Disrespect

[Shemp Howard]

29. You've got a point there, but...

I had forgotten about the Joe Wilson incident. That was over the top...way over the top. Wilson should have been censured for his behavior.

But please hear me out. Back when Bush the younger was president, I openly called him a war criminal. I strongly believed it back then, and I strongly believe it now.

At a social gathering, I almost got into fistfight with a Republican acquaintance of mine over this. He was talking about how great Bush was. So I made the war criminal point. He angrily accused me of being disrespectful to President Bush. Well, that was my intention!

So I suppose that's why I'm a bit sensitive about attempts to demonize "disrespectful" speech. If I can be disrespectful of an elected official, why can't they?

Then again, perhaps "war criminal" was too harsh. Perhaps I should have just said "Bush made errors". Hmm...nope, I'm sticking with "war criminal".

As a side note, the only reason the fistfight didn't occur is that a tough old Korean war veteran was also present. He was a person we both respected. To my surprise, he agreed with me about Bush.