Freedom of speech is one of the most important rights we have in this country. And I’ve often stated that we forget too often that freedom of speech is not just protecting nice, pleasant, comfortable speech. It protects all speech, and especially protects mean, rude, inflammatory, insulting, degrading speech. Just because we don’t like what someone says doesn’t mean they aren’t allowed to say it.

Now, don’t get me wrong. What you say does have consequences. If you pull a Don Imus and call a bunch of black women “nappy-headed hos” and get kicked off the air for it, then that’s the consequence. Don Imus can call black women nappy-headed hos all day long, but it cost him his job. You can say whatever you want, but there can be consequences and you have to live with those consequences.

Here’s where I’m going with this. This year’s White House Correspondents Dinner featured comedian Wanda Sykes, and of course, Rush Limbaugh was mentioned. Check out this video to see what she had to say:

Notice Obama laughing uproariously.

Toby Harden, who was at the dinner, really sums it up the best:

There’s not much room for differing interpretations of what Sykes said. She called Limbaugh a terrorist and a traitor, suggested that he be tortured and wished him dead.

What was his crime? Hoping that Obama’s policies – which he views as socialist – will fail.

That’s way, way beyond reasoned debate or comedy and Obama’s reaction to it was astonishing.

Imagine if a comedian “joked” that Obama was a terrorist who was guilty of treason and should be tortured and allowed to die. There would justifiably be an outcry.

But when the “joke” comes from a liberal, Obama-supporting comedienne and the target is a right-winger then the likes of Hilary Rosen and Donna Brazile are on CNN saying it’s just comedy and Limbaugh is “fair game”.

And Obama laughing when someone wishes Limbaugh dead? Hard to take from the man who promised a new era of civility and elevated debate in Washington.

And yes, Obama laughed. He laughed and laughed and laughed. Classy guy, huh?

Look, Wanda Sykes has every right to say whatever she wants about Rush Limbaugh. That was the whole point of that free speech talk above. It doesn’t mean that we aren’t allowed to criticize her for it, or that she shouldn’t lose her job for it… if she even has a job. I can’t remember Wanda Sykes doing anything besides being Jane Fonda’s assistant in the movie Monster-In-Law.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama is the guy who promised civility in Washington. He promised class and bipartisanship. It was supposed to be the end of all of the hate we had. We were going to leave all of that behind, draw a new line in the sand, and move forward into a shiny, happy future. But liberals, of course, have not lost their anger. And I never believed for a second that we’d actually move on. The Americans who voted for Obama, though, apparently did.

And? Are you happy with your new President? Are you proud to have this classless idiot representing you? Are you pleased to hear him laughing at the talk of calling someone who politically disagrees with him a terrorist and a traitor, and then wishing he’d be tortured and die?

Is this the new, unifying, bipartisan President you were expecting?

Hat Tip: Right Wing News