We revere our founding fathers.
We respect the office of the president.
We don’t necessarily respect the person in the office but we take offense to assaulting a symbol of our great nation.
“We revere our founding fathers”
Yes, but not all of them. For instance Madison, Jefferson, and Adams more than Hamilton. And even those I do revere more than others, not in every aspect. For instance not Adams for the alien and sedition acts, nor Jefferson for owning slaves and the non-intercourse act.
“We respect the office of the president.”
Not really, or what it has become. In broad strokes and as outlined in the Constitution, but not altogether since Lincoln at least.
“we take offense to assaulting a symbol of our great nation”
Firstly, Bush is not a symbot of the nation. He’s just a retired politician. More importantly, I might be offended by an assault on national symbols, but it depends on the situation. I am not all offended by Bush’s head appearing in Game of Thrones.