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Republican Congressman: Dems foster "hysteria" on outsourcing

Joe Wilson is accusing the Democrats of fostering "hysteria" around the issue of overseas outsourcing.

Charles Cooper Former Executive Editor / News
Charles Cooper was an executive editor at CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years, working at CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet.
Charles Cooper
Just in case you needed a reminder that we're one day before a Presidential election, South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson is accusing the Democrats of fostering "hysteria" over the issue of overseas outsourcing.

In a column urging Indian Americans to support George Bush, Wilson writes that "Indian Americans know the outsourcing issue is one that has been created by Democrats for political gain at their expense." Maybe Wilson really believes what he's saying. But the offshore outsourcing controversy, which predates the elections, actually has more to do with structural changes in the U.S. economy than with crass electioneering.

Fact is that Wilson can afford to pop off in the press because there's no penalty. Unlike California, where offshoring is a big issue, South Carolina has relatively little in the way of a high technology industry. Whether Wilson would stick to his ideological guns if the state began losing thousands of hog farming jobs to India is much less clear.