You know what's great? The fact that you live somewhere where you can actually purchase something as stupid as this.
Ponder that one for a while.
Why are you ashamed of your country just because you think the president is an idiot?
Perfect for the self-loathing and insecure.
Of course to wear one of these shirts you better hope you at least voted for someone else. Otherwise you are responsible for your president.
Cry me a river. Nothing about that shirt indicates anyone is ashamed of America. What does it say?
"I'm sorry my president is an idiot. I didn't vote for him"
If anything, you should criticize the wearer for apologizing for something he wasn't responsible for. But you can't deduce from that shirt that they are ashamed of America, or are not aware of the freedoms inherent therein.
You should know that in W's perfect world, such shirts would NOT be allowed. For it is that man who said, in response to a website that parodied him: "There ought to be limits to Freedom".
Perhaps you need to think about why you deemed a commentary on the President to be a commentary on America. If those two things are so connected in your mind, then you understand things no better than some uneducated French waiter.
You didn't vote for him, but he got elected. So perhaps you should consider that not voting for him isn't enough.
American? It's international! I'm spanish and also want one! And Jason, don't be so self-complacent. The right to critizise your goverment it's not so great, is an elemental right. Don't make of freedom a matter of pride, it's just a minimum.
"You should know that in W's perfect world, such shirts would NOT be allowed" The person who said this really scares me. It has become evident that to dissent in this country is not only unacceptable, but dangerous.
Dan: "cry me a river" Uhm...who is crying? It's a good idiom when used with some kind of relevancy. It means "you can cry/complain a lot but you will not get my sympathy" and is typically used in response to someone's complaining to get sympathy. So then, what in my post could possibly be construed in that way? The answer is nothing. But like much of the rest of your post, so long as it sounds good, then what the hell. "Uneducated french waiter"? Come again? How long have you been waiting to use that line?
It's hardly a stretch to think that someone who is insecure enough to wear an apology for something he's not responsible for is, yes, ashamed. Think Dixie chicks in Europe, if that helps you any. You don't think that over half the people who will actually wear this shirt in Europe would answer yes if asked by a european if they were ashamed of their country? Be honest.
So Bush was pissed about the site that parodied him, and he let it get the better of him. Big f'ing deal. What politician hasn't said something in public that makes him look like an ass/fool/moron? I think you'll be safe to wear that stupid tee-shirt in any world, Bush's perfect world you seem to know so well, or any other.
If you value freedom and the constitution, I'd be more concerned with this remark made recently by a politician at a candidate forum:
"When I'm president, we'll do executive orders to overcome any wrong thing the Supreme Court does tomorrow or any other day,"
Damn. Too bad Bush didn't say it.
P.S. Susan Sarandon wants to know what an uneducated french waiter ever did to you.
He was rude when I asked for directions to the Louvre. ;)
Ashamed of his President, perhaps. But it IS a stretch to say he's ashamed of his Country based soley on that. My whole point was that [America == President] is a false statement. While I agree a person willing to wear this shirt would be ashamed of many things about America, I doubt anyone feels that way due soley to their perception of W's intelligence. That was what you indicated in your first post: "Why are you ashamed of your country just because you think the president is an idiot?"
W is notoriosly thin-skinned. It's not a stretch to think his pefect world does not include things that make fun of him. I don't think anyone gets teased very much in their perfect world. I know mine doesn't have any teases.
And BF'ing deal? You been paying attention? "There ought to be limits to freedom" was a policy statement. I don't care what Dicky said, as he'll never be President. I care what the guy that controls the CIA, FBI, NSA, and Armed Forces says. And he's not too keen on dissent. I'd find the list of policy changes that support that contention, but I need to work now. If you'd like, I can provide it later.
You have the link but you don't give your opinion of the shirt. I'd like to know. I'm sure there are Iraqi's who are very glad our president had the balls to do what he did.
And what exactly did he do that required balls? Lie to the American people? Lie to Congress? Fly over Iraq @ 10,000 feet? Raise tens of millions of dollars for his campaign?
"And BF'ing deal? You been paying attention? "There ought to be limits to freedom" was a policy statement."
How can you possibly say it was a policy statement? It was an off-the-cuff response to something that obviously annoyed him, and, like Gephart, he wasn't president when he said it. To say it was a policy statement is more than a stretch, it's just plain distortion. Even if GWB were to say, in and of itself, that there ought to be limits to freedom, he would be doing nothing more than stating a simple truth: there are and always have been limits to freedom in this country. Maybe militia men in Montana have a hard time time with this concept, but most everyone else understands it. Now, on the other hand, what Gephardt said is a policy statement. It falls under the category of "if elected I will.." and therefore is very troubling.
And what exactly did he do that required balls? Lie to the American people? Lie to Congress? Fly over Iraq @ 10,000 feet? Raise tens of millions of dollars for his campaign?
Yes, going to war with Iraq took balls. It took more balls than lobbing a few cruise missles at an asprin factory or kicking Iraq out Kuwait in a UN supported, wide-open desert warfare cake-walk. The potential for failure in Iraq is real, and if you're GWB, it's your ass on the line.
The interesting thing about all this talk of lying about WMD is that it is occuring now after the war. Why weren't the democrats making these same charges before the war? The evidence hasn't changed. Draw your own conclusions. And incidentally, neither Bush nor Blair ever said Iraq presented an "imminent" threat. Thought for the day: "Neither the United States of America nor the world community of nations can tolerate deliberate deception and offensive threats on the part of any nation, large or small. We no longer live in a world where only the actual firing of weapons represents a sufficient challenge to a nation's security…" -- John F. Kennedy
And what is it about dropping bombs from high altitude that gets some people so bothered? Susan Sontag started it with her 9/11 piece in the New Yorker, suggesting that American airforce pilots were cowards. Bill Maher implied essentially the same thing on his show (without crediting Sontag) and got himself fired. Would you prefer that American pilots drop their bombs from 4000 ft to give their opponents a sporting chance to shoot them down? That would be more ballsy, wouldn't it?
Bush is nothing compared to the reality of how many atrocities have occurred under the name of our country for many many years. If you want to understand what reality looks like, turn off your TV, open your mind and browse the internet, you can start with the School of the Americas if you're brave enough to challenge yourself. Find out what independent people with no agenda - other than a human agenda to get the truth - are discovering and trying to tell you. Unplug yourself and wake up. Before the internet is no longer free either.
Late comment.
I wore the shirt. In Morocco there were multiple offers to buy it from me. I could have had a carpet. In Paris a museum guard so wanted it, that I almost gave it to him.
Time now to look at how close that idiot brought America to another Great Depression.
The shirt = ahead of its time.
