A Good Reason For The Anger

During the eight years of the Bush administration politicians both current and former lobbed the most vile and vicious accusations at George W. Bush, from Al Gore's "He betrayed this country!", to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's "He's a loser", and the media had nothing more to say about those awful attacks on a sitting president than to report the "mood of the country".

Ordinary citizens - ginned up by a genuinely coordinated effort - were worse, often too busy interfering with military recruiting stations and causing general mayhem to express a coherent message of dissatisfaction with their government. Again, the media were only too happy to report on their antics and exaggerate their numbers at protests.

Now that the shoe is on the other foot and conservatives express their authentic outrage at the realization that the entire country is in the control of former residents of Hyde Park, Illinois, liberals of all persuasions are aghast at the reaction. Claiming that protest is suddenly the act of a terrorist, or that violence is sure to follow, it must be observed that to date, the only violence ever witnessed has been perpetrated by liberals during demonstrations. It must also be duly noted that the newly acquired practice of actually marching for a cause being exhibited by conservatives involves carrying the American flag, not burning it.

The latest Democrat politician to come out warning of the dangers of conservatives daring to voice their angst at Obama's antics is none other than Rep. Patrick Kennedy, the last member of his Royal Family to hold federal office. Claiming to corner the market on knowledge of violence, he says that he has seen it happen before to his uncles. That is certainly true, but is there any validation to his equating those times with now? Has there been even the slightest demonstration of similar tendencies by any member of the Tea Party movement, for example?

With the rapid, speedball train wreck the president and an allied Congress are attempting to inflict on an obviously unwilling populace, there must be voices of reason willing to stand up and be heard, and they must not be stifled or silenced out of an unfounded fear or a dubious claim. Rep. Kennedy says that that is not so. In fact, he uses an old cliche for backup:

"And that’s the danger in it. There is definitely freedom of speech, but freedom of speech does not allow yelling ‘fire’ in the middle of a crowded movie theater.”

Memo to Patty: It is certainly within a person's right to yell "FIRE" if the theater is indeed burning. As a matter of fact, it is their duty.

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