Pied-piper police guard Bush from protests

[Nambe]

Politics - AFP

Reporters who tail US President George W. Bush around the world were surprised by a "Pied Piper"-like method for minimizing protests at a rally in the crucial state of Ohio.

Journalists aboard three buses, joined by a White House aide and a Secret Service agent, were initially relieved when a police officer directed the convoy to follow a police car, lights flashing, through traffic to the event.

But when the police vehicle pulled into a quiet church parking lot far from the school hosting the rally, everyone knew something was not quite right, so a campaign aide went to investigate, then asked the agent for help.

Surprised to hear whom they were dealing with, the police claimed that they had been ordered to divert all buses not clearly aligned with the Bush campaign to the parking lot, sources familiar with the conversation said.

Campaign aides denied any role in shunting protestors to the site, insisting that local law-enforcement handle such matters, not the Secret Service charged with the safety of the president. ..


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[wrang_wrang]

1. Pied-piper or Potemkin village?

The emperor wears no clothes and he looks like a dork in that cowboy hat.

[hedda_foil]

5. OMG, that poster of Dubya!!!!

How long did it take them, I wonder, to get him to look like Reagan? That's a truly terrifyingly effective picture, evocative of exactly the strong, farseeing, Western hero image they want to shove down our throats. And folks, it's going to work far better than we want it to.

[Catfight]

16. We're all gonna fall for it...just wait and see! LOL I'm starting to

believe Dumbya is articulate, spontaneous when speaking and will eviscerate Kerry in the debates. So Georgie, why won't the big bad cowboy have a chat with that scary Kerry guy?LOL What a bunch of transparent assholes. If Bush wins and starts punching holes in the Constitution, I hope the first thing that goes is Freedom of the Press and they have to spend every fucking day printing more lies about this buffoon of a president! We might as all say GOODBYE to our Rights, that includes these empty headed press people.

[AnnInLa]

9. eeeek, it's the Mal boro man....mal, muy muy mal!

[jimshoes]

12. He's got Spock ears

I knew he wasn't human.

[Thor_MN]

13. I wish I knew what the background was..

It sure a hell isn't rural.....

Do you suppose that they stuck a saddle on a saw horse to give him that "in the saddle" look? I know they didn't put him on a horse - he can't ride a bike, they would never risk putting him on a creature smarter than him... Wait, he did get on that Segway...

[koopie57]

15. holy crap, what is that?

how did they get his face on crooked like that? The shirt looks like it was added an additional collar and the pin is awfully bright. What a goofy picture.

[Catfight]

17. WHO IS George W. Bush? Is he playing Reagan? Is he an alcoholic

who people want to drink with? Is he a Fighter pilot in his dress up with "Mission Accomplished?" Who the fuck is this puppet. Kerry would do great by asking that question in a commercial.

Who is George Bush? Then show all his silly photo ops. Show him sitting reading The Pet Goat and ask is this a leader...but show the BDP one month prior. Show him landing in his flight suit with his dick all puffed up for size and ask, Mission Accomplished, then show the death toll then and the death toll now. Show Bush signing the abortion bill with only all fat white guys standing around him, and ask, will this guy protect women? Show him all battered up from falling off his bike and ask, does he really know how to balance anything?


BUSH=Zero, Kerry=Hero!

[grasswire]

2. ye;ah....

...this goes with the fact that the WH has recently contracted for press airplane that is dangerous and rickety, with questionable pilots. It's all meant to intimidate.

[karlrschneider]

3. Uh, what's this?? Got any links to this weird thingy?

I'm interested 'cause I'm a pilot (commercial since 1963)

[hedda_foil]

6. I believe it was in the WP about two weeks ago.

I don't have the link, but it's true, though they may have thought better of using that particular method to scare the press corps away from following the campaign.

[7th_Sephiroth]

4. notice also he sent em to a church

i findx offense to that

[Eloriel]

7. Bullshit -- the Secret Service is VERY involved in also protecting

him from having to even see that there are any protesters. It may be the local cops who carry out the orders, but the SS is very involved, and have been for probably as long as Bush has been in office.

[BBG]

11. W to Staff to SS, it all rolls down hill

And actually the SS is also following orders. Had a conversation with a couple of agents on the last visit of his flatulence and they shared that the White House Staff sets the perimeter parameters. One agent indicated that the same perimeters are considerably expanded from the SS standards for other protectees.

All in all it is a scary thing when the Staff cordons off the public and the Staff is also the primary/sole source for news. Isolated from any means of realistic feedback on his performance he is free to happy go lucky continue on the path of taking this once great nation down with his strong but wrong actions.

[mama]

8. This is my town and my church...

I drove by early this morning, just to see if a protest group was forming and where. There were cops everywhere 2 hours before Bush was to arrive. The church is about 1 mile from the high school and the church driveway is uphill so that you can't really see who is up there. The mayor is Bush's NE Ohio campaign manager, but he doesn't seem to be so gung-ho on Bush. I'll admit I've respected and voted for him many times, now I really have reason to question his judgment. I'm more disappointed in the priest who let them use the church, I always thought he was a really decent guy and I supposed he was a Democrat.
Yes it is a rather affluent community, but you do meet a lot of good, caring people here. I'm not talking about the Republicans who have moved into McMansions to impress their ilk. Most of us can spot those phonies from across the Cuyahoga.

[burrowowl]

14. Welcome to DU, mama!

:hi:

[Kenergy]

18. Thank you for that info,

and welcome to DU!

[IA_Seth]

10. Read This!

Sounds like our experience here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. These police officers are allowing the ignorant half of our country stay in love with this failure of a President!

Follow this link!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x747765