Bush fatigue, interrupted

[Mazer]

Originally Posted by malvachat

Now sinner said this
"But when it comes to criticizing government and government officials,free and open discussion should be allowed without fear of retribution"

And he says

"Yes I do. Cindy Sheehan, Mike Moore, John Stewart, Al Franken, Bill Maher, etc etc etc

Have not all these people been personally attacked.
Not the issue they have raised?
Are they not tarred with a brush as being "far left nut jobs"?

Well, the government is not the source of those personal attacks. For the most part those individuals have been wholly ignored by the government. It is the public and members of the press who have slung mud at them, and the 1st amendment also protects mudslinging, within limits. If our government made it so we never faced any criticism, it would have to abridge our critics' freedom of speech to do so.