The media is claiming that Rep. Joe Wilson is the first person to heckle a U.S. president during a joint session of Congress or a State of the Union address. This along with past incidences of the media claiming heckling a president is unprecedented proves there is a need for media reform. Rep. Joe Wilson actually is not the first person to ever heckle a president during a speech to Congress. In fact, it has happened numerous times. In 2004 the Democrats booed and said "no" when then president George W. Bush claimed Social Security would be broke by 2042. According to what I have learned, at that time a number of news media members claimed those actions were "uprecedented. However, they (the media) were also wrong then. President Clinton was routinely booed by Republican members of Congress. In one instance some Republican even walked out on a Congressional speech given by President Clinton. In another instance Republicans, like Democrats with President Bush, booed and shouted "no" as President Clinton outlined one of his plans. It is possible that President Clinton never gave a speech to Congress in which he was not booed by Republicans.
Although I have no problem with what Rep. Joe Wilson did (we live in a democracy in which we have freedom of speech so people should use that freedom) I am not trying to defend him. I just think the media should get things right. In addition, things like this give Republicans a chance to claim the liberal media is trying to cover for the Democrats and make a big story out of nothing. That is already happening at some right wing websites. Finally, it is sad when you have to see the media putting forward the same bad information it put forward five years ago. Things like this need to stop.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200502040014 
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