esrosedotblog

EXERCISING HIS FREE SPEECH RIGHTS

In a lecture to German students, today.

"The reason is, that's freedom, freedom of speech. In America you have a right to be stupid - if you want to be," he said, prompting laughter. "And you have a right to be disconnected to somebody else if you want to be.

"And we tolerate it. We somehow make it through that. Now, I think that's a virtue. I think that's something worth fighting for," he added. "The important thing is to have the tolerance to say, you know, you can have a different point of view."

Kerry made the comments on his first foreign trip since becoming secretary of state on February 1. After one-night stops in London and Berlin, he visits Paris, Rome, Ankara, Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha before returning to Washington on March 6.

I think he is going to be as good as Clinton was. He certainly has the chops. Already he appears to be on the road full force.

If for no other reason than to get away from "the wife". My opinion.

This is very hard for people overseas to grasp. Even the democracies. Social and political pressure often trump freedom of speech. Now, it is common place for liberties to be squelched in the name of enlightenment or political correctness.

Not here, God knows, not here.

Labels: Kerry