Earlier today, Greg Sargent noted an extraordinary outburst by Joe "You Lie" Wilson in 2002, berating his a Democratic colleague, Rep. Bob Filner of California, as an anti-American traitor.

We've dug up the video, and it's truly breathtaking:

Wilson exploded after Filner stated — correctly — that Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons program had received aid from the United States during the Iran-Iraq war. (For background corroborating Filner's statement, see this CBS News report and read up on the "American Type Culture Collection" in these articles in the New York Times published in March 2003, November 1996, and February 1994.)

Wilson claimed Filner was lying, saying that Iraq had purchased chemical weapons from the "former Soviet Union," ignoring the fact that the Iran-Iraq War ended in 1988, while the USSR still existed, and, more importantly, that the U.S. had in fact made such sales (as documented above).

After falsely accusing Filner of lying, Wilson went into overdrive, launching his tirade squarely into Michele Bachmann territory, accusing Filner of harboring a secret "hatred of America."

Note: You can support Joe Wilson's Democratic opponent, Rob Miller, through ActBlue. In less than 24 hours, more than $300,000 $400,000. has been raised.

Update (1:23PM): As Sargent noted, Sue Sturgis at the Institute for Southern Studies deserves a major hat tip a major hat tip for reminding us of this episode early this morning on the ISS website.