Howard Dean’s Free Speech Zone is Everywhere

Posted on January 11, 2004 in Campaign 2004 Liberty Nipper Kettle

Ask not about Bush’s repression of free speech and dissent in his presence, but make a big issue when Howard Dean speaks up for himself and for his supporters.

The press makes another nonissue about Howard Dean’s Anger:

“Please tone down the garbage, the mean mouthing, the tearing down of your neighbor and being so pompous,” Ungerer told the former Vermont governor and Democratic front-runner. “You should help your neighbor and not tear him down.”

“George Bush is not my neighbor,” Dean replied.

“Yes, he is,” Ungerer said, to which Dean responded: “You sit down. You’ve had your say and now I’m going to have my say.”…

“That is exactly the problem. Under the guise of ‘support your neighbor’ we’re all expected not to criticize the president because it’s unpatriotic,” Dean said to enthusiastic applause. “I think it’s unpatriotic to do some of the things that this president has done to this country.”

The logic behind Ungerer’s attack is this: if your “neighbor” (a big corporation) dumps raw sewage into your yard and then sends your son off to fight a foreign war for resources to make more garbage, you shouldn’t say anything.

All I can say about those like Mr. Ungerer is that they should be glad that Howard Dean allowed the man his three minutes to say what he wanted to say. You could not do that at a Bush event without being yelled down by the screech owls of the Right. You couldn’t even get into a Bush event or on a street where Bush might pass. What you are seeing is the future of America with Howard Dean. A place where you can speak out against the president and get a reply. Maybe not the reply you want, but it is still a reply. I will take a “sit down” from Howard Dean over a blank wall and “free speech zones” from the Paranoid in Chief any day.

Dean, Braun, Kucinich, and perhaps Clark appreciate that all of America is a free-speech zone. The silence from George W. Bush and his supporters on this issue is deafening.

We are the People. I want the right to tell the pResident what I think of his policies like Ungerer spoke to Dean.

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Ungerer deserves the Nipper Kettle “Fifteen Minutes of Petty Fame Award”.