Editorial: Stifling public views

Friday, Aug. 24, 2007 | 7:41 a.m.

If it seems that President Bush rarely is exposed to protesters when he ventures into the public arena, it is no coincidence. The White House actually has an internal manual that provides staffers with instructions on "deterring potential protesters" from Bush's public appearances.

A story by The Washington Post on Wednesday says that the once-secret "Presidential Advance Manual" dates from October 2002 and is stamped with the words "Sensitive - Do Not Copy." It was released to the American Civil Liberties Union as part of a lawsuit that the ACLU filed on behalf of two protesters who were arrested for refusing to cover their anti-Bush T-shirts at the president's July 4, 2004, speech in West Virginia. Federal officials settled the case last week for $80,000, the Post reports.

The manual spells out methods that members of the White House advance staff should use to keep protesters out of sight of the president and the news media, including asking local authorities "to designate a protest area where demonstrators can be placed, preferably not in the view of the event site or motorcade route." (With Bush's public approval rating hovering around 30 percent, it must be getting quite challenging to find protest areas big enough.)

The document also gives explicit instructions for choosing whom is to be admitted to VIP areas near the stage, saying that such spectators must be "extremely supportive of the administration." Volunteers are to check people entering the events for signs before they reach security checkpoints, making certain that none carry "folded cloth signs" that could be sporting anti-Bush sentiments.

At the outside chance that some anti-Bush demonstrators do manage to infiltrate an event, the manual says volunteer "rally squads" should stand ready to wave signs supportive of Bush and "lead supportive chants to drown out" the protesters. Removing demonstrators from the site should be used "as a last resort."

It is pathetic that Bush, as the most powerful elected official in the world, cannot bear to hear a little criticism from the public. But it is hardly surprising for this president, who stubbornly shuts out advice contrary to his own insular views of the world and whose every public appearance is carefully staged.