Today's Spinning in His Grave Person of the Day: Thomas Jefferson

When I posted yesterday I had no idea that Bushwhack was speaking yesterday at Monticello, Jefferson's home.  Good old Tom must have done some massive grave spinning yesterday.

It was heartening to see that Bush actually had to witness the fact that people actually disagree with him.  It's a sign of how much 'political capital' he has squandered that he can no longer be assured that his advance team can drag up enough true believers to fill an audience or that they can keep protesters out of sight and out of earshot.  In addition to the Code Pink contingent at the event there were actually protesters on the motorcade route and not corralled as usual in a 'free speech' cage where they cannot be seen or heard by Bushie.

There's been some debate as to whether the swearing in of new citizens was an appropriate venue for protest.  I'm not commenting on the appropriateness of the venue of protest but it is telling that Bush's response, less than a minute into his speech, about how we believe in free speech in America, was at best disingenuous and at worst, a flat out lie. 'We' might believe in free speech; it may be enshrined in our Constitution but since when has the Constitution been anything to Bush other than a minor inconvenience that can be ignored when it gets in the way of his imperial presidency?

January 20, 2009 cannot come soon enough.