An Enemy of the People President
You might recall the 2005 incident where two law-abiding American citizens were expelled from a Social Security rally featuring President Bush because they had an anti-war bumper sticker on their car.
The two law-abiding American citizens sued the individuals who forcibly removed them, claiming a violation of their civil liberties. The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment — essentially arguing that no trial was necessary because no rational jury could possibly find against them. The judge dismissed that motion, as judges typically do. The defendants are now appealing that dismissal (remember, there has been no trial yet).
Their reasoning?
[T]heir lawyers filed an appeals brief arguing that their clients had the right to take action against Mr. Young and Ms. Weise precisely because the two held views different from Mr. Bush’s.“They excluded people from a White House event because they posed a threat of being disruptive,” said a lawyer for Mr. Casper, Sean Gallagher.
There you have it — the shark has been jumped and the absurdum has been embraced. Merely disagreeing with the president now makes you a threat.
As if every person who disapproves of President Bush — all 58% of us — were raving maniacs incapable of any self-control or basic civility. The notion that a reasonable adult cannot possibly want to attend a rally by someone he opposes for any other reason (e.g., to ask responsible question) than to create a ruckus is now inconceivable to this administration and its operatives. Now, an appellate court is being told, mere disagreement is simply impossible. Anyone who disapproves of President Bush must be “out to get him” and must be pre-emptively neutralized.
Granted, this is merely the desperate pleading of two private defendants, not an official position of the Bush Administration.
Yet.
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