Saturday, January 27, 2007

We also like Teddy Roosevelt...

...this quote of his, at least.

[The President] should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole.

Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile.

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
This comes from a Greenwald post about the respect a "wartime president" should receive, partially in reaction to the repeated mention of Bushnev as "our commander-in-chief", and partially in reaction to the Dougy Pantload's hand-wringing about that darn disrespectful Democrat Party...

And yet the Democrats for the most part sat on their hands, refusing to applaud, never mind rise in favor of such statements from a wartime president.
Because you know Republicans would have been standing on their seats and clapping for John Kerry...