While the McCain/Palin retroactive bitch-slap continues I’ve noticed a number of items written trying to correct the attitudes of people who didn’t like the Bush administration. These rebukes appear to be somewhat based on the assumption that respect is owed an office-holder out of the gate. It isn’t. We don’t owe respect until it has been earned. The writers also seem to have “respect” confused with “trust.” I can respect an office or a position while having an irrecoverable lack of trust in the person holding the position. And when an official or in this case, a whole administration, has gone out of its way to create reasons to not respect and reasons to not trust the officials, saying “How dare you?” doesn’t mean a whole lot. If you’ve spent the better part of a decade acting contemptibly, you should expect contempt.