Some Bush threats followed up as expected — but protest threats ignored
Were any people ever arrested or questioned for threatening to kill Bush during his term in office? Of course. Every president is the target of numerous threats, and many of them do get investigated. Examples include:
- A man who in 2008 made verbal threats towards Bush at the White House fence where he left a suspicious package;
- A student who was quoted in a 2007 school publication as saying, “I would like to shoot George W. Bush, because in my opinion he is the worst president ever. After that was accomplished, I would be known as a national hero”;
- A mentally deranged man who threatened to blow up the White House in January of 2009;
- A graduate student who posted online threats against Bush in 2006;
- A guy who was turned in to the authorities by his own girlfriend after he threatened to kill Bush during a phone call;
…and so on.
However, all these instances of Bush-threateners being arrested happened outside of a protest setting. This article is about protesters with threatening protest signs — not about all threats in all settings.
The key question is: Were any protesters ever arrested or questioned for displaying threatening messages about President Bush at a protest? And the answer is: No, no...
Were any people ever arrested or questioned for threatening to kill Bush during his term in office? Of course. Every president is the target of numerous threats, and many of them do get investigated. Examples include:
- A man who in 2008 made verbal threats towards Bush at the White House fence where he left a suspicious package;
- A student who was quoted in a 2007 school publication as saying, “I would like to shoot George W. Bush, because in my opinion he is the worst president ever. After that was accomplished, I would be known as a national hero”;
- A mentally deranged man who threatened to blow up the White House in January of 2009;
- A graduate student who posted online threats against Bush in 2006;
- A guy who was turned in to the authorities by his own girlfriend after he threatened to kill Bush during a phone call;
…and so on.
However, all these instances of Bush-threateners being arrested happened outside of a protest setting. This article is about protesters with threatening protest signs — not about all threats in all settings.
The key question is: Were any protesters ever arrested or questioned for displaying threatening messages about President Bush at a protest? And the answer is: No, no...
Some Bush threats followed up as expected — but protest threats ignored
Were any people ever arrested or questioned for threatening to kill Bush during his term in office? Of course. Every president is the target of numerous threats, and many of them do get investigated. Examples include:
- A man who in 2008 made verbal threats towards Bush at the White House fence where he left a suspicious package;
- A student who was quoted in a 2007 school publication as saying, “I would like to shoot George W. Bush, because in my opinion he is the worst president ever. After that was accomplished, I would be known as a national hero”;
- A mentally deranged man who threatened to blow up the White House in January of 2009;
- A graduate student who posted online threats against Bush in 2006;
- A guy who was turned in to the authorities by his own girlfriend after he threatened to kill Bush during a phone call;
…and so on.
However, all these instances of Bush-threateners being arrested happened outside of a protest setting. This article is about protesters with threatening protest signs — not about all threats in all settings.
The key question is: Were any protesters ever arrested or questioned for displaying threatening messages about President Bush at a protest? And the answer is: No, not as far as I could tell. In the very few instances that I could uncover, the incident was either misconstrued by the media, or the protester was at an actual presidential appearance (where there are special security concerns) — or people were detained for other reasons totally aside from their protest messages.
The most famous case was that of Brett Bursey, who was arrested in 2002 outside a Bush speech. The media dishonestly implied that he was arrested simply for carrying a sign that said “No War For Oil” — a message which was commonplace and nonthreatening. Turns out, though, that he was arrested not because of his sign but because he refused to leave a restricted area cordoned off by the Secret Service under Title 18, Section 1752(a)(1)(ii) of the U.S. Code. In other words, it was not his sign which got him arrested, but rather his presence in a restricted area and his refusal to move. (Even in a puff piece article about Bursey in the New York Times, the only “evidence” offered that his sign led to his arrest was the later uncorroborated statement of Bursey himself.) And note that some of the same politicians feigning outrage over the recent health-care protests actually defended Bursey’s right to protest in this manner (quoting from the link above): “A few weeks ago Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank and 10 other members of Congress wrote a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft condemning the arrest. They wrote: ‘This prosecution smacks of the use of the Sedition Acts two hundred years ago to protect the President from political discomfort. It was wrong then and it is wrong now. We urge you to drop this prosecution based so clearly on the political views being expressed by the individual who is being prosecuted.’ ”
In another case, a woman with a t-shirt that read “President Bush You Killed My Son” was removed from a speech being given by Laura Bush. But once again, it was not her message which got her arrested, but the fact that she disrupted the speech and refused to leave when asked — leading to a charge of trespassing. Yet the media falsely implied that she was arrested simply due to the nature of her t-shirt message.
An artist who painted a series of postage stamps showing Bush being shot had Secret Service agents inspect his art at one gallery opening and had the painting taken down by administrators at another — but he was never arrested or questioned. So once again, that is not an example of someone being arrested for a protest message against Bush.
(more)Were any people ever arrested or questioned for threatening to kill Bush during his term in office? Of course. Every president is the target of numerous threats, and many of them do get investigated. Examples include:
- A man who in 2008 made verbal threats towards Bush at the White House fence where he left a suspicious package;
- A student who was quoted in a 2007 school publication as saying, “I would like to shoot George W. Bush, because in my opinion he is the worst president ever. After that was accomplished, I would be known as a national hero”;
- A mentally deranged man who threatened to blow up the White House in January of 2009;
- A graduate student who posted online threats against Bush in 2006;
- A guy who was turned in to the authorities by his own girlfriend after he threatened to kill Bush during a phone call;
…and so on.
However, all these instances of Bush-threateners being arrested happened outside of a protest setting. This article is about protesters with threatening protest signs — not about all threats in all settings.
The key question is: Were any protesters ever arrested or questioned for displaying threatening messages about President Bush at a protest? And the answer is: No, not as far as I could tell. In the very few instances that I could uncover, the incident was either misconstrued by the media, or the protester was at an actual presidential appearance (where there are special security concerns) — or people were detained for other reasons totally aside from their protest messages.
The most famous case was that of Brett Bursey, who was arrested in 2002 outside a Bush speech. The media dishonestly implied that he was arrested simply for carrying a sign that said “No War For Oil” — a message which was commonplace and nonthreatening. Turns out, though, that he was arrested not because of his sign but because he refused to leave a restricted area cordoned off by the Secret Service under Title 18, Section 1752(a)(1)(ii) of the U.S. Code. In other words, it was not his sign which got him arrested, but rather his presence in a restricted area and his refusal to move. (Even in a puff piece article about Bursey in the New York Times, the only “evidence” offered that his sign led to his arrest was the later uncorroborated statement of Bursey himself.) And note that some of the same politicians feigning outrage over the recent health-care protests actually defended Bursey’s right to protest in this manner (quoting from the link above): “A few weeks ago Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank and 10 other members of Congress wrote a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft condemning the arrest. They wrote: ‘This prosecution smacks of the use of the Sedition Acts two hundred years ago to protect the President from political discomfort. It was wrong then and it is wrong now. We urge you to drop this prosecution based so clearly on the political views being expressed by the individual who is being prosecuted.’ ”
In another case, a woman with a t-shirt that read “President Bush You Killed My Son” was removed from a speech being given by Laura Bush. But once again, it was not her message which got her arrested, but the fact that she disrupted the speech and refused to leave when asked — leading to a charge of trespassing. Yet the media falsely implied that she was arrested simply due to the nature of her t-shirt message.
An artist who painted a series of postage stamps showing Bush being shot had Secret Service agents inspect his art at one gallery opening and had the painting taken down by administrators at another — but he was never arrested or questioned. So once again, that is not an example of someone being arrested for a protest message against Bush.
Additionally every stupid thing he does and says, and there is a lot more to come over the next three years, can and will be hung squarly on the shoulders of the Democratic Party. Therefore, I am praying for his continued health and well being.
the internet police would be all over us.
Bush has more love for this country in his little finger than odummer has in his whole damn body.