Maybe Rep. Joe Wilson’s apology for calling President Obama a liar on national TV didn’t feel that sincere, but President Obama accepted it anyway. Obama, choosing to focus on getting a health care reform bill passed by Congress, said that he was pleased that Wilson, an avowed anti-Obamaist, had apologized “quickly and without equivocation.” It was during the president’s address to the joint session of Congress that Wilson shouted “You Lie!” as Obama explained that his proposal would not cover those in the United States illegally. Even members of Wilson’s own Republican Party expressed embarrassment over the outburst, and several of them prompted the four-term South Carolina representative to say he was sorry. “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me,” he said in a statement. “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.” But then, a seemingly not-so-sorry Wilson noted that his comments were “spontaneous.” Offered Wilson, “It was when he (Obama) stated, as he did, about not (health care insurance) not covering illegal aliens … We need to discuss the issues and I’m happy to do that.” But Obama chose to focus on health care, saying, “We all make mistakes.” The president’s decision to let the matter go is perhaps what led to fellow Democrats in Congress dropping the issue. “It’s time for us to talk about health care, not Mr. Wilson,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. It remains to be seen whether his “spontaneous” remarks will cost him politically. Already, his Web site crashed, following the quip, and both Republicans and Democrats Twittered him to a pulp about what they deemed objectionable behavior. “I was embarrassed for the chamber and a Congress I love,” Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “It demeaned the institution.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor officially joined the U.S. Supreme Court in a special ceremony Tuesday attended by President Obama; Vice President Joe Biden; her mother, Celina, and brother, Juan; entertainer Ricky Martin, retired Justice David Souter, the man she replaced; members of Congress; federal judges and former top Justice Department officials. The nation’s first Hispanic and third woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court took the oath of office again during Tuesday’s event. Actually, the rest of the court does not return for real work until today, when the justices hear arguments in a case involving campaign finance law. Attorney General Eric Holder presented Sotomayor’s ivory-colored commission from Obama. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office, after which Sotomayor took her seat at the end of the bench to Roberts’ left, next to Justice Stephen Breyer. All her colleagues were in attendance.

Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday the nation has never been closer to substantial health care overhaul despite “all the shouting and all the political turmoil” of recent weeks, The Associated Press reports. Biden said restraining costs and insuring more people should unite fiscal conservatives and advocates for the poor behind the Obama administration’s efforts to fix what Biden called a broken system. If he wanted to hear about troubles in health care, he and Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius came to the right place. They got an earful from doctors and nurses attending a round-table discussion at a struggling nonprofit hospital serving the urban poor on Chicago’s West Side. A nurse said she worries about violent emergency room patients who throw bedpans and spit at her. A doctor from another hospital said she can’t refer patients to dietitians to prevent diabetes because insurance won’t pay for it. And a health researcher said Black Chicagoans die needlessly because they are disadvantaged and uninsured. Biden announced nearly $1.2 billion in grants to help the nation’s hospitals and doctors put electronic health records to use. The grants will be funded by the $787 billion economic stimulus plan. Storing patient data electronically can improve efficiency and prevent medical errors, Biden said, adding he’s tired of being handed paper forms to fill out every time he goes to the doctor. “I get handed one more clipboard I feel like clanging somebody on the head,” Biden said, prompting laughter from about 60 health care professionals in the audience. “How many times do I have to fill out, yeah, I had asthma, yeah, I had two craniotomies?” Biden made only passing reference to foes who’ve challenged supporters of overhaul with charges of a government takeover. “With all the shouting and all the political turmoil on this issue, I don’t think we’ve ever been closer to being able to do something substantial” to improve health care, Biden said. President Barack Obama has made expanding insurance coverage and restraining health care costs his top domestic priority. But he’s lost ground on the issue in opinion polls and Democrats in Congress are preparing to go it alone on legislation although bipartisan talks continue in the Senate.