QToon: A Salute to Ronald Reagan

I passed over this story when it happened last month. If you get your news from John Stewart or MSNBC, it may have escaped your attention, but it seems some gay activists who were invited to the the White House in June took the opportunity to take pictures of themselves flipping the finger at the painting of Ronald Reagan. And to post those pictures on line.

Such behavior might have been considered pretty tame in Andrew Jackson's day, but not any more.

“While the White house does not control the conduct of guests at receptions, we certainly expect that all attendees conduct themselves in a respectful manner. Most all do," Shin Inouye, a White House spokesman, said. "These individuals clearly did not. Behavior like this doesn’t belong anywhere, least of all in the White House."

A look through my e-mail inbox suggested that by being so hasty in their repudiation of the activists' poor manners, they were missing an opportunity only an incumbent president would enjoy.

So for $23 (the dollar figure that for some reason Barack, Michelle, Joe and the gang always want from me), here's your chance to give a dead president a piece of your mind.