This is a notion that hasn't really gotten any traction anywhere yet, but could Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C. be a viable 2012 presidential election candidate?
The hosts of Fox Business Network's "Happy Hour," Eric Bolling, Rebecca Diamond and Cody Willard, contemplated that possibility on their Sept. 14 show, which comes on the eve of a vote on a "resolution of disapproval" on Wilson for calling out "You lie!" as President Barack Obama spoke to a joint-session of Congress Sept. 9.
"First off, House Dems appear set to censure South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson for shouting ‘you lie' at President Obama during last week's health care speech, but Wilson is not backing down," Diamond said. "He told Fox News Sunday he will not apologize to the House tomorrow. Instead, he is turning this - all of this into a fund-raising campaign, claiming he has raised $1 million since the outrage incident last Wednesday. So we are asking, ‘Hit or Miss' on whether Democrats risk turning Representative Wilson into a viable conservative candidate for 2012."
Diamond said Wilson was a quickly becoming a threat with the increased attention the House Democrats were generating for the South Carolina congressman.
"I say this is a hit because he is definitely hitting a nerve with all the people who were protesting over the weekend," Diamond said. "This would be his constituency, so you know it is helping to keep his name in the spotlight there. Most people didn't even know who he was before."
Willard gave opposite marks for Wilson, based largely on his interpretation of the question.
"I'm going to call it a miss only because of the phraseology of it - as a conservative candidate?" Willard said. "No, this guy is part of the Republican/Democrat socialist liberal regime that is empowering."
According to Willard, a theme he has iterated on numerous occasions, anyone claiming affiliation with the Republican or Democratic Party is bad, regardless the political reality.
"I don't understand what that means," Willard continued. "He's a Republican. The Republicans and Democrats are the same. They are owned by Wall Street. They are owned by corporate America. He is owned by corporate America. It's a miss. He's not a conservative. He might be a Republican candidate."
The third member of the cast, Bolling, chalked Wilson's political future for the 2012 cycle "a hit." According to Bolling, this is evident by the way Obama has reacted to questions about the Wilson incident.
"And the way I read the question I think it is a hit," Bolling said. "The more they talk about it - in fact Obama last night on ‘60 Minutes' tried to sweep it under the rug real quickly because he realizes the more you talk about Rep. Joe Wilson, the more money he raises. He is raising a ton of money to compete I guess in about a year or so to win that seat - very, very important South Carolina seat."
