Bill Maher made the following comment recently regarding Glenn Beck (and, by implication, other conservative talkers, writer, and bloggers).

You know, remember when Obama said that the people out there who are bitter and cling to their guns? Yeah, he was way off about that. I mean, it's those people who I worry about. I do think that this increases the chance for people, you know, to take horrible action. I mean, you know, already Obama has more threats than any president ever.

We'll leave aside the fact that Maher expressed regret that Dick Cheney was not murdered in a terrorist attack while abroad. We'll ignore the fact that his companion on the broadcast, Keith Olbermann, made comments regarding George W. Bush that were much more outrageous than anything said by Beck on his show. Let's get down to brass tacks on this one.

Let's assume that Maher is correct -- the dissenting words of certain conservatives increase the chance of some unspecified "horrible action" against Barack Obama.

So what?

After all, the alternative is government speech regulation, and the evisceration of the First Amendment.

Barack Obama took an oath to uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. He is the commander in chief of our armed forces. As much as any of the soldiers at his command, he should be prepared to lay down his life to defend our nation's charter of liberty. If he isn't, he needs to admit as much and resign.

Now please understand, I want nothing to happen to Barack Obama. I hope to see him live to a ripe old age -- long enough for history to have rendered a definitive verdict that his performance during his single term in the White House constituted one of the worst failures of a President in American history (ranking with Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan). But if the choice is between his life and our liberties, there is no contest.

Now I have condemned outright threats against a sitting president in the past. I do so again here and now -- just as I do threats of death or violence against any other human being. But that isn't what is being talked about here -- instead we are once again hearing Leftists put forth an implicit justification of speech suppression on the basis that someone who is unstable might act in a manner never intended by the speaker.

Posted by: Greg at 04:18 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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