The young man above had the following happen to him when he went to hear Bush speak:
Twenty minutes before the doors opened for the Tucson Civic Center forum, an event staffer approached Steven, asked for a better view of his t-shirt, then demanded his ticket.
"When the staffer took my ticket, he literally crumpled it up in his hand and then walked away. I was too shocked and frankly too disappointed to even do or say anything." said Steven Gerner, a University of Arizona student.
The staffer returned twenty minutes later, told Gerner that his name had been "reported" and warned that there was no way he could gain entry into the event.
"I really wanted a chance to hear the Bush side of the Social Security debate. Plus, I have never seen a President speak and even though I am a dedicated Democrat – I was excited to see the leader of my country." Gerner said. "Regardless of which party wins the Presidency, the person who sits in that office should take personal responsibility to fairly represent all Americans and provide equal access for us to hear him speak."
Ironically, during the event, Sen. John McCain said (paraphrasing): "The door is open for the Democrats to talk to us about Social Security ... but they won't!"
(Via Will Bunch at Attytood.)
The problem is they need to worry about protesters disrupting events. When you were a shirt that pretty much says you don't like the President then of they are obviously not going to let you attend.
That would be like me wearing a "swift boat veterans for truth" shirt to a John Kerry event. They would stop me just as quick. This shouldn't be a suprise to anyone, it's common sense.
Posted by: Lokester | March 22, 2005 at 07:18 PM
It's just not true. Kerry didn't bar obvious Republicans from his campaign stops - I know, because I was there, and people with Bush tshirts were there. (You couldn't bring in your own signs, though - either for Bush or Kerry.)
On the other hand, Bush prevented any Democrats from attending numerous campaign appearances.
Posted by: Mithras | March 22, 2005 at 08:31 PM
Would a disruption be such a bad thing, Lokester? The free speech cage mentality has become altogether too popular and sensitivity of people who rule a little too precious for a healthy democratic process. I don't think it would such a bad thing for people with enormous power to be constantly defending their policies -- at the whim of the people they govern. Sure there would be disruptive and stupid people. But so what?
Posted by: Harry | March 22, 2005 at 09:22 PM
Does that kid's shirt read "Be a smart?" Am I missing part of the shirt "Be a smarty," perhaps? Or is there something on the other side that ties it all together?
Posted by: Gib | March 23, 2005 at 09:04 AM
Yeah, it's not a great picture. It says "Be a Smart" followed by a drawing of a donkey. Under that it says "Young Democrats."
Posted by: Mithras | March 23, 2005 at 10:05 AM
I'm not taking sides, but it should be noted that at universities over the last ten years there have been numerous examples of students shouting down speakers. In every case that I have read about the speakers were conservatives. Therefore, Kerry's camp would have no precedent to concern them, but Bush's camp would have many. It doesn't excuse what they did; just explains the difference (maybe).
Posted by: Brad | March 23, 2005 at 11:39 AM
Kids, kids, kids. (1) Bush is the President of the United Fucking States of America. Even the most brain-dead conservative should be able to see the problem if the head of the executive branch is in the habit of insulating himself from disagreement. (2) It's the Free Speech, stupid.
Posted by: Mithras | March 23, 2005 at 11:46 AM
Does that kid's shirt read "Be a smart?" Am I missing part of the shirt
uh, if you understand pictograms, you'd have to read it as "Be a smart-ass" but with a political twist...
Posted by: acm | March 23, 2005 at 12:12 PM
Wow, we've really got a problem in this country when the wingnuts see nothing wrong with a government official keeping a citizen out of a government event because the citizen may not be sufficient supportive of The Party.
Posted by: paperwight | March 23, 2005 at 05:06 PM
Kid, kid, kid. (1) Only a brain-dead liberal (and I am coming from left of the liberals) would not realize that the president of the fucking united stated cannot possibley insulate himself from disagreement. (2) The practice of shouting down speakers is the opposite of free speach, moron (it's interesting that it took a comment post to point out to you what the shirt message meant; but you'll say "I knew that!").
This is rich: "brain-dead conservative," "wingnuts"; these posts read like right-wing parody of the left. That is both sad (because it shows the shallowness of current liberal thought) and dangerous, because these people need to be countered by something better than childish name-calling.
Posted by: Brad | March 23, 2005 at 05:50 PM
Damn, Brad, get a spell-checker. I don't believe that you're coming from left of liberal. I think you're a wingnut talking point troll, because you're coming armed with all of the Horowitz talking points, poor grammar, and spin that they do.
And if you're really coming from left of liberal, you damn well should be taking sides, because you're next, after the gay people.
Posted by: paperwight | March 23, 2005 at 06:19 PM
Brad,
What law school did you go to? I am not referring to a right of free speech to heckle. I am talking about removing people from a government-run event solely based on their political affiliation and the non-violent, non-obscene message on their shirt.
Now, go fuck yourself, you right-wing troll.
Posted by: Mithras | March 23, 2005 at 06:32 PM
"because the citizen may not be sufficient supportive of The Party"
Please continue; we need your grammar lessons!!!
Posted by: Brad | March 23, 2005 at 07:04 PM
I find it interesting how Brad comes in here, effectively shouts and heckles, and then projects his behavior onto a young man he has never met, whose rights were violated, who, as far as we know, has never heckled anyone. Can we stick to the facts here?
Free Speech, Dissent, and Public Assembly are under assault. These constitutional rights don't fit in with the politics of the Republican Noise Machine. Read the forward to the 104 page report by the National Lawyers Guild. Read the whole report, if you have the time. This report is a free download from www.nlg.org (http://www.nlg.org/resources/DissentBookWeb.pdf). It documents numerous cases where constitutional rights have been violated, in Miami, New York, Boston, Portland, and elsewhere.
Bush likes to preach "we refuse to live in fear," but he's too cowardly to let a young man in to see him because he doesn't like his garb. It's disgusting, and scary to those who believe in the ideals of this country and its Constitution.
Posted by: Jujitsuka | March 23, 2005 at 07:06 PM