LIE OF THE WEEK: 03-09-2007

President Bush on protesters reacting to his presence when travels internationally:

"I am proud to be going to a part of the world where people can demonstrate, where people can express their minds. It happens quite frequently when I travel around the world. I understand people's concern about war. Nobody likes war. But I've had to make the decisions I made in order to not only secure our people, but to deal with threats and to help people be free. And so I'm not surprised, nor am I angry. It's a part of life when you're the President of the United States."

THE TRUTH: President Bush and his administration clearly do not believe in people being free to demonstrate and express their minds here in America, let alone the rest of the world. Otherwise, how can they justify the recent FBI and military efforts to spy on American demonstrators as if they were a threat just because they oppose government policies? Also, if they believe in freedom to assemble and protest, how can they support so many regimes around the world who crack down hard on any kind of opposition demonstrations without a wimper of protest coming our government? Clearly, the world is demonstrating against the current administration's foreign policy decisions and it's not just "part of life when you're the President of the United States."