Bush in Milwaukee

The president was here in Milwaukee yesterday touting his Social Security privatization proposals. I wish I could provide a first hand account of the event, but I cannot. Several bloggers, including Josh Marshall, have tracked reports of either Secret Service or party workers posing as Secret Service removing people who dissent from Bush's views from similar events. All part of the president's free exchange of ideas, I guess. For this event, they went even further, blocking off access to the Art Museum for all but approved guests. I like to take walks past the war memorial and down to the lakefront after lunch. But the war memorial is an access point to the art museum, so that whole street was blocked off by police who told me I couldn't even walk down there.

I understand security considerations. But in 2000, I attended a speech by soon-to-be popular vote winner Al Gore at the war memorial. For that, the street was not blocked off and the public was invited to attend. Yes, he was just the vice president back then, but still. It's not that there wasn't security. There were police everywhere, and I remember looking out the windows and seeing the sharp-shooters on adjacent rooftops. The point is there can be public access and still maintain security.

So having the police block off public streets and access to public buildings would seem to go beyond simple security. I think he just wanted to keep the riff-raff out lest the Bush-style exchange of ideas became a real exchange of ideas.