Staying “On Message,” Bushco Style

This recent USA Today editorial chided Dubya and his entourage for “confront(ing) and eject(ing)” a couple wearing anti-Bush T-Shirts at an appearance in Charleston, West Virginia where Dubya gave a speech on Independence Day in 2004.

As the editorial notes…

(Jeffrey and Nicole Rank) refused demands to take the shirts off, turn them inside out or leave. Though they were on public property and not being disruptive, they were handcuffed, arrested and charged with trespass. The charges were later dropped, and with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Ranks sued the White House advance personnel for violating their First Amendment rights.

Last week, the government settled the case, admitting no wrongdoing but agreeing to pay the Ranks $80,000. That avoidable expenditure of taxpayer dollars speaks volumes about who was wrong here.

A recent New York Times editorial noted that Bushco has written a crowd control manual to make sure nothing contrary to the party line emerges in corporate media reports (though that façade is cracking of course due to all of the recent defections of its key players). The editorial notes the following…

“Do not fall into their trap!” warns the presidential manual in hypothesizing that protesters really want to be physically restrained and attract media notice, not merely exercise their right to complain. Instead, the roaming squads’ task is to use their own “signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform.”

Noisy protest? The rally squads’ response must be immediate choruses of “USA! USA!” to muffle the moment with patriotic chaff. These vigilante squads are out of place in a democracy.

…

The manual magnanimously advises local police to tolerate dissenters — providing they are barred from the event through an ultra-loyalist ticketing process and then cordoned well off from earshot and sight of the president and his passing motorcade.

Every White House stage-manages presidential events, but this level of obsession with silencing the vox pop is a symptom of this administration’s broader problem honoring Americans’ constitutional freedoms.

This gives me an opportunity to plug an anti-Dubya T-shirt site here (though it truly does support our troops). Have fun.