[BlackGriffen]

Protesters Chant and Boo as Bush Honors Dr. King

Mr. Bush was met by hundreds of demonstrators when he arrived at The King Center to mark the 75th anniversary of Dr. King's birth. He was shielded from their view by a row of transit-authority buses with police officers in riot gear atop them, according to the pool reporter who accompanied the president into the center.

But the chants and boos of the protesters were audible as Mr. Bush, accompanied by Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, and his sister, Christine King Farris, approached the crypt, laid the wreath and paused briefly in prayer before leaving without making any public remarks.

Outside, the protesters chanted "Bush go home" and "Peace, not war."

Before Mr. Bush's arrival for the 15-minute stop, some of the protesters broke through barriers around the center. Two arrests were made, the Atlanta police said, and the incident prompted the authorities to place the buses between the demonstrators and the president.
[...]
"We question the integrity of the timing of the move because last year at this time he took a stand against affirmative action, the Michigan case, which is part of Dr. King's legacy," Ms. Bowman said, referring to the Supreme Court case that considered the use of race in college admissions.

It looks like Bush's aids are sensitive to the accusations about "free speech zones."

This time it sounds like it was some @sses among the protesters that prompted the addition of a bus (no way to know if the @sses were plants or not). I seriously think that the protesters should start providing their own order enforcers to keep "their own" in line. It would at least ensure that if there were any planted trouble makers, they could deal with them for themselves before the whole thing degrades into a confrontation with the police.

I'm glad that Bush is relenting on his policy to move protesters so far away that they can be neither seen nor heard.

BlackGriffen

[Logic]

Perhaps Bush should try to read some of what King said, especially the quote in my sig.........

[Wiskedjak]

Well, he can't appear as not listening to the people as an election approaches.

[ghost_flash]

Sure, right. I guess whenever Bill Clinton had any public appearance or question answer time the people were not hand chosen by his people and questions given to them. Protestors at any Clinton gathering? I guess he was just *loved* by all. (literally).

[spacefreak]

Mr. Bush was met by hundreds of demonstrators when he arrived at The King Center to mark the 75th anniversary of Dr. King's birth.

I had read this story yesterday, so I wasn't surprised to see a bit mention on the news about the protestors.

What was surprising was that, in the 3 second clip of the protestors, most of the visible crowd were white people.

[thunderous_funker]

Originally posted by spacefreak:
I had read this story yesterday, so I wasn't surprised to see a bit mention on the news about the protestors.

What was surprising was that, in the 3 second clip of the protestors, most of the visible crowd were white people.

I think you saw a fluke clip. It wasn't a very big crowd, but it was almost exclusively organized and led by African-American religious leaders and civic leaders from the area.

It was definitely a predominantly African-American protest.

Bush only got 9% of the black vote in 2000. Many think he'll do even worse in 2004 because his many in the community feel his economic policies have hurt them.

So a general discontent with the African-American community coupled with the fact that Bush was in town for a fund-raiser and the MLK visit was planned last minute, and the president's last minute visit interferred with other commemoration stuff because of security all contributed to this protest.

[Lerkfish]

Originally posted by ghost_flash:
Sure, right. I guess whenever Bill Clinton had any public appearance or question answer time the people were not hand chosen by his people and questions given to them. Protestors at any Clinton gathering? I guess he was just *loved* by all. (literally).

you have something to back that up?
Or are you just pulling it out of thin air?
I certainly don't recall Clinton protecting himself from unscripted questions. In fact, his staff was always cringing because he LOVED to get off the script and mix it up with ex temporaneous question and answer sessions.

I'm curious why you feel the opposite is true.

[davesimondotcom]

Originally posted by Lerkfish:
you have something to back that up?
Or are you just pulling it out of thin air?
I certainly don't recall Clinton protecting himself from unscripted questions. In fact, his staff was always cringing because he LOVED to get off the script and mix it up with ex temporaneous question and answer sessions.

I'm curious why you feel the opposite is true.

It's typical of most candidates from both parties to have questions scripted, especially during a campaign. There is just too much at stake if they get "ambushed."

I remember that both GHW Bush and Clinton visited my hometown in 1992 - and I attended both rallies. Students at both (including me) were asked to ask questions. We were selected before the rally and asked to write our questions for approval. Based on those questions, we were "randomly" selected from the crowd to ask our questions. None of the questions were surprises, and every one that was selected at both rallies was a softball.

I can't speak for what Clinton did while in office, but while campaigning, I'm sure there weren't many surprises. I mean, you know that question on MTV about boxers or briefs was scripted!

[spacefreak]

Originally posted by thunderous_funker:
It was definitely a predominantly African-American protest.

I'm having trouble finding out the racial breakdown of the protest group, so I looked for photos.

Perhaps these are "fluke" photos as well, showing whites and the like. But for such a high-profile protest, the lack of photos is disturbing.

[Lerkfish]

Originally posted by davesimondotcom:
It's typical of most candidates from both parties to have questions scripted, especially during a campaign. There is just too much at stake if they get "ambushed."

I remember that both GHW Bush and Clinton visited my hometown in 1992 - and I attended both rallies. Students at both (including me) were asked to ask questions. We were selected before the rally and asked to write our questions for approval. Based on those questions, we were "randomly" selected from the crowd to ask our questions. None of the questions were surprises, and every one that was selected at both rallies was a softball.

I can't speak for what Clinton did while in office, but while campaigning, I'm sure there weren't many surprises. I mean, you know that question on MTV about boxers or briefs was scripted!

thanks for providing an example.

I misread the other poster's point and though he meant press conferences, and there IS a marked difference in style between the two presidents regarding allowable questions, scripting beforehand, etc.

at any rate, I stand corrected.

[BlackGriffen]

Originally posted by davesimondotcom:
It's typical of most candidates from both parties to have questions scripted, especially during a campaign. There is just too much at stake if they get "ambushed."

I hesitate to bring it up in this thread, not wanting to drag it off topic and all, but Dean certainly doesn't seem to fit in your view of a typical candidate. Specifically, would that whole icident where he dressed down an old Republican have happened if he had scripted things?

Given the mini-furor over that issue, Dean may start filtering things a little more in the future, but at the moment that doesn't appear to be the case.

BlackGriffen