A First Amendment Moment, as citizen criticizes Bush in Charlotte

[AGENDA21]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - It was a moment brought to you by the First Amendment.

Minutes after finishing a face-to-face verbal assault on President Bush, Harry Taylor was talking about the experience with reporters who covered the president's visit Thursday to Charlotte.

Speaking from the balcony of a theater at Central Piedmont Community College, the 61-year-old commercial real estate broker had laced into Bush for his conduct of the war on terror, his environmental record and his opposition to legalized abortion.

"In my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of my leadership in Washington," Taylor told the president. "And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself."

Afterward, Taylor was approached by Barry Richards, a 42-year-old town manager from nearby Cabarrus County. Richards shook Taylor's hand and told him how glad he was that Taylor had spoken.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/14280099.htm

[Iblis]

1. So wait, what was Bush's response?

Or did he have any?

A Bush appearance without a canned audience? :wow:

L

[rsmith6621]

2. Thom Hartman Just Read This

On his show....Give the guy a MEDAL OF hONOR.....ILL BET BUSHIE IS GOING to....:beer: :beer: a few on AF1 on the way back to WDC...


Bush probably though thought Mr Taylor was talking about someone else...

[calmblueocean]

3. What First Amendment?

The idea that one person is able to tell the president that he is ashamed of him without getting hauled off by Homeland Security goons and thrown in Gitmo is not exactly glowing testimony to the health of free speech or the Bill of Rights in this country. If we really had a First Amendment in force, THIS WOULD NOT BE NEWS.

[TacticalPeek]

4. Speaking truth to power.

Q I've got the mike.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, yes, very good. (Laughter and applause.) Good move.

Q You never stop talking about freedom, and I appreciate that. But while I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. If I were a woman, you'd like to restrict my opportunity to make a choice and decision about whether I can abort a pregnancy on my own behalf. You are --

THE PRESIDENT: I'm not your favorite guy. Go ahead. (Laughter and applause.) Go on, what's your question?

Q Okay, I don't have a question. What I wanted to say to you is that I -- in my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of, nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington, including the presidency, by the Senate, and --

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: No, wait a sec -- let him speak.

Q And I would hope -- I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration, and I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself inside yourself. And I also want to say I really appreciate the courtesy of allowing me to speak what I'm saying to you right now. That is part of what this country is about.

THE PRESIDENT: It is, yes. (Applause.)

Q And I know that this doesn't come welcome to most of the people in this room, but I do appreciate that.

THE PRESIDENT: Appreciate --

Q I don't have a question, but I just wanted to make that comment to you.

THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate it, thank you. Let me --

Q Can I ask a question?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm going to start off with what you first said, if you don't mind, you said that I tap your phones -- I think that's what you said. You tapped your phone -- I tapped your phones. Yes. No, that's right. Yes, no, let me finish.

I'd like to describe that decision I made about protecting this country. You can come to whatever conclusion you want. The conclusion is I'm not going to apologize for what I did on the terrorist surveillance program, and I'll tell you why. We were accused in Washington, D.C. of not connecting the dots, that we didn't do everything we could to protect you or others from the attack. And so I called in the people responsible for helping to protect the American people and the homeland. I said, is there anything more we could do.

And there -- out of this national -- NSA came the recommendation that it would make sense for us to listen to a call outside the country, inside the country from al Qaeda or suspected al Qaeda in order to have real-time information from which to possibly prevent an attack. I thought that made sense, so long as it was constitutional. Now, you may not agree with the constitutional assessment given to me by lawyers -- and we've got plenty of them in Washington -- but they made this assessment that it was constitutional for me to make that decision.

I then, sir, took that decision to members of the United States Congress from both political parties and briefed them on the decision that was made in order to protect the American people. And so members of both parties, both chambers, were fully aware of a program intended to know whether or not al Qaeda was calling in or calling out of the country. It seems like -- to make sense, if we're at war, we ought to be using tools necessary within the Constitution, on a very limited basis, a program that's reviewed constantly to protect us.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/04/20060406-3.html

:patriot:

[AGENDA21]

5. I heard it on Randi Rhode!