Joe Wilson: Gwen Moore and Tom Petri

Rep. Joe Wilson has been rebuked by the U.S. House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bitterly divided along party lines, the House formally rebuked Republican Rep. Joe Wilson Tuesday for shouting "You lie" at President Barack Obama during last week's nationally televised speech to Congress.

The rare resolution of disapproval was pushed through by Democrats insisting that Wilson, a South Carolina lawmaker, had violated basic rules of decorum and civility in his outburst. Republicans dismissed the vote as a political "witch hunt" and a waste of precious time and taxpayers' money.

Wilson had called the White House to apologize shortly after the incident, and he said at the time that the president "graciously accepted my apology and the issue is over." Republicans agreed, but several Democrats pressed the issue.

The final tally late Tuesday was 240-179, generally but not entirely along party lines. It was 233 Democrats and seven Republicans voting to chastise Wilson, 167 Republicans and 12 Democrats opposing the measure and five Democrats merely voting "present."

Two lawmakers from Wisconsin crossed party lines, Democrat Gwen Moore and Republican Tom Petri.

From Newsweek:

As expected, the House voted this evening to censure Rep. Joe “You Lie!” Wilson (R-S.C.) for interrupting President Obama’s speech to Congress last week. The vote was 240-179, breaking down largely along party lines. Yet there were a few notable splits: 12 Democrats voted against the resolution, including two of the party’s most liberal members: Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Jim McDermott of Washington State. “It does not further the process of civility in the House,” McDermott told Newsweek after the vote. “He apologized to the president, and the apology was accepted. That’s all there needs to be.” Five other Dems voted “present” during the vote, including Rep. Barney Frank, who told reporters earlier Wednesday that he didn’t support the resolution. “I think it’s bad precedent to put us in charge of deciding whether people act like jerks,” Frank said. “I don’t have time to monitor everyone’s civility.” Still, 7 Republicans crossed party lines to support the Wilson censure, including Rep. Tom Petri from Wisconsin. “The resolution stated that the House doesn’t approve of Mr. Wilson’s actions on the floor, and Mr. Petri doesn’t approve of those actions,” Niel Wright, Petri’s spokesman told Newsweek. “He didn’t want to be on the record approving of it, which would have been a nay vote, so he voted yea.” Er, okay. After the jump, a fill list of Democrats and Republicans who crossed party lines on the Wilson vote.

Here's the list of those splitting with their parties:

Dem Nays (12)
Michael Arcuri (NY)
William Delahunt (MA)
Gabrielle Giffords (AZ)
Maurice Hinchey (NY)
Paul Hodes (NH)
Dennis Kucinich (OH)
Dan Maffei (NY)
Eric Massa (NY)
Jim McDermott (WA)
Gwen Moore (WI)
Gene Taylor (MS)
Harry Teague (NM)

Dem Presents (5)
Eliot Engel (NY)
Bill Foster (IL)
Barney Frank (MA)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH)
Ike Skelton (MO)

Republican yeas (7)
Joseph Cao (LA)
Jo Ann Emerson (MO)
Jeff Flake (AZ)
Bob Inglis (SC)
Walter Jones (NC)
Tom Petri (WI)
Dana Rohrabacher (CA)

I'm surprised by Gwen Moore's vote. It's very unlike her. Perhaps she was confused and meant to vote yea.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel provides this explanation:

Moore said through a spokeswoman that she voted against the resolution because she wanted to keep her "eyes on the prize," referring to health care reform efforts.

I don't think so.

She was part of the efforts to impeach President Bush. I can't believe Moore was concerned about voting to rebuke Joe Wilson.