Most Americans first heard about Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) last night for his now-infamous “you lie!” outburst.
But it isn’t the first time for Wilson. Back in 2003, not long after the death of Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC), Thurmond’s bi-racial, out-of-wedlock daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, came forward to say that Thurmond was her father. (Thurmond, who spent most of his career as a staunch proponent of segregation and Jim Crow, had supported the family financially for decades.) Wilson made headlines for telling The State newspaper that Washington-Williams should have kept the shameful secret to herself.
Wilson later had to apologize to Washington-Willaims, Thurmond’s family and perhaps implicitly non-awful people everywhere.
