By Holly Bailey and Daniel Stone

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 of Ohio and Jim McDermott of Washington. “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, seven Republicans crossed party lines to support the Wilson censure, including Rep. Tom Petri of 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, OK. A full list of Democrats and Republicans who crossed party lines on the Wilson vote.


How They Voted:

Democratic Nays (12)
Michael Arcuri (N.Y.)
William Delahunt (Mass.)
Gabrielle Giffords (Ariz.)
Maurice Hinchey (N.Y.)
Paul Hodes (N.H.)
Dennis Kucinich (Ohio)
Dan Maffei (N.Y.)
Eric Massa (N.Y.)
Jim McDermott (Wash.)
Gwen Moore (Wis.)
Gene Taylor (Miss.)
Harry Teague (N.M.)

Democratic Presents (5)
Eliot Engel (N.Y.)
Bill Foster (Ill.)
Barney Frank (Mass.)
Carol Shea-Porter (N.H.)
Ike Skelton (Mo.)

Republican Yeas (7)
Joseph Cao (La.)
Jo Ann Emerson (Mo.)
Jeff Flake (Ariz.)
Bob Inglis (S.C.)
Walter Jones (N.C.)
Tom Petri (Wis.)
Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.)