Opponents excluded from Social Security debate (E.J. Dionne, Jr.)

[Up2Late]

Opponents excluded from Social Security debate

E.J. Dionne, Jr.
Washington Post Writers Group
04.01.05

Dubya brings 'em on... as long as they agree with him, of course

WASHINGTON -- If President Bush is so insistent that his political adversaries talk to him about fixing Social Security, why does he keep throwing them out of his campaign rallies -- excuse me, "town meetings" -- on the subject?

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...Just ask Karen Bauer, who tried to attend Bush's Social Security event in Denver last week with her friends Leslie Weise and Alex Young. They were given tickets by the office of Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Colo. "We had on suits, we didn't have any buttons or pins," Bauer said in a telephone interview. Beneath their sober attire, they wore T-shirts that read "Stop the Lies," but decided to keep them covered.

Before the three could enter, they were stopped and directed toward "a man wearing a smiley-face tie," Bauer says. The man in the tie told them that the Secret Service was coming to see them. Someone "in a suit wearing an ear piece and a lapel pin" came along to say that "we had been ID'd" and "that if we had any ill intentions, we would be arrested and jailed." They were initially seated, she said, but the organizers had second thoughts and escorted them out.

According to the Secret Service, the man they spoke with was not a government agent but a local Republican volunteer. It appears they were "ID'd" by a bumper sticker on their car that read: "No More Blood for Oil." So don't dare display a controversial bumper sticker if you want to hear your president. The Republican Party is watching you...

(more at link above)

[hippiepunk]

1. smiley face tie?

Fascism with a friendly face!

[cybildisobedience]

2. as much as I'm glad to see the media whores finally noticing,

I still have to ask -- what took you so g.d. long?
Why were able to stand by and watch it for years now, and not utter a peep?
Why did you allow this man to steal not one, but TWO presidential elections, and not act as a willing conduit for his lies?