It's uncertain as to whether the person who asked them to leave was Secret Service or just a volunteer for the event—Young, Bauer, and Weise were under the impression that it was an agent, but the Secret Service denies it.
Regardless of who did it, to make matters even more deplorable, the prez's press secretary Scott McClellan defended the actions of the administration by claiming that the White House encourages diverse opinions. Here's a quote from a Washington Post article on the whole affair:
Scott McClellan, Bush’s press secretary, said it was a volunteer who asked them to leave “out of concern they might try to disrupt the event.” He said the White House welcomes a variety of voices into events (emphasis added) but discourages people from coming to heckle the president or disrupt town hall forums. “If someone is coming to try to disrupt it, then obviously that person would be asked to leave,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity outside of the event to express their views.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10969-2005Mar29.html Give me a break. The last thing the Bush administration is about is a “variety of voices,” hence the fact that you can no longer attend presidential events unless you've signed a petition of support and have cleansed yourself of anything that might allude to you being less than thrilled with the prez's policies. And, apparently, that now includes your car. Hell, it's not like the bumper sticker said “F— Bush,” as did another Denver car recently in the news (this is a total side note but worth checking out because apparently police officers are now also on the lookout for rogue stickers): http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3495709,00.html).
I think the most depressing thing about all this is that the White House isn't really even denying any of it. They're claiming that it was a volunteer that asked the three to leave instead of Secret Service, but they're still focusing on who asked them to leave rather than why they were asked to leave, and nowhere have I seen a quote from the White House saying that removing them was bad behavior. Instead, they just back it up, claiming that the possibility of someone making a scene is enough to justify kicking them out the door. Apparently, Bushies are privilege to a form of omniscience that the rest of us are denied. How else would they be able to tell the future?
To find out more about the whole debacle, check out this article by the Rocky Mountain News: http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3661120,00.html This article from Knight Ridder also sums it up nicely, and offers some extra information: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11260743.htm DailyKos also has an interesting take on the whole mess, and has published a letter that was sent to him from Young, Bauer, and Weise.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/29/113651/512 And if you're interested in seeing what the other side has to say about all this, check out the oh-so-convincing comments at the end of this article on the Free Republic website: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1373241/posts#comment
