Someone asked once by Niki2

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Someone asked once

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 13:49
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 12:04 PM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Someone asked once on a forum what would have happened if people had brought (legal) guns to a BUSH event. I think we all know the answer.

But I found this, which is funny (to me) in showing the comparison:

Guns OK Outside Obama Town Hall; Kerry Pins Brought Arrest At Bush Rally

Bush's Waffen-SS arrested (and strip-searched) people with Kerry-Edwards buttons pinned to their T-shirts and paper protest signs at his at his GOP-only appearances. But, when a Reichwinger attends a New Hampshire town hall meeting with a gun -- merely yards from President Obama -- the protester not only gets to remain at the meeting but also gets to be a guest on MSNBC's 'Hardball.'

Obviously it's absurdly slanted and represents either a very hard-line right winger or a wingnut, but the fact remains the same. Bush wouldn't have put up with this crap...yet the republicans are the party of the NRA. Makes for thought...

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 12:16 PM

BYTEMITE

Not that I doubt you, but source?

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 12:30 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

No problem, sorry, I forgot to. It was so slanted it made me ashamed to put it up and I wanted to delete a couple of the words, so I just stuck it up and posted it and got away. I found it unsurprising and funny.

I should have searched for a less slanted accounting, and it only took a few seconds to do so:

Kerry Supporters Arrested at Bush Rally Sue Law Enforcement

IOWA CITY -- Two women who were arrested at campaign rally for President Bush last fall and strip-searched at a county jail say law enforcement officers conspired to violate their constitutional rights.

Alice McCabe and Christine Nelson are suing the U.S. Secret Service and three of its agents, the Iowa State Patrol and two patrolmen, and Linn County.

The two women, both school teachers in their 50s, were among scores of people who were arrested, removed or barred from Bush rallies last year for wearing shirt or buttons favoring his Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry, or for vocally criticizing the president.

"I believe the federal government behaved very badly in this situation," said David O'Brien, the women's attorney.

Bob Teig, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Cedar Rapids, said the office had not yet seen the complaint and could not comment.

McCabe and Nelson are described in the lawsuit as political novices, motivated by their opposition to Bush administration policies in Iraq.

Both attended Bush's Sept. 3 rally at a Cedar Rapids park, with McCabe holding a sheet of paper reading, "No More War," and Nelson wearing a Kerry button.

While standing on a sidewalk near, but not inside, the rally site, a Secret Service agent told McCabe she was on private property and would have to move.

The women moved to a parking area, where a member of the local Republican Party was holding a bucket to collect contributions.

The agent approached again and repeated the order to move. After asking why, McCabe was arrested by a state trooper. Nelson was arrested later by another trooper, according to the lawsuit.

The women -- among five protesters arrested during the rally -- were handcuffed, taken to the county jail, strip-searched and charged with criminal trespass.

The charges were dropped months later.

Their lawsuit claims their rights to free speech, free assembly, equal protection and due process were violated. It claims federal agents conspired with local and state law enforcement to deprive them of those rights.

The lawsuit claims the decision by police to conduct a strip search violated constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Typically suspects are searched only if authorities have cause to believe they possess a weapon or illegal drugs, O'Brien said.

"We don't think they had a reasonable belief that these two, 50-year-old school teachers had a weapon or contraband in their possession that day," O'Brien said, whose clients requested a jury trial and unspecified damages.

Their experience in the world of political protest was hardly unique during the 2004 election cycle, said Chris Hansen, senior staff counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Dozens of people were arrested for protesting outside events, removed after getting inside ticket-only areas or asked to sign forms endorsing Bush to get inside.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently asked a judge to toss out a case filed by the ACLU and two West Virginia residents who were arrested for wearing anti-Bush shirts at a campaign rally.

"We're still seeing it happen," said Hansen, citing recent cases of protesters being escorted from appearances Bush has made in recent months to tout his Social Security plan.

"During the election, and now after it ... these kinds of problems are popping up almost every time the president travels," Hansen said.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0429-07.htm

It's easy to find several stories, just google (I use GO) "Bush Rally" + "Kerry Buttons"

http://zzpat.tripod.com/cvb/oct_2004/john_sachs_leave_or_sniper_will_t
ake_you_out.html

Wow...while looking for more sites, I stumbled across LOTS of stuff about people being ticketed, thrown out, arrested, threatened and more for wearing t-shirts, or in one case hollering "No!" when Cheney said Bush had made the country safer at a rally! I wasn't paying attention, or too deeply immured to stuff, to have noticed all this.

But of course...no, I won't even go there...

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 1:06 PM

BYTEMITE

Well, it's the AP, and I see no reason to doubt that. I usually like it from a confirmed newspaper or news network, but good enough.

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 1:49 PM

DREAMTROVE

Actually, the reality is that assassins are lunatics. If we all recall, the guy who tried to assassinate Bush through a dud grenade stolen from a soviet cache, missed, hit a post, and then hit a 9yo girl, who was okay, because it was a dud, not the attacker's plan. He did it for the glory of god, and was had some al qaeda connection.

While the US was trying to get Georgia t
o extradite him for the crime, he was arrested on an unrelated double murder charge of which he was incredibly guilty, and is currently serving two life sentences, and so cannot be released into US custody.

I think we can all agree, regardless of what we think of Bush, that his assassin was a whack job. I think it's a safe bet.

All you've really proven here is that Bush has better security than Obama. Maybe the president should see to that.

Edit: I agree that Bush was paranoid and Cheney more so, but they had reason to be, they had a lot of enemies, and for good reason I'll grant. Obama also has a lot of enemies, and I wouldn't hold it against him if he decided not to allow birthers and deathers into his rallies. If someone doesn't believe that Obama is the president, maybe they have no business at his gathering, and should take their complaints to John McCain, who, sure, would throw them out on their asses, but then again, maybe that's what they deserve.

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