bq. Rep. Joe Wilson’s rebuke of President Obama during a joint-session of Congress is drawing a lot of attention and scorn, along with comparisons to the inflammatory rhetoric at recent town hall meetings, but the substance of his comments did not stray far from what many members say almost every day on the House floor.
That is from this op-ed by political scientists Kathryn Pearson and Logan Dancey. (Kathryn is also a friend from grad school.)
The “one-minutes” — which I thought typically reflected the idiosyncrasies of individual members — are often coordinated by the parties:
bq. …party leaders have taken an active role in coordinating one-minutes so that they consist of attacks on the other party or a defense of one’s own party. Typically considered the leader of his party, the president and his policies are often the focus of these partisan speeches. Indeed, the “Republican Theme Team” and the “Democratic Message Group” recruit members to deliver one-minutes to reinforce the party’s daily message.
And now to Wilson:
bq. According to our research on congressional speech, Wilson gave more one-minute speeches than any other member of Congress in the 108th and 109th Congresses (156 and 117 speeches, respectively) and he gave the second highest number in the 110th Congress with 158 (only Texan Republican Ted Poe delivered more).
bq. In our content analysis of these speeches in the last Congress, we found that Wilson was among the most partisan members as measured by his attacks against Democrats and his defense of Republicans. Among the titles of Wilson’s speeches: “Democrat Hoax Bill Was All About Political Cover,” “Democrats’ Defeatist Supplemental Bill” and “Democrats’ Plan Doesn’t Cut It.”
Pearson and Dancey also cite a similarly partisan speech by Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). Neither party has a monopoly on this, of course. The conclusion:
bq. Understanding the premeditated partisan conflict that begins each day in the House makes Wilson’s outburst in the same chamber no less egregious. But it becomes slightly less surprising, ranking as an extreme example of how acrimonious the House has become.