The Bush administration assault on freedom of speech continues, but the government ended up on the short end of the stick this time. Nicole and Jeffery Rank of Corpus Christi, Texas, were handcuffed and tossed out of an Independence Day rally at the West Virginia state Capitol, where Bush delivered a speech. Their “crime”?
The front of the Ranks’ homemade T-shirts bore the international symbol for “no” superimposed over the word “Bush.” The back of Nicole Rank’s T-shirt said “Love America, Hate Bush.” On the back of Jeffery Rank’s T-shirt was the message “Regime Change Starts at Home.”A White House spokesman said the $80K settlement was “not an admission of wrongdoing.”
The other news about the settlement, however, is that some of the contents of a purported “sensitive” Presidential Advance Manual have been revealed, which, as ABC’s Blotter reports, “laid out the White House’s meticulous efforts to protect the president and his public image from dissent.” Some nuggets:
“As a last resort, security should remove the demonstrators from the event,” the manual instructs. The government turned over a heavily redacted version of the manual to the ACLU in the course of the lawsuit.The document is available on the ACLU web site.The first step to keeping demonstrators out of events, the manual tells the president’s event staff, is to encourage the Secret Service to “ask the local police department to designate a protest area…preferably not in view of the event site or the motorcade route.”
Inside the event space, the manual advises, White House advance personnel should preposition “rally squads” that can swarm any protesters at the event and “use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform.” The rally squads can be formed using “college/young republican organizations, local athletic teams, and fraternities/sororities,” the manual notes.
16 Responses to “Feds pay $80,000 over anti-Bush T-shirts, contents of Presidential Advance Manual revealed”
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Why does this White House give us a document which is really heavily redacted, but which still has enough stuff in it to seriously piss anyone off who cares about free speech? Are they just being ‘teasy’ and messing with our heads?
Oh, cunning plan! A buffer of head busters that also act as human shields should thing get uglier. (And how could they not, using Young Thugs and Jocks lathered up with war porn?)
But the fallbac, should utter chaos ensue, is that professional goons can just bust any old head in their reach and let God sort it out. (Turns out he’s a pal, a Crony God if you will.)
Dear Leader must never be allowed to know he is pretty much despised by the American people.
It worked well during the Florida recount, after all. And then there was that guy who attacked the Code Pink protester at the RNC.
‘A White House spokesman said the $80K settlement was “not an admission of wrongdoing.”’
In other news, OJ says that his civil suit loss and his de facto confession in “If I Did It” are not admissions of wrongdoing. Even though evidence was ALL OVER THE PLACE.
Jackasses, both guilty parties.
Why did the Ranks’ settle?
p.s. I keep having problems with commenting.
Oh like HELL it’s not.
It’s a bareassed baldfaced attempt to make sure the case does NOT actually come up to trial in the months before the 2008 elections whereupon it would be much more significant.
I don’t doubt that the Ranks “accepted” the settlement as offered: “Plata o plomo.”
“….and fraternities/sororities,” the manual notes.”
or ‘fasciernities/sorrybitchinities’..like that.
I apologize, that kinda day.
laid out the White House’s meticulous efforts to protect the president and his public image from dissent.
The president needs to be “protected” from “dissent”?
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
I’m really tired of having the toddlers in charge.
Here’s a nice touch that shows how much respect they have for even their supporters.
and I love this:
Because chanting the name of your country is like the little black dress, it never goes out of style.And anyone who’d criticize the President of the Republicans clearly came from France or Muzlamistan.
MA Jeff, that’s why this was so good this morning:
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/doonesbury;_ylt=AmJiBOorL38XlYApu3LYAzCz.sgF
As usual, Gary’s got it right. The WH honestly have no clue how badly they screwed up just about EVERYTHING in less than a decade. Or that they even have screwed up at all.
No….WAY!
From here…It never ceases to amaze me how people who endlessly remind you how tough they are, how much better they can protect the country than those spineless Democrats, become unhinged over somebody waving a sign.
please correct this to show a strikethrough for the word “Feds” and insert “taxpayers” after that.
Another flagrant violation of the First Amendment by the most rogue, tyrannical, fascist White House in history. All of them should be impeached IMMEDIATELY.