Per M kommenterar hur verkligheten regisseras när Bush ska framträda:

"Det skrämmande och kanske mest signifikanta i hela cirkusen är att polis används för att avvisa fredliga åhörare vars enda brott är att de bär plakat som är negativa mot Bush. Så bilden i media blir effektivt sanerad från kritiska människor."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette rapporterar hur 65-årige Bill Neel arresterades för att han bar plakatet "The Bush family must surely love the poor, they've made so many of us" vid Bushs besök i Pennsylvania på fjol:

"...that morning, a county police sergeant and members of the Secret Service had instructed officers to remove anyone carrying signs critical of the president and remove them to a fenced-off ball field far from the main event.

Neel wouldn't get behind that fence. He wasn't threatening. He didn't raise his voice. He uttered no obscenities or vulgarities. He simply wouldn't do as he was told when a police officer repeatedly told him to get in the corral with the other protesters. Instead, Neel kept talking about his rights as an American. When he was finally arrested, he went peacefully. (---)

The Bush administration has been setting up these 'security zones' that are reserved for only those who protest his policies, and they are being moved farther and farther from the action, says Vic Walczak, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Pittsburgh chapter.

Walczak said this 'manipulates the public perception to make it appear the president is more popular. What's clear after today's hearing is that this is being directed at a federal level.'

(...) the numerous photos of pro-Bush signs lining the motorcade route destroys the argument that this roundup had a legitimate security purpose. Those who intend to threaten the president or anyone else don't often arrive with visual aids for the constabulary."

Läs hela i Pittsburgh Post-gazette.

Fler arresterade i Florida: "In and around these Bush rallies, supporters of the president were welcome anywhere. It was only those opposing administration policies who were banished..."
St. Petersburg Times: Zones hinder free speech

Och i Ohio: Anti-Bush protesters ejected from Ohio State commencement (Godwin's lag-varning).
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