On November 5th, President Bush bestowed on former Congressman Henry Hyde of the Sixth Congressional District the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award that the President can confer. In awarding the medal, the President remarked:

“He used his persuasive powers for noble causes. He stood for a strong and purposeful America — confident in freedom’s advance, and firm in freedom’s defense. He stood for limited, accountable government, and the equality of every person before the law. He was a gallant champion of the weak and forgotten, and a fearless defender of life in all its seasons.”

Pardon me a moment while I dry my eyes…

Hyde is in fine company. Others who have received this award from President Bush include:

• Noted neoconservative crackpots Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz, godfathers of the faction that promoted our glorious and freedom producing invasion, occupation, and destruction of Iraq and is presently lobbying for our upcoming glorious and fredom producing bombing and destruction of Iran, and possibly the world as we know it.
• George Tenet, the man responsible for our crack prewar intelligence regarding Iraq, the many weapons of mass destruction that we recovered there, and the subsequently proven links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.
• Tommy Franks, military genius and architect of Operation Iraqi Freedom, who brought the war to a rapid conclusion and is in no small measure responsible for the peace and freedom enjoyed by the people of Iraq today.
• L. Paul Bremer, the 2nd Viceroy of Iraq, the brilliant administrator who presided over the reconstruction, virtually overnight, of Iraq after the war and the establishment of its highly successful constitutional democracy, all the while ensuring that the war was profitable for American contractors and other looters.

Are you noticing a pattern here? It’s really a shame the poor bastard can’t award a freedom medal to himself.

But I digress. We’re here to honor Henry Hyde’s unflagging efforts in the cause of Freedom.

Freedom has been on the march for the past several years and through it all, Henry Hyde, has stood by our President, unprotesting and obedient, as he has advanced the cause of freedom through his program of preemptive war, torture and rendition, endless extra-judicial detention, domestic spying, and extra-constitutional enhancement of presidential power. Yes, Henry Hyde did his part to ensure that the Congress never stood in the way of the President in his quest. And when it came time for him to step aside, he hand-picked our own Peter Roskam to carry on the fight for freedom in his stead.

Had I more time, I’d tell of Henry’s efforts for freedom during the Reagan years but, alas, I have homework. Perhaps later.

In the meantime, thank you Henry, and get well soon.