Crazy by Any Other Name is Still Crazy

Okay, forget the hokey title, but the story I just read is sort of disturbing. Apparently, winning the Nobel Peace Prize does not mean you have to play nice with people you regard as your enemies.

Betty Williams, while speaking to a group of children, said she would 'love to kill George Bush.'

Hmmm.

The funniest thing about the whole situation is not that she won the Nobel Peace Award, but that the press is attributing her outbursts to her 'fiery Irish spirit' instead of something a little more palpable, like - I don't know - lunacy.

I'm not trying to be stiff here - like Rush Limbaugh (Zing! Just kidding. That was, like, a month ago) - but I think it's a case of the ole double standard. People think it's funny for people to joke - or be serious, I'm not sure - about killing an unpopular REPUBLICAN president. Oh, HA HA HA, President Bush is an ass so we should just shoot him! That Alec Baldwin is a real card!

Now, don't get me wrong, I think the idea of telling a bunch of children that you would like to kill the President is funny, especially if you've won the Nobel Peace Prize in the past. Or an Oscar. Actually, I don't think Alec Baldwing has won an Oscar.

But no one from the right can make the same kinds of jokes without it coming off as cruel and heartless. Oh, Ann Coulter is such a heartless bitch - which she is - for making light of this or that. Believe me, I'm not going to defend her, but I think it's sort of disingenuous for people to bash one side for being pricks, and yet be as completely unaware of irony as Mrs. Williams appears to be.

Well, she's not really. She says, "I don't know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize, because when I see children die the anger in me is just beyond belief. It's our duty as human beings, whatever age we are, to become the protectors of human life."

Protection by murder? Hey, I'm all for it. It'll make for some interesting television, but don't criticize the other side for making similar comments.