Politics

GOP Rep Who Yelled ‘You Lie!’ During Obama Speech Hospitalized After Collapse

CONSERVATIVE ICON

The South Carolina Republican who once interrupted an Obama speech on health care reform was hospitalized after collapsing at an event on Tuesday.

Joe Wilson
Ting Shen/Getty Images

Rep. Joe Wilson, the South Carolina congressman who once caused a viral moment during an address by former President Barack Obama, collapsed at an event and was rushed to the hospital with “stroke-like” symptoms, according to his office. The 77-year-old congressman is “stable and being monitored,” his son, current South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, told the Charleston Post & Courier on Wednesday. Wilson, who has represented South Carolina’s second district since 2001, rose to national prominence after shouting “you lie!” at Obama while the former president addressed congress in 2009 on health care reforms that would eventually become the Affordable Care Act. Specifically, Wilson interrupted the president after he said “the reforms I propose would apply to those who are here illegally.” Undocumented immigrants are still barred from obtaining insurance through the ACA, according to the federal government. Wilson later personally apologized to Obama after receiving criticism from both sides of the aisle.

Read it at Post & Courier

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.