Dave Neiwert is right– this is idiotic:
Unfounded Accusations Against Presidents Should Be A Felony
There needs to be a law passed where any person who disrespects the “Office of the Presidency” by making false accusations and spreading deliberate rumors about the president, should be charged with a felony or at the very least a high misdemeanor.
Dave snarks- “Damn, if this had been the law in 1998, every Freeper on the planet — and about half of Congress — would have been behind bars.” Maybe, but we know which half of Congress would currently be heading for a term in the hoosegow if this law were in place.
IXLNXS
So it would be a crime to lie about the President. While it would still be legal for him to lie about his challengers, detractors, and anyone else he and his saw fit?
Not very “fair and balanced”.
shark
I agree, it’s a terrible road to ever start to go down. And we shouldn’t. After all, if we do, there will only be 3 Dems. left that wouldn’t be jailed for their despicable remarks ;)
Kimmitt
The Great President Bush Nation Hooray!!!!
Emperor Misha I
Besides, I thought we already DID have laws covering libel, slander and defamation.
Seems to me that if those laws are good enough for the citizens, they oughta be good enough for the President as well.
Chris
Emporer Misha is right. We already have laws that cover libel, slander, and defamation. Passing a law that makes it a crime to disrespect the President is ludicrous. This blog, and a thousand others just like it on both the right and left, would effectively be put out of business. What would the Op-Ed pages print? What would political cartoonists do? An idea like this smacks of totalitarianism and seriously hinders First Amendment rights.
Consider this quote from Theodore Roosevelt:
M. Scott Eiland
Granting that this is a stupid idea, I suspect that a lot of the folks sniping about it were yelling at the Supreme Court for letting the Paula Jones case go ahead a few years back.