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A clown wearing a President Obama mask got a big reception at a Missouri State Fair rodeo over the weekend. According to The Associated Press, most of the crowd clapped and cheered when the announcer asked if they wanted to see 鈥淥bama run down by a bull."

The Missouri State Fair says it has banned the unnamed rodeo clown from ever performing at the fair again.

One fairgoer who was not happy about the performance, Perry Beam, told the AP that everybody 鈥渏ust went wild鈥� when the masked clown appeared, and that he began to feel 鈥渁 sense of fear鈥� for himself, his wife, and a Taiwanese student that they had brought to the performance.

Another clown ran up to the clown wearing the Obama mask, pretended to tickle him, and played with the mask鈥檚 lips, according to Mr. Beam. Eventually they had to depart when actual bulls started running too close.

鈥淭hey mentioned the president鈥檚 name, I don鈥檛 know, 100 times. It was sickening. It was feeling like some kind of Klan rally you鈥檇 see on TV,鈥� said Beam.

OK, Obama mask plus stomping rodeo bulls. Who thought that equation would equal fun? Not the Missouri State Fair leadership. After the show, they apologized on their Facebook page for what they called an 鈥渋nappropriate and disrespectful鈥� performance. Not Missouri鈥檚 top elected officials. Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder condemned the stunt via Twitter. 鈥淲e are better than this,鈥� he wrote. Democrats Gov. Jay Nixon and Sen. Claire McCaskill also expressed deep displeasure.

Some national conservatives, however, charged that the umbrage was hypocritical, given the popularity of George W. Bush Halloween masks during his presidency. All US chief executives are mocked, wrote Dana Loesch on the right-leaning RedState site.

鈥淔ree speech is free speech and isn鈥檛 meant to protect only that with which I agree,鈥� wrote Ms. Loesch.

In 1994, a Philadelphia Inquirer story noted that a rodeo clown used a George H.W. Bush dummy to distract raging bulls, yet nobody called for a Secret Service investigation, pointed out Loesch.

Of course, it鈥檚 the element of race that makes the Obama incident so controversial. Many of those who are outraged by the rodeo clown perhaps see mock violence against the nation鈥檚 first African-American president in the context of the nation鈥檚 long history of real violence against African-Americans.

鈥淪ilence is an inappropriate response to this 鈥榚ntertainment鈥� at an event supported by all Missourians,鈥澛爓rote Bob Yates on 鈥淪how Me Progress," a left-leaning Missouri website.

On the other side, those who say the Obama mask clown is part of a long history of US irreverence toward their chief executives may feel that Democrats cry 鈥渞ace鈥� to block all criticism of the president.

Here鈥檚 a third point of view: Maybe mock violence against presidential masks and dummies should be judged a chancy business, whomever the target. There鈥檚 been real violence against presidents of both parties, after all. This November will mark 50 years since the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Ronald Reagan was shot 32 years ago. Every president gets a horrendous amount of violent hate mail and threats.

鈥淭he young Missourians who witnessed this stunt learned exactly the wrong lesson about political discourse 鈥� that somehow it鈥檚 ever acceptable to, in a public event, disrespect, taunt, and joke about harming the President of our great nation,鈥� said Senator McCaskill in her statement responding to the incident.