On Sept. 15, Guthrie wrote that President Bush "skedaddled" after the attacks. "Most of his aides and Cabinet members split for secret locations, too."

The airline passengers whose struggle with hijackers is believed to have led to the crash in Pennsylvania "are the heroes of this rotten week," he said.

"They put it all on the line. Against their courage the picture of Bush hiding in a Nebraska hole becomes an embarrassment."

A huge outcry ensued. Hundreds of people protested. Guthrie got death threats.

So publisher Dennis Mack fired him.

Editor Dennis Roler, who had let the column go through, was asked to apologize to the readers. He wrote, "Criticism of our chief executive and those around him needs to be responsible and appropriate. Labeling him and the nation's other top leaders as cowards as the United States tries to unite after its bloodiest terrorist attack ever isn't responsible or appropriate."

To which I respond: Criticism of our chief executive and those around him needs to be responsible and appropriate?

Since when?

Did the Daily Courier sleep through the Monica feeding frenzy?

Of course it was in bad taste to make those remarks so soon after the tragedy. It was a week for coming together in national grief, not for quizzing the president on his whereabouts. Guthrie himself says, "I wish I had waited."

I REACHED HIM at home, since he doesn't have an office anymore. Dan said the editor told him it had made him feel like a fool to write that apology. His co-workers were sympathetic: They draped a flag over his computer, then watched him gather his stuff and leave the office.

Many Americans seem willing to give up some freedoms in exchange for greater safety. Truckers wait cheerfully in line for three hours to have their trucks searched before they drive into Manhattan. Passengers are happy to get to the airport earlier. My friend Janice was willing to have a long discussion with airport security over whether her eyebrow tweezer would be allowed to travel with her.

But freedom of speech may not be among the liberties we are willing to give up.

Bill Maher of "Politically Incorrect" lost advertisers when he said the plain truth -- that the hijackers were not cowards. Professors, other columnists, even a German composer have been fired, disciplined or shunned for remarks made around the time of the attacks. The White House press secretary denounced Maher, saying that in times like these, "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do."

And they will, when they see others being punished for speaking out.

WHEN YOU LOOK up the Grants Pass Daily Courier on the Web, this quote, in large letters, is the first thing you see: " 'The theory of a free press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account.' -- Walter Lippmann"

The truth of what happened, why it happened and what course we should take will emerge, as Lippmann said, as long as the press stays free and people don't lose their jobs for failing to "watch what they say." If you want to watch what you say, many countries will cheerfully help you out. When we let terrorists scare us into relinquishing freedoms that define our society -- such as getting to take potshots at the president even at inappropriate times - - then they truly undermine us. And they start to win.

Since when does criticism of the chief executive have to be responsible?

©2001 San Francisco Chronicle

###