Keep yer yap shut
Dan Froomkin has a fantastic column today via the Washington Post concerning “Bush’s Shrinking Safety Zone” or what I call his “Tourniquet of Denial.”
When was the last time that Bush spoke in a forum open to citizens who are representative of the diverse array of views in the country? Certainly not since last October’s presidential debates, and not often before then, either.
The bubble began to shrink considerably after the 2004 last election, when Team Bush began limiting access to public speaking events with the president, and even hiring loyal volunteers to single out potential liberal insurgents. Nowadays, Bush’s speeches are punctuated by uniformed, military audiences who seem to follow him like a school of well-decorated fish, and of course Big Republican Donors.
Should taxpayers be funding presidential events to which the public is never welcome? Froomkin asks, not for the first time.
Bush’s Norfolk October 28th speech was the last not totally orchestrated by the White Housetickets were made available through the local Chamber of Commerce, although “more than 70 military members sat on risers on the stage behind [the president],” according to Froomkin’s article.
During that speech, a man in a “Dump Bush” t-shirt stood in the audience and shouted, “War is Terrorism! Torture is Terrorism!” before he was hustled out by security.
The naughty activist, Tom Palumbo, said “I think maybe he heard me. I know he looked befuddled.”
Someday soon the long arm of Truth with snake its way up Bush’s puckered rectum and he shall have to confront critical constituents, and the fact that he himself is a douchebag.
Until that day comes, Happy Reading.