Respecting the office

We hear today that we must respect the office of the president. This is code language for: we must not criticize the sitting president too directly, too severely, too personally. When did this concept arise? As I recollect, it started when the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair was made public. All of a sudden we had to respect the office, even when its occupant was engaging in the most juvenile kind of behavior. To criticize Clinton for his "indiscretions" was off limits because we had to respect the office of the president. Well, I don't think any true, Constitution-loving American ever disrespected "the office," but from Washington's second election onward, many have shown utter contempt for the occupant of the office, and have been quite willing to express their contempt in the most colorful language imaginable. And never, until Clinton, was this considered to be tantamount to disrespecting the office.

Today John Huntsman, the most recent addition to the growing list of Republican wanna-bees, said that he respects the sitting president; he just disagrees with him on what is best for the country. This is political pablum. What is a man other than the sum total of his beliefs and opinions. To couch the current situation in terms of a polite disagreement between two intelligent, well-meaning people is to completely deny reality. As far as I'm concerned, the substance and tone of Huntsman's opening announcement is all I need to hear to know that I would never want this man to be our president.

Weiner out.

Weiner should go, not just because he lied, but because he's a fool. What kind of an idiot in a high profile position would post such photos on Facebook? This is the kind of stuff high school kids do. A man with such poor judgment is utterly unfit to serve in the US Congress. I know that some would argue that this is exactly what makes him fit, but I say, "Out with him!"

Flag hypocrisy

Commenting on Sarah Palin's bus tour, Martin Bashir says, "It all sounds like a wonderful commitment to American values and American history, but it's nothing of the kind. In fact, the whole thing could be in breach of a federal law because the United States Flag Code establishes important rules for the use and display of the stars and stripes, the flag of the United States. Under standards of respect and etiquette, it's made clear that the flag of the United States should never be used for any advertising purpose whatsoever. Yet that's precisely what Sarah Palin is doing. She's using the flag of the United States for her own financial purposes."

Mr. Bashir may have contempt for the way Sarah uses the flag, but I would bet a year's pay that he would defend her right to burn a flag.