Yesterday, we learned that three Denver residents (Alex Young, Karen Bauer, and Leslie Weise) were removed from a presidential event because one of them drove a car with a liberal bumper sticker. Today, their story started getting some wider play in the media, including articles in the Washington Post and USA Today.
Contrary to initial reports, we’ve since learned that while the three believed it was Secret Service agents who had grabbed them and escorted them out of the event, it was instead Republican staffers who spotted the bumper and led them out of the auditorium.
I was struck, meanwhile, by the inanity of the White House’s response.
Scott McClellan, Bush’s press secretary, said it was a volunteer who asked them to leave “out of concern they might try to disrupt the event.” He said the White House welcomes a variety of voices into events but discourages people from coming to heckle the president or disrupt town hall forums. “If someone is coming to try to disrupt it, then obviously that person would be asked to leave,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity outside of the event to express their views.”
But therein lies the point. These three were given free tickets to see the president. There was nothing wrong with their attire, they hadn’t said a discouraging word to anyone, and there was no disturbance. The Bush White House, to hear McClellan tell it, has lowered the bar so far that you don’t even need to disrupt an event to get thrown out; Republican staffers merely have to believe you might cause trouble.
It’s as if Bush has taken his “preemption” foreign policy and applied it to public events. The White House could wait until people actually try to disrupt a presidential appearance, but why bother? Better to take them out now and not take any chances. If it turns out later the aggrieved didn’t pose an imminent threat intend to cause any trouble, the Bush gang will just change the rationale for the policy anyway.