Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?

If you haven’t already, you may soon be hearing about John Gasquet. He hasn’t done anything remarkable, but he may have received a phone call recently that would mark a whole new, Stalin-like chapter in the White House’s efforts to shield Bush from dissent (via Cursor).

“The man who called was very polite and nice,” says John Gasquet, owner of Empire coffee at 2 N. Main in Downtown Memphis. “He said he was special agent Something-or-other. He said that due to the fact that in some states the President had been to, there were issues of security regarding area businesses, he was calling businesses to tell them not to put up any negative signs in their windows that were negative toward President Bush. He said there were designated areas of protest and this would cut down on the possibility of problems.”

Gasquet didn’t have any negative signs in his window, and he hadn’t been planning on posting any signs at all. As a businessman — about to pass his business off to new owners — it didn’t seem logical to post material that might antagonize half his clientele.

“I thought sure, okay. Fine. But then it started to irritate me. I’m a veteran… I’ve served my country. I was happy to do it and I would do it again. And it bugged me that someone from the Federal Government would try to tell me not to do this.”

At this point, there’s a lot to this story we that remains unclear. Did Gasquet get a call from some conservative in his area pretending to be with the Secret Service? It’s certainly possible. Were other small businesses in the area contacted with similar requests? Customers told Gasquet that they had, but again, it could have been some local nut pulling a scam.

But if a federal agent actually called small business owners to encourage them not to express political opinions in a storefront window, it will take Bush’s “Bubble Boy” problem to a whole new level.

Gasquet’s experience is being taken pretty seriously. He’s already been interviewed by NPR and Salon, and he’s scheduled to be on Air America this afternoon. It’s a story worth keeping an eye on.