NY Times Lead Editorial Blasts Bush for Keeping Protesters Out of Sight

[BurtWorm]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/25/opinion/25THU1.html


The Presidential Bubble

Four progressive political groups sued the Bush administration this week, charging that the Secret Service is systematically keeping protesters away from the president's public appearances. They make a serious point about free speech rights, but they also point out a disturbing aspect of the Bush White House: the country has a chief executive who seems to embrace the presidential bubble.

Security concerns make it inevitable that a modern American president will be somewhat cut off from the country he leads. He cannot insert himself into any part of normal life without a phalanx of security guards.

Protesters cannot be permitted to get close enough to pose a threat, but they ought to be able to get close enough so the president can see that they are there. Sometimes seeing a glimpse of placard-wielding demonstrators is as close as the commander in chief can get to seeing the face of national discontent.

At Mr. Bush's public appearances, his critics are routinely shunted into "protest zones" as much as a half-mile away. At the Columbia, S.C., airport last year, a protester with a "No War for Oil" sign was ordered to move a half-mile from the area where Mr. Bush's supporters were allowed to stand. When the protester refused, he was arrested.

...

[wtmusic]

1. Go Times

BRING IT ON!!!

[NewYorkerfromMass]

18. NYTimes adding to its liberal traditions

an occasional reminder that the Times is not a complete sellout.

[Mairead]

20. Pity it took them 2.5 years to notice, though, don't you think?

I mean, it's not as though these anti-First-Amendment 'First Amendment Zones' are new!

[lebkuchen]

2. Sounds like Stalinist Russia

Glad I don't live in the US.

[BurtWorm]

3. It ain't Sweden, that's for sure.

:(

[AWD]

4. I wonder if....

....I'll be deposed over this lawsuit????

If ever there was a case of a protester moved from an area where Bush supporters were allowed to stay, surely my OSU incident is it.....

[BurtWorm]

5. I hate to be ignorant but

what OSU incident?

[AWD]

7. Here you go....

...this was one hell of a thread for one hell of a day. Here's the DU recap of my day at Ohio state last June.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/duforum/DCForumID35/27823.html

[BurtWorm]

8. I now remember reading that when you posted it

and feeling sick about the whole disgusting thing. Your deposition would be a plus for this case. Did they hold your diploma?

[AWD]

10. I did not graduate that day...

....because I had accomplished that task years earlier. I was only there as a spectator.

[BurtWorm]

11. A belated congratulations

and a thank you for your courage.

:toast:

[AWD]

12. I recently re-read that thread...

....and was in tears over it. I had forgotten how wound up I got over it.

I went into media hiding after the Mike Malloy show interviewed me (not as a result of Malloy's show....just to be safe). I had Faux News calling the house practically daring me to come on.

Since then, I've only discussed it twice in the media. Once on The Guy James Show, and once in an upcoming documentary called "Liberty Bound".

[bloom]

24. I must have missed that - it is very sad

Another reason to go to Washington on OCT. 25th.

[LeahMira]

28. For sure, but...

Another reason to go to Washington on OCT. 25th.

Has the Resident ever been even in town during any of the demonstrations in D.C.?

I wish that just for once he would be. Not that I think he's going to change anything, and not that I think he'd get nervous seeing all those numbers of people who oppose him, but I just want him to be in town. Maybe a casual glance out the window or the sound of all those voices shouting in chorus would reach him... not bother him, but I just wish he would see and hear them. For some reason, it's important to me. I wonder why he refuses to hang around D.C.?

Anyone else feel that way? Can we double dare him?

[Room101]

6. They didn't pull that shit when he came to the bay

They only pull that stuff in red states.

We were right in his face, of cource they had trucks blocking the view.

[NashVegas]

16. Nashville 2002/2003 - what a difference!

In 2002 when he came to stump for Lamar, his stop took him past Lower Broad and past the Ryman. I don't think they were expecting much of a crowd at all and that's probably why 300 people got to stand right across the street from the convention center. Although the street he drove up through to get into the center had been cleared, protesters could still have been visible kitty-corner, right across the street.

In 2003, both protesters and the press were held by barriers, a block away and on the other side of the street. Sidestreets were off limits a block in either direction.

[sistersofmercy]

9. What a F***ing Coward, can't be confronted or confront his accusers?

Because deep inside that hallow existence he knows his accusers are right, their cries are just. What a weak piece of waste. I read an article in an international greek journal, don't remember the site, an ambassador who had resigned prior to this criminal war called * a weak man said he had been led into the war by the hand by the Rummy et al. Further stated * was assured the war would pay for itself with Iraqi oil.
I swear I think * will have a nervous breakdown or do himself in.
Weak!

[Sinistrous]

13. I believe the ambassador you are referring to is John Brady Kiesling

I used this snip from his letter of resignation in my sig line before we were asked to keep them short:

"But until this administration, it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president, I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I beleve it no longer.
The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatable not only with American values but also with American interests. Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America's most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson."
John Brady Kiesling, February 24, 2003

[SidDithers]

14. Only protesters can be threats?...

Protesters cannot be permitted to get close enough to pose a threat,...

a protester with a "No War for Oil" sign was ordered to move a half-mile from the area where Mr. Bush's supporters were allowed to stand. When the protester refused, he was arrested.

I'm sure that someone who wanted to pose a threat to Bush wouldn't be smart enough to pretend to be a supporter. Naw, that could never happen.

Sid

[HFishbine]

15. Bush,

by his own admission, doesn't read or watch the news (he get's his information from "unbiased" sources such as Condi Rice), he doesn't allow himself to see protesters, and when he is made aware of hundreds of thousands marching in the streets, he dismisses them as "focus groups."

Need I say more?

[Eloriel]

17. Actually, it's been rumored

(or reported?) that he has a temper tantrum if he sees protesters.

ELoriel

[rocktivity]

27. Yes, I've also read that he doesn't like seeing protestors

And don't forget about his Labor Day temper tantrum when he threw down his union jacket!


rocknation

[gratuitous]

19. Boy, the "newspaper of record" is right on top of this

It's been going on from practically day one of this corrupt administration, but the Times can't be roused from its torpor until lawsuits are filed.

You want an object lesson in why the United States is "lawsuit happy"? It's because no one notices or does anything until a lawsuit is actually filed. The Times couldn't be bothered with the stories from Tampa or Columbus or Columbia until this suit gets filed. Why haven't they been scoring the administration for this all along? Too worried about being "noted in the building" by White House officials? Too scared that they'd lose "access" to the media clusterfucks that pass for news conferences from this crooked bunch of bloodthirsty thieves?

Terrible that it took the concerted effort of four lawsuits to get the New York Times to finally look down from its Olympus and see what this administration is doing. But I'm very glad that at least for now there is a court system for addressing these grievances. Once that avenue is gone, it won't be long before they're fought out in the streets.

[rocktivity]

21. Protestors = Physical Threats?

...Protesters cannot be permitted to get close enough to pose a threat...
I can certainly see where a protestor can be a POLITICAL threat. But if the concern is that a protestor is more likely to be a PHYSICAL threat, why can't a supporter be, too? What's to stop someone from IMPERSONATING a supporter, getting close access to a president and posing a physical threat that way?


rocknation

[July]

22. Mr. Bush, Tear Down This Wall!

That's the sign I'd like to see held up behind the fence of a protest pen.

[BurtWorm]

23. Good one!

[July]

26. Why, thank you, BW!

[revcarol]

25. The New York Times sat on a wall.

The New York Times had a great fall.
All Bush's lobbyists and all of Rove's men
Couldn't put their credibility back together again.

This editorial is soooo timely <rampant sarcasm>