{"id":15596,"date":"2008-05-20T10:50:32","date_gmt":"2008-05-20T14:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/15596.html"},"modified":"2008-05-20T10:50:32","modified_gmt":"2008-05-20T14:50:32","slug":"testing-the-integrity-of-the-bubble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/testing-the-integrity-of-the-bubble\/","title":{"rendered":"Testing the integrity of The Bubble"},"content":{"rendered":"

As discouraging as Bush’s Bubble Boy policies have been, they have not gone unchallenged. In March 2005, for example, three Denver residents obtained tickets to a public town hall meeting on the president’s Social Security plan. Someone working at the event noticed an anti-war bumper sticker (“No Blood For Oil”) on their car, which prompted staffers to forcibly remove the three from the presidential event, despite the fact that they hadn’t done anything wrong. The group, known as the Denver Three, filed a lawsuit, and learned all kinds of interesting things.<\/p>\n

Now, another similar lawsuit<\/a> is about to get underway in Des Moines, Iowa. (thanks to reader B.D. for the heads-up)<\/p>\n

A federal lawsuit filed by two retired school teachers who said they were handcuffed and strip searched during a 2004 campaign stop by President George W. Bush is scheduled to go to trial next week.<\/p>\n

The case involves Christine Nelson and Alice McCabe, who were arrested at a rally at Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids on Sept. 3, 2004. The charges were later dropped.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit goes forward minus a couple of defendants. The Iowa attorney general’s office confirmed Monday that an out-of-court settlement is being finalized involving two state troopers named in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The remaining defendants in the case include a Secret Service agent and a Linn County jailer who performed the strip search.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of all the incidents involving the Bush gang’s efforts to protect The Bubble, this one has always been one of the most outrageous.
\n
\nIt’s been a while, so here’s a review<\/a> of what transpired.<\/p>\n

When school was canceled to accommodate a campaign visit by President Bush, the two 55-year-old teachers reckoned the time was ripe to voice their simmering discontent with the administration’s policies.<\/p>\n

Christine Nelson showed up at the Cedar Rapids rally with a Kerry-Edwards button pinned on her T-shirt; Alice McCabe clutched a small, paper sign stating “No More War.” What could be more American, they thought, than mixing a little dissent with the bunting and buzz of a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by the president?<\/p>\n

Their reward: a pair of handcuffs and a strip search at the county jail.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Local authorities said Nelson and McCabe “refused to obey reasonable security restrictions,” though that wouldn’t necessarily explain the need for a strip search. Regardless, Nelson, who teaches history and government, insisted that she was taken away because she “had a dissenting opinion.”<\/p>\n

Given what we’ve seen, I’m inclined to believe Nelson and McCabe. After all, those enforcing Bush’s bubble don’t have a terrific track record.<\/p>\n

I’ll let you know what happens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As discouraging as Bush’s Bubble Boy policies have been, they have not gone unchallenged. In March 2005, for example, three Denver residents obtained tickets to a public town hall meeting on the president’s Social Security plan. Someone working at the event noticed an anti-war bumper sticker (“No Blood For Oil”) on their car, which prompted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}