{"id":16137,"date":"2008-07-09T10:37:45","date_gmt":"2008-07-09T14:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/16137.html"},"modified":"2008-07-09T10:37:45","modified_gmt":"2008-07-09T14:37:45","slug":"a-bubble-boy-for-a-new-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/a-bubble-boy-for-a-new-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"A ‘Bubble Boy’ for a new generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the conventional wisdom is right, John McCain would at least be a slight improvement over George W. Bush on the issue of The Bubble. The current president famously goes to comical lengths to avoid competing ideas or those he might disagree with. McCain couldn’t possibly be that bad.<\/p>\n

But at this point, McCain seems to be picking up Bush’s Bubble-Boy policies and running with them. Carol Kreck, for example, is a 61-year-old part-time librarian, who went to McCain’s town-hall meeting in Denver on Monday. The event was described as “open to the public,” and was held at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, which is financed in part by tax dollars.<\/p>\n

Kreck, however, brought a hand-held sign with her that read, “McCain=Bush.” And as Rachel Maddow reported on MSNBC last night, that didn’t go over well.<\/p>\n

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A police officer told Kreck, “You have two choices. You can keep your sign here and receive a ticket for trespassing, or you can remove the sign and stay in line and attend this town hall meeting.” When Kreck chose Door #1, she was escorted by police off the property, and told she would be arrested if she returned.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, it was also in Denver, three years ago, when three people were forcibly removed from a presidential event because White House staffers didn’t approve of their bumper sticker<\/a>. Now, it’s McCain, and a 61-year-old part-time librarian facing arrest for carrying a paper sign at a public event.<\/p>\n

If you watch the video, pay particular attention to the question Kreck posed after being escorted away by two police officers: why would a “McCain=Bush” sign necessarily be considered offensive?
\n
\nI mean, if Kreck brought a sign with her that read “I (heart) McCain” or “McCain=Reagan” or “McCain=Victory,” chances are Kreck wouldn’t have been charged with trespassing, and wouldn’t have faced arrest.<\/p>\n

She received a citation, though, for attending a public event and articulating a two-word message that the McCain campaign doesn’t like. The phrase “viewpoint discrimination” comes to mind.<\/p>\n

When the White House defends its Bubble-Boy policies, it generally argues that it wants to prevent disruptions from potential protestors at public events. That might sound reasonable enough, but there’s always that nagging question: how does one figure out who a “potential protestor” is? In other words, there’s no reason to lower the bar so low that you don’t even need to disrupt an event to get thrown out of a public event; you’re gone if Republicans think you might<\/i> cause trouble.<\/p>\n

As for the politics of this, had officials at the event simply left Kreck alone, most of the attendees probably would have ignored her and her sign would have been of no consequence. However, by giving her a citation and threatening her with arrest, officials have created a legitimate and widely-reported news story<\/a> and given Kreck a platform she wouldn’t have had if they’d just let her be.<\/p>\n

By trying to silence this 61-year-old part-time librarian, officials at the event inadvertently amplified her message. How amusing.<\/p>\n

Kreck’s court date is July 23. I’ll let you know what happens.<\/p>\n

Update<\/i>: I forgot to mention one of the more blatant angles<\/a> to McCain’s Bubble-Boy approach: <\/p>\n

The Washington Post reports that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is now traveling in a new \u201cStraight Talk Express\u201d campaign airplane. It \u201cfeatures a special area\u201d with \u201ca couch and two captain\u2019s chairs\u201d where \u201cMcCain will conduct group interviews with the press.\u201d But not all reporters covering McCain can enjoy this new lap of luxury. Top McCain aide Mark Salter said \u201c\u2018only the good reporters\u2019 would get to sit in the specially-configured section for interviews. \u2018You\u2019ll have to earn it,\u2019 he said.\u201d So how can these reporters \u201cearn\u201d a seat? Never challenge the Senator, as McCain biographer Matt Welch explained in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the conventional wisdom is right, John McCain would at least be a slight improvement over George W. Bush on the issue of The Bubble. The current president famously goes to comical lengths to avoid competing ideas or those he might disagree with. McCain couldn’t possibly be that bad. But at this point, McCain seems […]<\/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-16137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16137","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=16137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}