The meltdowns seem to be coming in bunches this week. Serena Williams busting her racket and threatening a judge at the U.S. Open. Kanye West crashing the stage at the MTV awards and wresting the microphone away from honoree Taylor Swift.

And perhaps most notably Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst at Barack Obama's address to a joint session of Congress when he shouted, "You lie!" at the president.

The House GOP leadership arm-twisted Wilson into making an apology, but the obscure Republican backbencher seems to be enjoying his newfound notoriety so perhaps he will find it fortuitous that the same day the House voted to admonish him, Muntadhar al-Zeidi was released from an Iraqi jail.

Al-Zeidi is perhaps the best-known contemporary disrespecter of a U.S. president. He disagreed with President Bush's Iraq policy even more vehemently than Wilson disagreed with Obama's health-care reforms. At least Wilson kept his footwear on.

At a joint press appearance by Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq, al-Zeidi flung his shoe at the U.S. president, shouting, "This is the farewell kiss, you dog!" Then he took off his other shoe and flung that, too, declaiming, "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." A little more florid than "You lie!" but the sentiment is still unmistakable.

For his meltdown, al-Zeidi spent nine months in jail where he says his jailers administered electric shocks and beatings with pipes and steel cables.

Wilson was forced to listen to the majority Democrat House debate whether to pass a "resolution of disapproval" of his outburst, which was no doubt worse. Even more excruciating was the wild accusation on Tuesday from former President Jimmy Carter - who does not know Wilson - that Wilson's outburst was "based on racism" and fears of a black president. And worst of all was the blatant demagoguery of U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Atlanta), who said Wilson's outburst would "have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside, intimidating people."

You'll no doubt remember the barely-contained mirth on the part of many leftists in this country when Al-Zeidi tossed his shoe toward Bush. Yet, now that the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak, they're not so indulgent.

Yes, Wilson's outburst was a mistake - but it was different only by degree from the unruly chorus of boos with which Democratic lawmakers greeted portions of State of the Union and other speeches from President Bush. And now, rather then try to deal with any of the country's myriad substantive problems, Democrats in the House spent the entire day on Tuesday working to pass the resolution criticizing Wilson.

Talk about misplaced priorities.

Wilson and others have suggested that the focus by Democratic leaders and their Big Media allies on his loud critique of Obama is nothing more than a desperate attempt to change the subject from health care reform, which has just about stalled out. And the fact is that by once again portraying their party as one that sees racists behind every tree, and by absurdly suggesting that racism underlies every conservative criticism of Obama, they are further alienating more and more Americans who originally were willing to give the new president and his agenda the benefit of the doubt.