Jubbergun wrote:
He's under no more of an obligation to honor an invitation from the president than he is to give the police permission to search his car. His statement is a protest of the government as a whole, not The Office of the President or its current occupant in particular. The president is the symbolic, if not the titular, head of that government. You're right to say that any protest of government is by its nature political, so he probably would have been more accurately stating his intention had he said his protest wasn't partisan.
I have a problem with the idea that respectfully declining an invitation from a politician, regardless of the nature of their office, is somehow 'disrespectful' and shouldn't be done, regardless of the inclinations of the person who was invited. Your attitude is such that one would think you believe President Obama is some temporary monarch granted the power to compel a royal command performance. Such is not the case, and Mr. Thomas is well within his rights to decline the invitation and exercise his First Amendment prerogative in the process.
Your Pal,
Jubber
That's a load of BS. There's no "obligation" to be civil or polite either. Do people have the right to be douchebags? Sure. Doesn't mean one should be a douchebag.
Free societies are upheld by their citizens not having to be compelled to observe certain notions of decent behavior.
The protest was political but the invitation was not. As you point out, the President is the symbolic head of the government. To disrespect the office is to disrespect the American people. In that sense Obama is absolutely a monarch, just like every other President to fulfill that role.
This is absolutely about demonizing Obama. He's not protesting the government, he's giving the prez the finger because he's petty and small. If he really wanted to "protest the government" he could do something more constructive than behave like an angry six-year-old. He could get involved in political causes or give speeches more thoughtful than Fox News "the govt is big and evil".
The fact he says, "I'm not going to go into more depth lest my superficial thinking and petty motives be revealed" makes it clear he's insincere. If he was serious about protesting Washington then he'd try to affect change by speaking his mind in a constructive way. He doesn't because he can't, and clearly doesn't care anyway.
Would he be doing this crap if the President was a Republican? If it were Bush? Somehow I doubt it.
Usdk wrote:
I probably wouldn't go either. The guy is exercising his right to protest, there's nothing wrong with that. He's no different from those OWS guys y'all are so fond of.
They don't get paid millions a year to smack a puck around a rink. They face real danger.
This man is a coddled coward.
