Posted: Jun 26, 2008, 4:05 PM CST
WhatUwish4 wrote:I'm not talking about respect for this man. As I said, I would be offended no matter who they were addressing this way.
I'm talking about respect for the position. The presidency. How in the world will we ever respect ouselves as a nation when we feel we can speak this way about the president. Call me old-fashioned, but I think it's DANGEROUSLY offensive and really poor manners.
I have a lot of respect for the office of the president of the United States. That position should be held by the absolute best person this country can put up for the job, a job that only a handful of people could fill. It is my opinion that, the man who holds that job today has damaged that office far more than some punk rock band could do in a 100 years.
Ya know, in a way it's a tribute to the greatness of this country that somebody could come out with such a video and not be censored for it or worse.
This is the OATH of OFFICE that George W Bush took on January 20 2005
"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Capital Hill Blue/DOUG THOMPSON | December 9 2005
Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.
Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.
GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”
And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “goddamned piece of paper” used to guarantee.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the
“Constitution is an outdated document.”Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn’t matter if you support the invasion or Iraq or not. Despite our differences, the Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our government, the final source to determine – in the end – if something is legal or right.
Every federal official – including the President – who takes an oath of office swears to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."
The day we start worrying about manners and what we can and cannot say about any politician including the president, is the day we WILL be on dangerous ground.