Bush heckled at 4th of July celebration

[bascule]

This is quite the juxtaposition:

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cDQv5CbhipI

 

I don't support the hecklers, per se, but the response was terribly ironic:

 

As Bush says: "To my fellow citizens to be, we believe in free speech in the United States of America"

 

...two secret service agents drag off some banner waving hippie who was calling him a war criminal. Yes, we believe in free speech, but step out of line and the man will come and take you away...

 

Well, the crowd certainly ate it up with a spoon.

 

Happy birthday, America!

[ecoli]

i guess there's a time and a place. And where Bush is concerned, hecklers can probably turn into security risks pretty fast.

[Pangloss]

Yup, I can understand and empathize with the OP on this as well. I do share Bascule's general lack of support for protesters -- IMO it's not ironic to haul away protesters at a rally, it's appropriate. The people who were there came to hear the president speak, not some closed-minded partisan like they can find on any Web discussion board. That's not violating free speech, it's supporting it. The very last thing those protesters wanted was for Bush to get his speech out unimpeded!

 

(I see it the same way I see greeting a political figure whom I disagree with. I'm always polite and personable and cordial -- why not? What could I possibly accomplish by being rude and disrespectful? Absolutely nothing that would actually matter to me. Would I really like my society better if it could actually be changed through a shouting match or a violent confrontation? Hardly!)

 

That having been said, I support the general sentiment of the protest movement. I may not have a lot in common with anti-war protesters, but I do think the fact of their existence speaks volumes for the current state of our society. Heck, on some issues they make themselves wrong just by their very presence.

 

Martin Luthor King, Jr., is a hero to me in a lot of ways, some of them quite subtle and inobvious.

 

 

Well, the crowd certainly ate it up with a spoon.

 

I hope by that you didn't mean that the crowd supported the protesters. The New York Times didn't seem to agree, saying they were shushing the protesters. But it wouldn't surprise me if there was some brief empathy expressed.

[D H]

IMO it's not ironic to haul away protesters at a rally, it's appropriate. The people who were there came to hear the president speak, not some closed-minded partisan like they can find on any Web discussion board. That's not violating free speech, it's supporting it.

Exactly. Those protesters did not come to exercise their freedom of speech. They came to disrupt the peace and to pose a security threat against the President. The first is a misdemeanor, the second is potentially a felony (they most likely not be charged with a felony). In short, they are the criminals and bullies here.

 

I have tended to vote Republican for quite some time, but I am close to being on the fence in this upcoming election. You Democrats who want to sweep the executive and legislative branches: This kind of behavior is not helping your cause. To the contrary; this kind of behavior helped Nixon win in 1968 and win again in 1972. Is a replay of 1968 what you want to see happen this fall?

[DJBruce]

As stated they were disrupting a peaceful gathering. But if I came to hear the President speak to celebrate the birth of our country and a bunch of people where yelling and running around I would be angry to say the least. The protesters showed no respect for the fact that the other people in the crowd where trying to listen and to enjoy the speech.