So Long Bush

Back to all things political, as if you're not completely sick of them right now, I just have to rant about Bush one more time before I put the whole issue to bed.

First of all, I'm not some self-entitled brat. I'm a typical American, and I share a lot of the same sentiments as the typical American. I fully understand how fortunate we are to live in a land of plenty with many freedoms, including the freedom to protest the government.

I was talking to my friend the other day, and she said she thinks protesting Bush was the most patriotic thing I ever did. I think so too. Protesting was one of my proudest moments.

When Bush came to my home town in 2004 campaigning for re-election, I protested. The 2004 Presidential race was the first time I was able to vote for President. I was 17 when he was elected for his first term, so I was 21 when he was running for re-election. I made a sign, though now I forget what it said. I wore a shirt that read, "Send your daughters to Iraq!". I made the shirt myself, and I was quite proud of it. (This was during the time of the scandal when it came out that no one in the government actually had sons or daughters serving in Iraq.) I was all lined up in the protester's section. The other protesters let me stand in front because they liked my shirt. A reporter noticed my shirt and interviewed me for the local paper. Then, finally, there he came, hanging out of his bus smiling and waving at everybody. When I saw him coming I gave my sign to a friend and held up my two middle fingers at him. He looked right at me and stopped smiling. It took him a minute to regain his composure, and he was gone.

My story got published in the local paper and caused a lot of discussion back and forth in the opinion section. The story originally published in the local paper made it all the way to the Washington Post. He even mentioned me in his speech. I fully made my point, without uttering a word.