This does not seem like a great excuse. Wouldn’t you rather admit it was a plan than say you had so little self-control that hearing the president make a frequently stated claim about a much-debated bill caused you to create a spectacle on national TV? Obviously, this is not a guy you want to let in the room if Hugo Chávez ever comes to town.

Perhaps Wilson is just given to mood swings. He seemed somewhere between mild-mannered and zombielike in a follow-up video, in which he stared into the camera and promised not to be muzzled if people would send him contributions. “Health care is a matter of life and death for so many,” he intoned. “I choose life with health insurance reform.”

Not all that catchy, but who knows what works these days?

The Republicans are pointing out that Democrats made unfriendly noises during George W. Bush’s 2005 State of the Union address. This is true, although the difference between that and “You lie!” is about the same as the difference between calling an opponent wrong and accusing him of “hatred of America,” as Wilson did in a TV debate with a congressman opposed to the Iraq war.

After a certain amount of arm-twisting by Republican leaders, Wilson did apologize for his behavior. Now we are going to move on to arguing about the apology.

The Democrats are demanding that Wilson apologize all over again, on the floor of the House, or face the wrath of their official disapproval. Meanwhile, just to make sure nobody else ever goes off the rails like this again, the Senate Finance Committee is changing its version of the health care bill from one that does not provide benefits to illegal immigrants to one that absolutely, positively, for sure does not provide benefits to illegal immigrants.

Over at the Taxpayers March, people wanted the Republicans to apologize for asking Wilson to apologize. They seemed to be taking a cue from Rush Limbaugh, who said he was “ecstatic” when Wilson yelled at the president, since he himself had been shrieking “liar” at his TV throughout the speech.

Tea Party Patriots, do you really want your members of Congress doing something just because Rush Limbaugh does it? The next thing you know, they’ll be abusing prescription drugs and comparing the Abu Ghraib tortures to a fraternity initiation.

Interestingly, very few of Wilson’s defenders have noted that in the British Parliament, members shout insults all the time. They are probably loath to unfavorably compare Congress with a legislative body that supports inhumane and murderous practices like national health care.