Minutes after finishing a face-to-face verbal assault on President Bush, Harry Taylor was talking about the experience with reporters who covered the president's visit Thursday to Charlotte.

Speaking from the balcony of a theater at Central Piedmont Community College, the 61-year-old commercial real estate broker had laced into Bush for his conduct of the war on terror, his environmental record and his opposition to legalized abortion.

"In my lifetime, I have never felt more ashamed of my leadership in Washington," Taylor told the president. "And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself."



As compared to......


The lone difference being, Harry Taylor's South Carolina crowd commenced to boo Mr. Taylor's First Amendment practices. What is happening to our country?

I would not have the courage to go into such a hostile environment and speak my opinion like that. He has my deepest respect.

I really enjoy the look on the face of the woman to his right. Actually all three women in the shot have interesting looks on their faces.

I don't even know who Harry Taylor is.

Neither did anyone else until he did this.

I can't really muster any shock or outrage that this country doesn't live up to the standard presented in a Norman Rockwell painting.

They guy laid into Bush in a room full of supporters. He got booed. How is this indicitive of the general state of the country? Time travel back to a Lincoln rally and shout "McClellan in '64!!"

*North Carolina

I still don't. He doesn't come up in the first 10 google results. Who is this dude?

Did you guys read the story? He's just a real estate agent who happened to be at this "public appearance" by the Prez, got the chance to ask a question, and grilled him.

He's not the dude in the Norman Rockwell picture?

No, that's Abraham Lincoln.

What?

Jesus Christ B. Put the bong down.

So, he's seriously just some dude? That's awesome!

They didn't boo him for using his first ammendmant rights. They boo'd him simply because they disagree with his opinion. If someone would have done to FDR during the war, they'd be in a jail cell right now.

It'll be interesting to see how successful the media is at building this guy up, and how long they can milk it.

The new media darling in the works.

Your ability to see into the past is alarming

FDR did it...

Kind of ranks right up there with imprisoning Japanese people just for being Japanese.

I think LittleWing's in for a big shock come November. People like you become increasingly marginalized each day, where you belong, while people like ol' Harry here are gaining more support. But you just keep on waving that flag dude, supportin' the president in wartime! He can't do anything wrong!

Little Wing, why do right-wingers compare what's happening now to World War II? You do realize that its a little unfair to pick a war reduced to simple Biblical moralizing of "good vs. evil" by the leaders, and then compare it to something going on today? There are constant wars throughout human history and you guys always pick the one that's easiest to simplify, one which we dehumanized our enemies through propaganda that compared to their own, one which was the result of severe punishment and restrictions placed on the people of those nations after previous wars...

Can we not have debate on this? Can we not have debate other than, "well the democrats voted for it too?" Because once the people of this country - the most powerful country on earth - start thinking outside their own day-to-day realities and think about humanity as a whole and history as a whole, we can really limit the way that we solve conflicts. You'd think that we'd set an example, but people in the media and the government - white, Christian/Jewish businessmen, military men, and fucking lawyers want to simplify everything in dogmatic moral white washing. And then when people actually start challenging our leaders they're stepping out of line or breaking the traditional order or being "liberal-know-it-alls." Educating yourself and understanding basic human values is a VERY good way to solve problems other than through killing.