Behind Joe Wilson's outburst: the lesser of two evils

As widely reported, a shouted outburst from US Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) interrupted an address by US President Barack Obama Wednesday night, causing laughter, boos, recriminations, apologies, and acceptances, in a process some likened to Dante's passage through the underworld. Yet according to sources in Wilson's inner circle, the event was more closely linked, not to the necrosphere where George W. Bush was imbued with terrifying life, but to Wilson's undercarriage.

On what some might have termed a dark day for decorum, Wilson actually sacrificed his own dignity as a member of the US Congress in an effort to prevent an even greater embarrassment to the Congress: what the aide called "an effluvium of a gaseous nature."

White House sources privately acknowledged that the story was consistent with what they had heard from Wilson's office in conversations this morning. "Just imagine the uproar that a the kind of thundering 'ripper'--the kind Joe's famous for--would have caused in the hall. He's promised to stay away from the burritos prior to public appearances in the future, and that's good enough for us. We're hoping to work closely with Joe to leaven the healthcare bill with bipartisan ideas."