Hu heckler charged

So much for the right of the people to petition for the redress of grievances.

This story needs to be followed very carefully.

I have supported President Bush from the beginning. I actually voted for him in the Ames Straw Poll back in 2000. I backed him in the Iowa Caucuses, voted for him twice, attended his first inauguration and only missed his second because my wife didn't feel well, made phone calls for him on election night, supported and defended him with this blog through his re-election campaign and beyond, and have remained not only in his corner but his vocal defender even now that his popularity has descended to the point where only a third of the electorate approves of the job he is doing in office.

But if he lets this woman go to jail for speaking out against a murderous tyrant- even if she did do so out of turn- even I will have to reassess my support of this administration.

I do not criticize the fact that this woman was arrested, and thus prevented from disrupting Hu's speech; we don't do things like that in a democracy. But neither do we wax vindictive toward the weak for confronting tyrants, even when they do so inappropriately.