I’ve been watching Boston Legal season 1 DVDs for a while now, and one of my favorite lines yet came between William Shatner1 and Candice Bergen2. Bergen says something about how we should care more for such and such, and Shatner tells her he knows what she’s doing… She’s Bush-bashing!

Bergen: So now it’s inappropriate to criticize a president?
Shatner: While he’s in office…!

So when I was flipping through the new and improved Google Reader and saw the Digg headline Gonzales cautions judges against second-guessing the president in wartime, I couldn’t resist mentioning the first comment:

So…adding to this list of those that shouldn’t ever second-guess Bush our president: 1) the media. 2) elected officials from the opposing party. 3) former presidents. 4) our allies. 5) past members of the administration i.e. former Secretaries of State. 6) military officials. 7) voters with questions ….we can now include our Judges.

Since when did it become a crime to criticize a President? Look, just because we were foolish enough to elect the guy (twice?), that doesn’t mean we have to agree with every damn thing he spouts out of his mouth… I thought we were supposed to be raising our children to be individuals and to develop and nurture their own thoughts and opinions… Or was I wrong about that one?

  1. Denny Crane, the lawyer in Boston 
  2. A formerly semi-retired fellow partner whom Shatner had a fling with before she left him for the Secretary… of Defense. 
Originally published and updated .