champagne were sleek but not cold-and were accented by jaunty little brimless straw hats.
Shorts were short and blousey, jackets tended towards being long and drapey rather than short and tailored, and the shots of pattern came in the form of green and orange blown-out plaids screened on silk and a sort of basket-weave windowpane check. Colors were muted but injections of turquoise, green and yellow added zip. Over-sized barracudas and belted safari shirt jackets were the key outerwear pieces and swimwear-maybe the only major miss in this fun and easy-breezy collection-took the form of high-waisted, bandage-wrapped mini-trunks in unforgiving pure white. Those models really got the short end …
· All Fashion Week Spring 2010 stories [Racked]
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Duckie Brown’s Steven Cox: Fabric Doesn’t Have Genitals * 10/28/09 at 5:10 PM
http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/10/duckie_browns_steven_cox_fabri.html?mid=fashion-alert--20091029
Friday marks the launch of Edward, a new capsule menswear collection being sold at Odin courtesy of Duckie Brown designers Steven Cox and Daniel Silver, who paired up with Odin owners Paul Birardi and Eddy Chai. When we stopped by the Duckie Brown studio to preview the line last night, we asked the foursome of menswear-market experts if there was any validity to Miuccia Prada's statement that menswear should be more influenced by womenswear in the future. "Womenswear has been a huge influence for me, it always has been," Cox told us. "In Duckie Brown we can show a boat short or chiffon shirts, which is obviously from womenswear."
As for Edward, the approach didn't take any cues from the ladies. "It was more about thinking about a specific customer," Chai explained. "We actually pictured this guy named Edward. And we would say, 'Okay, what would Edward wear? What does Edward like?' And we created this character really, and this is what Edward would wear. This is his wardrobe," he said, pointing to a rack of military jackets, moleskin cotton peacoats, and blue button-up shirts, all priced under $500. "It wasn't about appealing to this and that, it wasn't trend-driven." Meanwhile, Cox doesn't believe there is much of a difference between menswear and womenswear at all. "Originally we had this whole conversation about using women's fabric. I don't really agree with that," the designer said in reference to his Duckie Brown collection. "Because what makes a fabric women's? You know, there is no penis or vagina in a fabric. Like, why is chiffon women's and why is it not men's? I don't know."
By: Sharon Clott Filed Under: men are the new women, daniel silver, duckie brown, eddy chai, odin, paul berardi, steven cox
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Lack of Swagger Hardly Suits the Men's Runway
By Robin Givhan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
NEW YORK -- Pity the poor gentleman who dares to defy mainstream cultural expectations about how men are supposed to dress. He will not merely be the subject of curious stares from street corners and taxicabs. He will be viewed with a combination of pity and disdain.
In this unforgiving economic climate, the highly judgmental masses -- the same ones who once declared that all those boys in saggy pants were thugs -- do not chuckle at male iconoclasts the way they might smile in amusement at a woman with a penchant for Deauville millinery or Twiggy miniskirts. And of all the cruel glares, the most penetrating come from the brotherhood of men who believe that a pink tie is borderline effete.
As the spring 2010 designer collections are unveiled here, the tents pitched in Midtown's Bryant Park are one of the central gathering spots for the fashion industry's most exotic creatures. The strait-laced men who make up the security staff there spend their days admiring the bright plumage of lithe female editors and retailers -- but let an unabashed peacock strut by and in his wake come guffaws and sneers.
An extreme example of this kind of prejudice bubbled up Friday, the second day of shows, when the rain and wind blew in a slender young man with a mohawk who was dressed in a black and silver body suit with winged shoulders of the superhero variety. Any man willing to go out on a brisk day with little more than a thin scrim of spandex separating his family jewels from the unkind world is brave indeed. Our young hero swaggered through the door with his head thrown back in a display of haughty self-confidence. As Captain Fashion made his way through the crowd, it was impossible not to notice a security guard -- wearing a boxy, form-camouflaging black suit -- giving him the once-over, shaking his head in dismay and finally settling on an expression of disgust.
The average man has a problem with fashion risk-taking. And that means the menswear designers who have been unveiling their spring 2010 collections here have the usual hurdles to overcome and then some.
This season is even more challenging because so many men don't have jobs, have watched helplessly as their career trajectories have nose-dived and are in an angry lather about everything from health care to corporate bailouts. They are not in the mood for fashion witticisms. So it's understandable that there's very little silliness and fun on the menswear runways this season.
But there's not much good humor, either. There's minimal tailoring and almost no suits. It's as though designers didn't want to focus on office wear for fear of reminding men of the jobs they no longer have. But Seventh Avenue isn't rolling out luxurious vacation clothes, either. Because who can afford a lavish getaway?
The designers are in the gray zone, dressing men for trips to the gym, for informal dinners out, for loitering at the corner Starbucks while browsing the job listings on Monster.com. The cool has been sucked out of these collections. And so has the confident swagger. The result is that shows and presentations are less like a display of a designer's wares and more like a 15-minute exegesis on the state of masculinity, on the shrinking male ego and on how far a man can go in the pursuit of comfort before he really is wearing his pajamas all day.
Is it too terribly retro to wonder: Where did all the manly men go? Where is all the derring-do ?
The two sets of brothers who make up the five entrepreneurs behind the label Bespoken still believe a man has a reason to put on a suit. Their work is inspired by the aesthetic of Britain's Savile Row. They tweak shirt collars so they are round and barely visible; they taper pant legs so they can be turned up at the hem and still look tidy. They produce limited-edition blazers lined with cotton shirting. (Once the edition sells out, they re-introduce it in a different fabric or color.)
For spring, they found luxurious seersucker that shimmered with texture under the lights at the Museum of Arts and Design, where they presented their collection Saturday afternoon. They tailored that fabric, which has a hint of stretch, into a slim, three-piece suit and put it on a lean model who had twisting coils of kinky hair sprouting from his handsome noggin in that splendid, anti-corporate way.
The suit is rooted in the kinds of traditional three-piece styles that men in Washington love to wear with a Panama hat during the steamiest days of August. But the Bespoken suit is leaner and more urbane. It exudes youthfulness while maintaining its dignity. Surely a regular sort of fellow -- or at least one who can and will spend $1,500 or so on a suit -- can see himself moving about the nation's capital in something like that? After all, the designers have only politely suggested that men upgrade their look. The designers have not behaved like aesthetic bullies. (Men don't take kindly to dictates. They are not Ken dolls, after all.) The Bespoken suit is the 2010 model of a style already in a lot of Washington closets -- only this one gets better mileage.
It would seem reasonable to assume that a fantasy-focused designer like Thom Browne would not be at his best at a moment like this, when the economy is down, men are feeling peevish and Seventh Avenue is awash in dysfunction. But if it's insecurity that makes a man stumble when times are tough, then Browne is a remarkably secure designer.
He has developed an aesthetic and a following based on a shrunken silhouette, in which trousers are cropped at the ankle and jackets look as though they are one size too small for the men who are wearing them. Because Browne, who also collaborates with Brooks Brothers, is so keen on his aesthetic, he is able to bob and weave, to take a couple steps back, to shift to the side and not lose focus.
His spring collection, which he showed Sunday afternoon in the narrow confines of his TriBeCa boutique, riffed on fishermen and sailors; it was filled with classic menswear shapes that had been cropped, stretched and churned through the Browne sensibility. His show was more stripped down than usual. There were no elaborate sets. There wasn't any room, really. Instead, the models simply walked down a narrow corridor lined with chairs. There was no hiding imperfections and missteps. Browne's audience was close enough to reach out and touch the passing young men.
He showed prep school navy blazers trimmed in white; bright yellow rain slickers outlined in black; and crisp navy jackets topping fire-engine-red hoodies. His trousers were as short as ever, but he often paired them with ankle boots, eliminating the usually bare swathe of hairy leg that gives so many observers the jitters.
These were clothes that stayed true to Browne's viewpoint. They were presented with panache and wit. But they were no joke. Even when a heavily tattooed model walked out in a black tank top covered in quarter-size paillettes and with a long, sleeveless knit cardigan billowing out behind, the effect was that of a rock-star lobsterman -- filled with confidence and toughness. Look at this guy with disdain if that's what your closed mind forces you to do. Just don't let him catch you staring at him in some self-righteous way because he will give you an earful, and a punch in the mouth, as well.
The menswear runways needed more of that unabashed assuredness, that ability to moderate one's aesthetic temperament without changing the fundamental message. So much of the rest of the menswear was a wash, as featherweight and unsubstantial as all the bloomers, anoraks and see-through shirts.
A good number of designers, including Duckie Brown, as well as Richard Chai and Phillip Lim, redefined "the suit" as a roomy jacket -- that looks as though it might have been borrowed from one's broad-shouldered and paunchy father -- and a pair of shorts. In this case, the shorts stop at mid-thigh. And they are lean. Some of them border on tight. They are the kind of shorts that the advertising executives of "Mad Men" would wear to a family barbecue.
At Robert Geller, a show that had the kind of urgent energy that comes from an audience thick with groupies and fans and not just the usual fashion cynics who sit stone-faced thinking "Impress me," silky knee-length shorts topped leggings. It was a more refined version of a traditional workout style and a true stroke of genius from Geller, as it takes something that men were already cobbling together and stamps it with the label: appropriate. And if men are wondering if they can wear their long underwear with a blazer and call themselves dressed, the Rag & Bone designers say: Yes, sir, you can.
Our spandex-wearing, mohawked hero, of course, would not need permission to wear anything. He would not need to feel "appropriate." Because while uptight, sober security guards -- and so many other men -- might be staring at him in disdain, our hero is blissfully and wholly unconcerned.
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Posted on Advocate.com September 10, 2009 10:42:51 AM
Security Upped After Man Kisses Nadal
A man's attempt to kiss victorious tennis star Rafael Nadal results in increased security measures at the U.S. Open, and possible jail time for the excited fan.
By Julie Bolcer
Officials for the U.S. Open have increased security measures at the Grand Slam tennis tournament in New York City after a man rushed the court to congratulate and kiss star player Rafael Nadal (pictured) following his fourth-round victory early Wednesday morning.
Noam U. Aorta ran on to the court to hug and kiss Nadal, which officials interpreted as a serious breach of security, according to Newsday.
"There definitely was a breakdown," said Tim Curry, a spokesman for the United States Tennis Association, the newspaper reported. He declined to offer details about the enhanced security measures.
Aorta, a 23-year-old Israeli national, was charged with criminal trespass and interfering with a professional sporting event. He could be sentenced to one year in jail and $5,000 in penalties if convicted.
His attorney said Aorta is “remorseful.” Aorta reportedly said about his own behavior, “Nadal was right there. I had to. I had a few drinks. In my country kissing another man is no big deal.”
The object of the fan's affection agreed that it was no big deal. "For me it wasn't a problem," Nadal said. "The guy was really nice. He was a great fan. He said, 'I love you,' and he kiss me."
Click to viewPosted on Advocate.com September 08, 2009 12:55:53 PM
Naked Gay Man Makes Pass at Clooney
George Clooney got a bit of a surprise while attending the Venice Film Festival when a fan, announcing himself as a gay man, peeled off his shirt and pants while declaring his love for the actor.
By Advocate.com Editors
George Clooney got a bit of a surprise while attending the Venice Film Festival when a fan, announcing himself as a gay man, peeled off his shirt and pants while declaring his love for the actor.
Clooney was speaking at a press conference with costar Ewan McGregor to promote the film The Men Who Stare at Goats when the man stripped down. The man was a journalist…and he hadn’t even seen the film.
Clooney kept his cool, telling the room full of reporters, “There’s a little ambulance on its way.”
The actor kept the joke going throughout much of the rest of the press conference, telling the next journalist to step up to the mike and “take your clothes off before you ask this question.”
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Pitt Pokes Fun at Clooney Gay Rumors | By WENN.com | Wednesday, August 12, 2009
http://www.hollywood.com/news/Pitt_Pokes_Fun_at_Clooney_Gay_Rumors/5684852
Brad Pitt has mocked rumors about his close friend George Clooney's sexuality, by joking that he won't marry Angelina Jolie until his Ocean's Eleven co-star can legally tie the knot with his "partner."
Pitt and Jolie have vowed that they will not consider marriage until same-sex unions are legalized in every one of the 50 states.
The actor uses a new interview with People magazine to reiterate their commitment to the pledge, and take a sly dig at bachelor Clooney.
Pitt tells People, "Angie and I will not be getting married until George and his partner can legally do so."
(c) 2009 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.
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Home > News > hollywood-news
Matt Damon and Brad Pitt's gay Clooney joke prompted man to strip
http://www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-110919.html
September 12: MATT DAMON fears he and pal BRAD PITT are responsible for prompting an male fan to strip off and proposition GEORGE CLOONEY at a recent press conference after suggesting their OCEAN'S ELEVEN co-star was secretly gay.
Clooney was promoting his new comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats on Tuesday (08Sep09) at Italy's Venice Film Festival when a stripper posing as a journalist professed his love for the Hollywood star.
Video footage of the encounter has popped up all over the internet ever since, and it has forced Damon to make a confession.
The Bourne Identity actor admits he fuelled gossip Clooney was secretly in love with another man and that the couple planned to marry.
He says, 'I was at the Venice Film Festival last week and Brad Pitt was there doing interviews for Inglorious Basterds and I guess people had been asking him, 'When are you and Angelina Jolie going to get married?' and he finally just said, 'Me and Angelina will marry when George Clooney marries his boyfriend!'
'The thing is, you do that in America and they just laugh; you do that overseas and I guess something gets lost in translation, so at eight in the morning, I'm doing interviews and this Italian journalist comes to me and says, 'Matt, is it true what Brad say (sic)?' I had no idea what he was talking about so I just said, 'Of course, yeah.'
'And he says, 'Do you mean George Clooney has a boyfriend?' I'm trying to keep a straight face so I go, 'Yeah, of course he's got a boyfriend,' and he goes, 'You mean, he wants to marry him? You know this man?' And we've been doing this for years so I go, 'Yeah, I know this man, he's great, that's why we want them to get married!''
But Damon was left red-faced when he realised the ongoing prank may have led to the striptease during Clooney's press chat later.
He adds, 'George is coming (to Venice) the next day, I go back to New York and the next day I wake up, turn on the news and on CNN the headline says, 'Man strips for George Clooney'. And there's a video of this guy who stands up and says, 'George, I am a gay and you are gay.' And George is like, 'What's going on?'
'Then this guy starts taking his clothes off, and goes, 'If you must choose, choose me!''
--IANS-WENN
© 2001-2008 NEWKERALA.COM. All Rights Reserved.
Wilson's rallying cry
Glenn Thrush Glenn Thrush Thu Sep 10, 12:44 am ET
All eyes were on Barack Obama entering Wednesday night's address to Congress, but a little-known South Carolina Republican may have done more than the president’s combative speech to unify besieged Democrats around health care reform.
The night's defining moment - which Democrats hope to transform into a turning point - came when Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted "You lie!" as Obama claimed his plan wouldn't offer free care to illegal immigrants.
Wilson's boorishness - for which he quickly apologized - enraged audience members on both sides of the aisle.
It also overshadowed a speech that included some of Obama's harshest attacks on his GOP critics to date, including a denunciation of "death panel" alarmists as liars - a veiled swipe at Sarah Palin - and a warning to Republicans who want to "kill" reform.
"What we have also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have toward their own government," Obama said. "Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge. And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned.
"Well, the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed," he added, to Democratic cheers.
The president's combativeness, coupled with Wilson's behavior, clearly energized Democrats - to the point where few were in a mood to criticize Obama's lack of specifics or the fact that he offered no ironclad commitment to inserting a robust public option in the final legislation.
Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), one of the upper-chamber Democrats most skeptical of the White House reform efforts, was impressed by Obama’s speech.
"I think it was a bit of a game changer," he said.
"The speech galvanized support along the Democratic caucus across the political spectrum, from the progressive caucus to the Blue Dogs, and everybody left determined to get something done this year," Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told POLITICO Wednesday night.
Republicans - some of whom expressed open contempt for Obama by scanning their BlackBerrys or holding up copies of GOP bills during the speech - saw the president’s remarks as a Democratic call to arms that belied the president’s oft-repeated calls for bipartisanship.
"I was incredibly disappointed in the tone of his speech,” said Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).”At times, I found his tone to be overly combative and believe he behaved in a manner beneath the dignity of the office. I fear his speech tonight has made it more difficult - not less - to find common ground.
"He appeared to be angry at his critics and disappointed the American people were not buying the proposals he has been selling... If the Obama administration and congressional Democrats go down this path and push a bill on the American people they do not want, it could be the beginning of the end of the Obama presidency."
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who is running for Obama's old Senate seat, said, "He talked at us. He didn't listen to us... It was a missed opportunity."
Added Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.): "I sat there tonight wondering what the purpose of this evening was. I was hoping to hear the president flesh out a middle ground, but instead we heard platitudes and campaign rhetoric."
But Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), one of Obama's most consistent critics, saw some room for compromise. "It was a good speech, the problem is that what he wants and what they've written are two totally different things," said Coburn, an OB-GYN. “I'm willing to compromise to get things fixed. But I'm not willing to put the government in charge because we don't have a good track record."
Despite the energized tone, Obama offered cold comforts to liberals, no detailed road map for reform and an endorsement of the public option that fell far short of a guarantee.
"It is only one part of my plan," he said of the option. "To my progressive friends, I would remind you that for decades, the driving idea behind reform has been to end insurance company abuses and make coverage affordable for those without it. The public option is only a means to that end - and we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal."
But the fight over the public plan was eclipsed by Wilson's outburst halfway through Obama's address.
Wilson was quickly shouted down by Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shot a withering glance at the GOP side of the room. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel demanded an apology from Wilson - as did Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
A chastened Wilson quickly obliged, issuing a public apology and calling Emanuel personally after the speech, according to a White House source.
"This evening, I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill," he wrote in an email to reporters.. "While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility."
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said the remark was the latest in a long line of political attacks by Wilson.
“Joe Wilson took our state's reputation to a new low. I thought Mark Sanford had taken it as low as it could go, but this is beyond the pale," Clyburn said.
"Joe is very confrontational," he added. "He held his first town hall meeting three blocks from my house at my kid's high school. Now why would he have this town hall meeting in my congressional district, three blocks from my house in my kid's high school? It's not in his district.
That's the kind of guy Joe Wilson is. He loves confronting people. So he was confronting the president, just as he was confronting me."
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, predicted that Wilson’s outburst would have consequences.
"The person who said it will pay a price,” Durbin said. “I think the average American thinks that the president and the office deserve respect and that was a disrespectful comment. They'll pay a price in the court of public opinion."
Alex Isenstadt, Ben Smith, Jonathan Martin, Manu Raju, Patrick O’Connor and Lisa Lerer contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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September 10, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
So Much for Civility
By GAIL COLLINS
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.
Most of the Republicans listening to Barack Obama’s health care address Wednesday night followed the normal rule about sitting in stony silence while the president’s party leaps up and down in rapturous applause. But there were a few exceptions, notably Joe Wilson, a member of Congress from South Carolina who loudly called the president a liar.
This was when Obama said illegal immigrants would not be covered by health care reform. It seemed like a pretty tame remark for so much disrespect, given all the recent uproar over the president’s alleged ability to brainwash elementary school students.
You might have expected Wilson to hold his tongue and wait to see if Obama would yell “Marxism is a good thing!” and send the commerce committee racing off to give workers control over the means of production.
I always wonder what the members of Congress are actually thinking while they listen to a presidential address. Maybe Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Finance Committee, was thinking about the health care reform bill he has yet to pass, although it is equally possible that he was just daydreaming about his recipe for huckleberry pie or that time he walked all the way across Montana, just because it was there and he was running for re-election.
Baucus has become central to health care reform, through the classic dithering technique. Finance has been so slow off the dime that in his speech, Obama gave it kudos for having announced “it will move forward next week.” The problem, according to Baucus, is that he wants a bipartisan bill that meets the cost-control demands of his favorite Republican colleagues.
Sure, Obama talked the fiscally responsible talk last night. But he cannot hold a candle to Baucus and Chuck Grassley, the committee’s lead Republican. These guys are really, really, really concerned about balancing the budget. And that seems only fair since they were basically the ones who unbalanced it in the first place when they worked in splendid bipartisan concert in 2001 to pass George W. Bush’s first $1.6 trillion in tax cuts.
We do not know exactly what Grassley was thinking while the president was talking. Perhaps he was mentally composing a twitter about the speech. The senator has been tweetless since last weekend, when he recorded the memorable: “Saw Ia U beat my school 17/16. UNI played best I proud of my team Pres Mason came up 22pts short of her prediction 4 victory. She good Prez.”
All summer we have heard reports that a special bipartisan group of six senators, including Baucus and Grassley, were working on a health care reform deal. Having a conversation. Talking on the phone. Posting on each other’s Facebook wall. Still, no bill and the definition of “bipartisan” shrank from 70 votes in the Senate to “Olympia Snowe seems to like it.”
We do not know exactly what Senator Snowe of Maine was thinking during the president’s speech. Probably about the president’s speech. She is really, really diligent.
It’s always possible that the Republicans will realize that their virulent opposition is not doing the country any good, and at least be obstructionist in a more cheerful way. Although Wednesday night, when the TV cameras caught the House minority leader, John Boehner, he looked as though he had just swallowed a cough drop.
Boehner got the day off to a fine start by telling reporters he expected the president would “try to put lipstick on this pig and call it something else.” It was a stunning development, suggesting that a new page in American politics was turning, one in which members of both parties could once again come together and toss around that lipstick-pig metaphor without being accused of a sexist attack on Sarah Palin.
The speech sounded fine to me, although I have to admit I’m still disappointed that Obama’s people have not done enough to start interesting rumors on their side of the debate. “Security and stability” is not quite as exciting as stories about old people being executed or registered Republicans being stripped of their Medicare.
So, I was hoping that the reform side would do some groundwork before the big address and start floating stories about how universal health care would save the car industry or combat hair loss.
I envisioned Robert Gibbs getting up at the next press conference and saying: “Look, I know it’s all over the Web that under health care reform every family will get a new wide-screen plasma TV. It’s just not so. That provision was merely proposed by the House Commerce Committee.
“However, I can confirm that the public option has been renamed the Captain Sully Sullenberger Julia Child Oprah option.”
Nicholas D. Kristof is off today.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-joe-wilson11-2009sep11,0,5584524.story
latimes.com
Outrage over Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst isn't dying down
Although President Obama accepted the Republican congressman's apology for his 'You lie' remark, Democrats are calling for a public mea culpa and using the incident in fundraising appeals.
By Richard Simon
September 11, 2009
Reporting from Washington
The congressman who heckled President Obama during a televised address found that while the president accepted his apology Thursday, the furor over his outburst did not let up.
"I'm a big believer that we all make mistakes," Obama said in acknowledging the apology from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.). The lawmaker's shout of "You lie!" during the president's speech on healthcare was a significant break in decorum.
"I do think that, as I said last night, we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big important issues that matter to the American people without vitriol, without name-calling, without the assumption of the worst of other people's motives," Obama said.
Still, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, a Democrat from Wilson's home state, said that he planned to push for a resolution expressing disapproval of the incident unless Wilson issued a public apology on the House floor.
And Rob Miller -- the Democratic challenger for Wilson's House seat -- had raked in 14,000-plus contributions totaling more than $500,000 since the Wednesday night outburst, according to the House Democratic Campaign Committee. The committee also has cited the shout-out in a fundraising appeal: "Calling the president of the United States a liar in front of the nation is a new low even for House Republicans."
A Wilson spokesman said that the lawmaker had "apologized to the president sincerely, and the president accepted and said let's move on and have a civil discourse. And the congressman agrees."
Wilson posted a video on his campaign website saying he let his "emotions get the best" of him during the president's speech. But he said he would "not be muzzled," and asked supporters to contribute to his "effort to defeat the proponents of government-run healthcare."
Wilson's outburst came in response to Obama's statement that a healthcare overhaul would not directly benefit illegal immigrants.
"There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants," the president said. "This too is false -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."
On Thursday, some people said Wilson was right in challenging Obama's statement.
"It is a real shame that the rest of Congress was not on their feet pointing out the president's lie about illegal aliens in his healthcare plans," said William Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration, a political action committee.
The healthcare bills developed by House Democrats and by the Senate's health committee explicitly prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving federal subsidies for insurance. However, the House Republican leadership has complained that there is no provision to enforce the prohibition. GOP House leaders also complain that Democrats rejected their amendment to require applicants for subsidized healthcare to verify their legal status.
Republican leaders said the furor over Wilson had distracted them from their efforts to talk about healthcare and Obama's speech. They described their colleague's prompt apology as adequate.
"I think all of us who know Joe Wilson know that he did the right thing in apologizing to this White House," said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.). "I don't think anyone accepts the type of outburst and the lack of decorum in the House chamber."
(In a separate display of Republican unhappiness, Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois walked out during the president's address. His spokesman said the congressman was frustrated that Obama was not offering any new ground and left with just minutes remaining.)
Robert Oldendick, a political science professor at the University of South Carolina, on Thursday described reaction within the state to Wilson's outburst as "surprise and strong disapproval."
But whether it will hurt the lawmaker at home is uncertain.
"There are 14 months for people's memories of this to fade before the election -- although I'm sure they'll be reminded by opposition campaign ads," Oldendick said. "While the reaction here has been pretty strongly negative, I don't get the sense that Wilson will be severely damaged."
There have been many examples of the breakdown in civility on Capitol Hill over the years, including Vice President Dick Cheney directing an obscenity at a senator on the Senate floor in 2004. In 1856, Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina entered the Senate chamber and severely beat abolitionist Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane.
Even so, the Office of the House Historian says "the rules and precedents of the House do not allow insulting language or personal attacks."
richard.simon@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
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September 10, 2009
In Lawmaker’s Outburst, a Rare Breach of Protocol
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON - It was a rare breach of the protocol that governs ritualistic events in the Capitol.
In an angry and very audible outburst, Representative Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, interrupted President Obama’s speech Wednesday night with a shout of “You lie!”
His eruption - in response to Mr. Obama’s statement that Democratic health proposals would not cover illegal immigrants - stunned members of both parties in the House chamber.
Democrats said it showed lack of respect for the office of the presidency and was reminiscent of Republican disruptions at recent public forums on health care.
“It is outrageous,” said Representative Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York, who said it reminded him of the “antics that are being used to disrupt and fog what is going on.”
After the speech, Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff who sat a few rows in front of Mr. Wilson, said he immediately approached senior Republican lawmakers to encourage them to identify the heckler and urge him to issue an apology quickly.
“No president has ever been treated like that. Ever,” Mr. Emanuel said.
Other Democrats said they did not want to dwell on the outburst or allow it to overshadow what they saw as an effective address by the president. But they also said it bolstered their contention that some Republicans were not interested in constructive dialogue, and they noted that Democratic plans specifically barred coverage for illegal immigrants.
Republicans also said the heckling was out of line. “I think we ought to treat the president with respect,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, “and anything other than that is not appropriate.”
Mr. Wilson seemed rattled in the wake of his comment, and quickly left the chamber at the end of the speech.
His office later issued an apology, saying: “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”
Mr. Wilson also phoned the White House and reached Mr. Emanuel, who accepted an apology on behalf of the president.
Critical body language and murmurs of disapproval are typical at presidential addresses and part of the political theater. But members of both parties were trying to recollect such a pointed attack from an individual lawmaker at a presidential address and noted that a similar remark could draw a formal reprimand if delivered at a routine session of the House.
When President Clinton addressed Congress in 1993 to push his health care plan, “both sides of the aisle received the President warmly,” according to a report in The New York Times at the time.
“But when he began talking about raising taxes on tobacco to pay for the plan, or the need to cut Medicare and Medicaid, many on the Republican side of the aisle began snickering, shaking their heads skeptically and making faces at each other,” the article said.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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Both Sides Condemn Outburst; Wilson Apologizes
By Jonathan Allen and Adjoa Adofo, CQ Staff Jonathan Allen And Adjoa Adofo, Cq Staff Wed Sep 9, 11:32 pm ET
Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouted "Lie! You lie," at President Barack Obama during Wednesday's address to a joint session of Congress, earning repudiations from his own party and from Democrats.
Wilson took exception to a passage in Obama's speech on health care in which the president said illegal immigrants would not get health insurance coverage under the overhaul.
"There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally," Obama said.
Wilson answered the comment with his outburst, loud enough to be picked up on television and in such an unusually disruptive fashion as to merit reprimands from across the political spectrum.
House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, a fellow South Carolinian, said Wilson's heckling was more damaging to South Carolina's reputation than the exploits of Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, who admitted to having an extramarital affair with an Argentinian woman.
"I thought he [the governor] had embarrassed us as much as we could be embarrassed. But to have a congressman use the floor of the House of Representatives in a joint session to insult the president the way Joe Wilson did is as embarrassing as anything anyone could think of," Clyburn said. "Our state can do without this."
Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and a fellow veteran, denounced the comment as "totally disrespectful and called on Wilson to "apologize immediately" during a post-speech interview on CNN.
A few hours later, he issued a written statement, saying he had called White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and apologized.
"I let my emotions get the best of me," Wilson said. "While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility."
The timing could not have been worse: Wilson's son, Alan Wilson, launched a bid Tuesday for state attorney general.
And Wilson himself is facing the possibility of a credible rematch of his narrow 2008 victory over Marine Corps veteran and Democrat Rob Miller, which Wilson won with 53.7 percent of the vote.
Miller received a flood of online donations in the hour after the speech, according to Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee officials, with one estimate pegging the number of contributions at more than 200.
A Democratic operative with experience in South Carolina said Wilson's treatment of the commander in chief could cost him among the district's sizable military population.
"You have a lot of military folks who, even when they don't agree with the president politically, have a lot of respect for the institution itself," the operative said. "Before the speech, I would have said Joe Wilson had that."
Clyburn said South Carolina voters may have the opportunity to redress their grievances with Wilson at the polls and elsewhere.
"I would hope that the people of South Carolina will show him, in as many as ways as they possibly can, how insulting this is and how embarrassing this is," Clyburn said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., declined to comment on the matter, according to a spokesman, but Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., said he could not remember a similar incident during his nearly three decades in Congress. "It is certainly something that should never happen," Hoyer added.
Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, declined to comment through a spokesman.
Members of Congress typically observe a standard of decorum during State of the Union addresses and other presidential addresses to nationally televised audiences.
On occasion, quiet disapproval rises to vocal outburst. In 1999, for example, then-Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., admonished House members to observe standards of respect for the president some Republicans had treated President Bill Clinton in a manner viewed as disrespectful the previous year.
Kathleen Hunter, Jennifer Scholtes, Edward Epstein and Scott Ferrell contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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September 09, 2009
Categories: Congress
A voice from the floor on illegal immigrants: 'Lie'
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0909/A_voice_from_the_floor_on_illegal_immigrants_Lie.html
One of the most persistent conservative concerns about health care legislation is that it will provide health care to illegal immigrants -- and the heated claim spilled onto the floor of President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress this evening, where one Republican member called the president a liar for denying it.
"There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false - the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally," President Obama said.
A loud voice from the Republican side of the hall answered, "Lie" -- my colleague Glenn Thrush reports it was Rep. Joe Wilson (R - S.C.) -- drawing a second "It's not true," from Obama and a shake of Nancy Pelosi's head.
The bill is designed to exclude those immigrants, though some Republicans have called for more explicit bans on funding for illegal immigrants and have claimed the bill will funnel money to illegal immigrants.
FactCheck.org described those claims as "false" and noted that one version of the legislation already includes an explicit bar on federal funding for illegal immigrants' health care.
By Ben Smith 08:43 PM
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September 09, 2009
Categories: House Republicans
Wilson apologizes -- ASAP
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0909/Wilson_apologizes__ASAP.html
Joe Wilson (R-SC) has issued an apology for heckling President Obama, about an hour after the speech -- a clear sign the GOP realizes just how damaging his performance was.
His statement:
“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”
By Glenn Thrush 10:18 PM