You should be ashamed of yourself.

This is just bad behavior that you excuse because you don ‘t like the recipient.

It’s wrong whether the person on the receiving end is Bush, Obama, McCain, Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, or Tom Friedman.

Enough already.

elliot: Back when Iraq attacked Kuwait, that was a different story.

Why? Why the hell was that our problem? Shit, Saddam Hussein called us on the phone and asked permission to invade and we gave him the go-ahead.

I would propose that when the most powerful military in the history of mankind has invaded your country and created a huge mess while killing hundreds of thousands, ducking just about any and all responsibility, and outlawing pretty much any recourse you might have against them; it AIN’T an arena of ideas you am in.

Hence, “symbolic defiance” might be your only option.

See, kids? He took the head shot.

Always aim for center-mass.

~~~~~

With all that hilarity, I also say that the coolest possible move would have been for Bush to walk out in the hall and personally spring the guy.

#43 Cynical:
“cheering attacks on those who presume to represent us, lends itself to that whole undignified self-loathing pose”

So many collectives, the ambiguous “us.” Good god, man. Speak for yourself.

I think you’re unfamiliar with the word “presume” and didn’t pay attention to notice that I wrote:

I despise the very concept that someone who only some of the people picked could truly be considered a “representative” of everyone.

I know that American politicians’ presumption to represent us is a lie. The point is that a good portion of people who pay attention to the news regard him as such.

In fact, it’s an almost eerie similarity.

I doubt George has had that much fun in 8 years.

‘A stunning portion of these choices of the American people are at odds with those of their leaders’

interesting conclusion- to me, most of the choices show vague, socialistic ideas that aren’t fiscally or morally responsible. Most of the politicians initiate vague, socialistic programs that aren’t fiscally or morally responsible. Looks like most of the people and the politicians are singing the same tune to me…

Rabble with a pitchfork bereft of intellect.

So many collectives, the ambiguous “us.” Good god, man. Speak for yourself.

I don’t know the guy’s story. And, yes, just as we should mind our own business, the Bush administration should have let the Iraqis mind theirs. (Back when Iraq attacked Kuwait, that was a different story.) They hadn’t actually been linked to al Qaeda nor there was a credible threat from WMDs.

I’m not a wild-eyed anti-Bush fanatic carrying “BUSHITLER” signs. Bush is not the devil, radically changing a benevolent government. Like Clinton and those before, his administration is a symptom of a terrible trend in American politics towards a more powerful, less accountable federal government. Had the government been kept more in check, an incompetent boob wouldn’t have been able to make such a mess.

Furthermore, given whole history of foreign involvement in the Middle East, from the cold war and rise of Islamic theocracies, to the mass murders perpetrated by Hussein’s regime and geopolitics of oil, Bush was given a huge mess with no easy answers.

So, yes, I can see the point that the Iraqis are justified in hating Bush for what he has done to Iraq, even considering the aforementioned issues.

My issue was with Radley and others taking pleasure in a foreigner attacking a prominent symbol of America on foreign soil, even if I oppose that symbol myself. (I despise the very concept that someone who only some of the people picked could truly be considered a “representative” of everyone.)

I may be off base with regards to Radley, but his response just reminds me of the Dixie Chicks and other arrogant and stupid celebrities, or of the people who joined that whole fad of posting pictures holding apology signs to the rest of the world after Bush’s reelection. Again, this may have nothing to do with Balko, but people who bend over backwards to try to placate foreigners strike me as rather pathetic. It’s too bad Americans don’t do more to keep our sons of bitches from having the power to make such magnificently awful blunders as the Iraq invasion. But the American spirit of individual freedom and productivity, which foreigners don’t get and to which they often react in jealousy, should be celebrated, not apologized for, and cheering attacks on those who presume to represent us, lends itself to that whole undignified self-loathing pose, which often tosses in those good aspects of American culture with the bad.