July 08, 2004
On Liberty

While it is deservedly illegal to make threats against the President, I think it should be perfectly acceptable to make threats against yourself in front of the President, just to keep him on his toes. For example, if you wrangled your way into a $10,000-a-plate fundraising dinner, and you decided to have the salmon instead of the lamb medallions with rosemary, when the President came around to shake everyone's hand and thank them for coming, you could stand up and say, "Mister President, I'm going to eat this piece of salmon without checking for bones," which is clearly an act that puts yourself in danger, and the Secret Service should be powerless to stop you. This would be a fantastic scene in a movie where Harrison Ford plays the President and Clint Eastwood plays a grizzled veteran Secret Service agent, although that kind of star power probably attracts the type of catering services that meticulously check for fish bones before serving, so maybe we'll get Steve Guttenberg and Mark Linn-Baker instead. Otherwise, we live in fascist times.

Posted by Michael Genrich at July 08, 2004 08:47 AM