Why the shock about Joe Wilson?
But is this actually the worst of times in congressional politics? Not really. When the going gets tough, congressional politics has often gotten ugly. Throughout much of the 19th century, legislators disliked each other so much they often got into fistfights on the floor.
The most infamous incident occurred in 1856 when Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacked Massachusetts Sen. Charles Sumner with his cane, beating him into a bloody state of unconsciousness. Brooks was unhappy with one of Sumner's speeches against slavery that focused on his uncle, Sen. Andrew Butler.
During debates over pivotal issues, tempers have flared often. When a peace activist approached Massachusetts Republican Henry Cabot Lodge in the Senate hallway in 1917 and branded him as a "damned coward" for calling on America to enter into World War I, the senator hit him in the face. A fistfight ensued in the corridor.
When opposing America's entrance into the war, Sen. George Norris warned, "We are going into war upon the command of gold . . . I feel that we are about to put the dollar sign on the American flag." His colleagues yelled "Treason! Treason!"
Then there were even more bitter debates over race and communism between the 1930s and the 1970s. The rhetoric was so bad in this period -- one we often mistakenly remember as a model of consensus and civility -- that even Rep. Wilson would be aghast by what his predecessors said. Sen. Joseph McCarthy accused members of the State Department and other officials in the executive branch of actively assisting international communism.