# Booing the President **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 31, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393 "2008-03-31T16:23:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/41 "2008-03-31T20:35:31Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Name one thing legal a person can do that would have any effect on Dubya, a president not up for re-election. [/QUOTE] I said affect the government. Bush is not the government. Look, you can boo the president all you want, and I can think you’re childish for doing so all I want. There really isn’t anything to debate here. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/42 "2008-03-31T20:38:39Z")
What would have been really awesome is if, instead of booing him, the entire crowd had stood up and left the stadium. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/43 "2008-03-31T20:51:10Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] I said affect the government. Bush is not the government. Look, you can boo the president all you want, and I can think you’re childish for doing so all I want. There really isn’t anything to debate here. [/QUOTE] Funny that you’re arguing about it, then. This is pointless, and childish, but picketing outside the White House, boy, _that’ll show 'em!_. How long has that “no nukes” guy been sitting in his booth outside the White House? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/44 "2008-03-31T20:53:58Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] I said affect the government. Bush is not the government. Look, you can boo the president all you want, and I can think you’re childish for doing so all I want. There really isn’t anything to debate here. [/QUOTE] The govt. isn’t the problem, Bush the individual, is the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/45 "2008-03-31T20:56:19Z")
I will never understand this sentiment… that for some whatever reason we owe it to him to be nice? _WHY?_ ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/46 "2008-03-31T20:58:26Z")
[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF] I will never understand this sentiment… that for some whatever reason we owe it to him to be nice? _WHY?_ [/QUOTE] Ask **Clothahump**. _snort_ -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/47 "2008-03-31T21:04:19Z")
Millions of people would be happy to boo him while he’s being a dick, but the problem is that those people never have access to him except at a baseball game. Because he keeps everyone away from him who isn’t proven to be a fan. As has already been stated multiple times. So yeah, boo him when you get the chance. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/48 "2008-03-31T21:08:20Z")
[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF] I will never understand this sentiment… that for some whatever reason we owe it to him to be nice? _WHY?_ [/QUOTE] Because he’s the President and no matter what, he deserves your love and respect. Or some bullshit like that, I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/49 "2008-03-31T21:08:38Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I still think booing **Bush** under **these** circumstances was appropriate, I was merely acknowledging the other side of the argument. The concern would not apply to a PM, who is a head of government, not a head of state with all the symbolic baggage that carries; but the POTUS is both at once. [/QUOTE] George Bush was exercising a ceremonial function as head of state, not a political function as head of government, or acting as a private citizen. That being said if I were ever in a situtation to meet him (or at least be in the same room as him) I think my utter hatred and contempt for Citizen Bush would overwhelm the respect I have for the Presidency and nation as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/50 "2008-03-31T21:11:51Z")
Why didn’t the National’s management pump enough recorded cheering through the PA system to drown out the boos? I say the people paid their money, and can therefore boo to their hearts content. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/51 "2008-03-31T22:09:17Z")
They boo’d him? So what? I wouldn’t care if somebody’d _shot_ him. (So long as it was an american who did it, that is. Anybody else and there’d be trouble asa result of it.) ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/52 "2008-03-31T22:21:57Z")
Booing Bush was fine, the same way it was fine when Clinton caught flack at the Vietnam Wall. It comes with the territory in a nation that believes in free speech, and where we have no kings (though we might have a few political dynasties). ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/53 "2008-03-31T23:19:09Z")
[QUOTE=vison] …Born on third base and he thinks he hit a triple… [/QUOTE] This is an excellent phrase- mind if I steal it? ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/54 "2008-03-31T23:37:22Z")
[QUOTE=appleciders] This is an excellent phrase- mind if I steal it? [/QUOTE] It comes from Molly Ivins (RIP) I believe, who also coined him “Shrub.” ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/55 "2008-04-01T01:25:00Z")
BTW, Bush skipped the National’s opener in 2006 and 2007. I wonder why? Also, the last person on earth any of us should feel sorry for is George W Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/56 "2008-04-01T01:44:16Z")
Bush would surely have gotten a warmer reception if only the stadium had thought to offer each adult fan a free bottle of beer. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/57 "2008-04-01T01:52:10Z")
We Washingtonians don’t get representatives in congress, so you have to at least let us boo the president when he comes to our ballpark. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/58 "2008-04-01T02:05:02Z")
There are about 4000 American families and over half a million Iraqi families who wish the worst thing that could happen to them is getting booed in a stadium. Thank God that’s his last baseball opener. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/59 "2008-04-01T02:10:33Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Nevertheless, the head of state is considered the embodiment of the state. [/QUOTE] Not by me, he isn’t. Indeed, so far as I am concerned, the idea that the United States qua state is embodied in any individual is unsupported by the Constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393/60 "2008-04-01T02:12:39Z")
C’mon guys, it was wrong of the crowd to boo Bush at the opener. At the very LEAST tar and feathers should have been in use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-the-president/443393.md?page=4)