Stalin and Bush

A loathsome sight for an authoritarian regime is a group of citizens demonstrating their disagreement and disrespect for the leader of the regime.

Like Stalin and Pinochet, dictators large and small are utterly incapable of recognizing that citizens have the right to protest and express their disapproval of their government and its policies.

That citizens ought to be free to express their desired manner of their social arrangement and how state power is directed is a concept alien to George W. Bush and his ahistorical, petty mind for whom classical liberalism remains unknown.

The Bushies do not want to hear dissenting voices, and certainly do not want anyone else to hear it.

So, it comes as no surprise that the Bush White house maintains a manual that gives “presidential advance staffers extensive instructions in the art of ‘deterring potential protestors’ from President Bush's public appearances around the country.”

Some highlight from Peter Baker’s Washington Post piece:

Among other things, any event must be open only to those with tickets tightly controlled by organizers. Those entering must be screened in case they are hiding secret signs. Any anti-Bush demonstrators who manage to get in anyway should be shouted down by "rally squads" stationed in strategic locations. And if that does not work, they should be thrown out.

"These squads should be instructed always to look for demonstrators," it says. "The rally squad's task is to use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the main press platform. If the demonstrators are yelling, rally squads can begin and lead supportive chants to drown out the protestors (USA!, USA!, USA!). As a last resort, security should remove the demonstrators from the event site."

Advance teams are advised not to worry if protesters are not visible to the president or cameras: "If it is determined that the media will not see or hear them and that they pose no potential disruption to the event, they can be ignored. On the other hand, if the group is carrying signs, trying to shout down the President, or has the potential to cause some greater disruption to the event, action needs to be taken immediately to minimize the demonstrator's effect."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that he could not discuss the manual because it is an issue in two other lawsuits.

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