Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Dissent in America is dead

WTF?

On the evening of August 10, Hannah Shaffer of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, decided to go to the nearby Barnes & Noble outside of Wilmington. She wanted to see Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who was promoting his book, “It Takes a Family.”

The event was billed as a “book signing and discussion,” Shaffer says.

But discussion was the last thing that the Senator’s people wanted.

Shaffer, her friends, and two other young women were booted out of the store and threatened with imprisonment even before they had a chance to say a word to Santorum, as Al Mascitti first noted in the Delaware News Journal.

8 comments:

dta said...

“He told me if I took any of the underaged kids in, I would be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.”

I'm going to have to agree. Exposing minors to *anything* Santorum really should be considered as such.

Un-fucking-believable...

Gonzo said...

Yup, it is "un-fucking-believable" ... which I why I treat it as propaganda hogwash until reported by someone with a smaller axe to grind than "progressive.com".

You libs really are sheep, aren't you? "Baaa" for me.

dta said...

A quick Google shows that Delaware News Journal and the Economist covered the story as well.

But I’m sure it wasn’t on FNC.

Sheep indeed.

Gonzo said...

Ya know, this "news" story is a rubberstamp of about a dozen or more similiar in the past. During the Presidential campaign, there were all of these supposed supressions of folks who differed from Bush's opinions and were not allowed into a rally or thrown out or somesuch.

Not once, not once, have I seen the opposite - that is, a conservative thrown out of a Democratic rally.

Is this because it doesn't happen? No. I submit to you that none of it happens as stated - that agitators go into events looking for trouble and with heightened security to protect our civil servants - find it.

Just more hysteria. Keep it up, Dems....maybe we'll have 60+ GOP in the Senate in 2006!

dta said...

Because you’ve never heard of this happening at a Democratic rally, you deduce that it must not be true.

Capricious logic Gonzo, I’d caution you to step back from the edge but it’s obviously too late.

What exactly would you need to see, read or hear to believe that the Bush Administration has had a long standing policy to keep reasonable and civil dissent both from this feckless President and his blind faith followers?

The answer I'd wager is nothing. Your mind is closed. Pity, you're a smart man.

Gonzo said...

My mind isn't closed, dta, in fact, it's pure analytics that led me to my conclusion. Being closed minded, OTOH, would be to blanketly assert it happened or it didn't.

Go back to all such similar stories in the past 18 months or so and you'll see a pattern.

Now, in your comeback, you bash Bush and his "followers", yet the story was about Rick Santorum, whom is know to be an outspoken conservative and not exactly in lockstep with Bush on all issues.

So, if you think about it, perhaps it's you who need to step back from whatever the fuck edge you're talking about and look at the scenario with open eyes and wonder about the veracity.

Gonzo said...

Followup:

In fact, there are a lot of progresive and liberal groups out these who have a mandate to portray conservatives and especially Bush in exactly the light this story seems to paint. This makes any partisan claims of this nature highly suspect, and it also raises what journalistic standards were used by whatever MM covered it.

The hyperbole, rhetoric, and out-and-out propaganda by extermist groups in this country - both left and right - is at an all-time high. If anything, it's important for responsible citizens to foster and hone a Bullshit Detector.

dta said...

I believe I understand what you are saying. This story could be untrue, or only partially true, as could every other reported incident where this has happened with Bush or Cheney.

But it seems you don't even leave the room for possibility that this is so -- based on the fact that you've never heard it happen at a Dem function.

So I ask again, what would you have to read, see or hear to believe such a thing happens, and has been happening with specific intent since Bush took office?

The fact that it happened with Santorum just means that precedent has been set, and is now being applied by other GOPers.