In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
A differing opinion about what "by the people" means
Kerry, Edwards warm up crowd of 15,000 in Scranton
A hot, sweaty rock concert that began two hours late.
But 15,000 people braved what local officials described as the hottest day of the year while they waited for a fleet of Kerry/Edwards tour buses to arrive. Nearly 100 people had to be treated for heat exhaustion or dehydration, according to
Scranton Fire Chief Tom Davis.The size of the crowd surprised both city and campaign officials, who claimed the turnout was a reflection of the vitality of both.
Versus
You Must Swear allegiance to Bush to Attend Rally
There have been various stories over recent months of people being ejected from Bush rallies for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts and stuff of that sort, with the rationale often being a rather improbable concern for security.
But this Dick Cheney speech in New Mexico seems to be the first instance where would-be attendees were compelled to pledge personal fealty to President Bush in order to get in the front door.
According to this Associated Press story, certain members of the public were required to sign a pledge to endorse President Bush in order to get tickets.
Dan Foley, a Bush campaign spokesman interviewed for the article, tried to argue that the tactic was "a security step designed to avoid a disruption" and said that at least some of the people required to sign the pledge had called from a phone which showed up on caller-ID as ACT (Americans Coming Together), a liberal voter mobilization groupIf you swear loyalty to Bush you can attend a rally. If you don't hold up a anti-Bush poster you can watch his limo drive by. Both of these are under the guise of "security." Do they think we are idiots? If they don't think that then they are. Do they actually think that holding a pro-Bush poster causes an ideological epiphany that would somehow prevent a terrorist from committing a heinous act? Or maybe they just think that terrorists don't lie. Which if that is the case they hold terrorist in higher esteem then they hold themselves.
It isn't differing opinions that the Bush Administration feels is a threat to their physical well being. It seems they think that people with "dark" sounding last names are a threat to security (again because terrorists are never named Rudolph or McVeigh ).
Bush camp solicits race of Star staffer
President Bush's re-election campaign insisted on knowing the race of an Arizona Daily Star journalist assigned to photograph Vice President Dick Cheney.
...Diaz repeated that answer when asked if it is the practice of the White House
to ask for racial information or if the photographer, Mamta Popat, was singled
out because of her name. He referred those questions to the U.S. Secret Service,
which did not respond to a call from the Star Friday afternoon.Hayt declined to speculate on whether Popat was racially profiled, but said
she is deeply concerned."One has to wonder what they were going to do with that information," Hayt
said. "Because she has Indian ancestry, were they going to deny her access? I
don't know."Journalists covering the president or vice president must undergo a
background check and are required to provide their name, date of birth and
Social Security number. The Star provided that information Thursday for Popat
and this reporter."That's all anybody has been asked to provide," said Hayt, adding that this
is the first time in her 26-year career that a journalist's race was made an
issue.Organizer Christine Walton asked for Popat's race in telephone conversations
with two other Star editors before she spoke to Hayt. They also refused to
provide the information. Walton told Hayt that Popat's race was necessary to
allow the Secret Service to distinguish her from someone else who might have the
same name."It was a very lame excuse," Hayt said.
So did you catch that? Popat's race needed to be identified so the Secret Service could distinguish her from someone else who might have the same name. WTF? Do they have a lot of people named Popat coming to their campaigns? They never have more then 1 person with the name of Smith or Johnson coming to their campaigns so its never an issue. And of course people with the last name Popat are some common that they could be Japanese or White or African American, or Native American... so it made sense they'd ask.
They have told so many lies for so long, and they have been getting away with it, that they aren't even trying any more.
This administration can't even bothered to come up with reasonable lies anymore.
- rob 12:37 PM - [PermaLink] -
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