Muhammad Ali vs. George Bush

The old fighter still has some fight in him. When awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Ali (not me, the other one) looked the President in the eye and gave him the crazy twirl: Daniel Pipes of FrontPageMag.com laments (emphasis mine):

Awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Muhammad Ali gratuitously celebrated a man profoundly opposed to Bush'’s own, his party's, and the country's principles. It represents, I submit, the nadir of his presidency.

I would remind Daniel that when a presidency begins to flatline, it no longer can be said to have a nadir. Besides that, he should be taught one of this country's most important principles - freedom of expression. Muhammad Ali's integrity, strength and spirit are more worthy of recognition than all of last year's recipients combined. Among intelligence failures, failures in planning for post-invasion Iraq, complete mismanagement of a country, and downright dangerous groupthink, there's something those previous winners do not share with Ali - the strength of character to look a powerful man in the eyes and tell him he's wrong. I hope he throws this medal in the river, too.