That article told voters and the media everything they needed to know about George W. Bush – everything they needed to know the kind of President he would be if elected.
Voters elected him anyway (well, appointed once and elected once to be precise) and the rest is history. It will take decades for the GOP to repair the damage this one man had done to their party, and the rest of us decades more to repair the damage he has done to America and and the world.
But I am not here today to beat that horse again. Instead I am hoping that the voters – this time Democratic voters – learned something about weighing a candidate's character before they vote for him – or her.
In many ways – too many ways – Hillary is – (physiology aside) – George W. Bush.
Today I offer two pieces of evidence to support that startling claim. First this, which landed in my email box yesterday:
I'd just like to relate a recent incident that speaks to the candidacy of Hillary Clinton and those who support and advocate for her. At the Rally in Portsmouth, NH on Labor Day Weekend, Clinton
Campaign workers, with the help of local police, prohibited me from entering the Rally area because I carried an anti-war sign.
On Sunday, September 2nd, the day of the Clinton Rally in Portsmouth, I went downtown with a sign that read "No first strike on Iran" and on the other side "Stop the Killing." The Clinton Campaign had taken over a large area of Pleasant Street from State Street to Market Square and claimed large areas of the public sidewalks as well. I stood in the Square for over an hour as people assembled for the Rally.
When people were permitted to enter the rally areas, I started to walk in with them. I was stopped by Clinton Campaign workers who told me that no signs were permitted. I'd have to leave my sign outside the rally area.
I am a thirty-year resident of Portsmouth, a member of the anti-war movement, and NH Coordinator for Codepink: Women for Peace. Whether you agree with my politics or not, this is still supposed to be a
Democracy--or more accurately a Republic with democratic ideals. I know that this is not what the Constitution says about my rights of free speech. I challenged them. I was certain that there would be
pro-Hillary signs permitted in the rally zone.
They would not permit me to go forward. I asked them to send a policeman over for me to talk to and (a detective) showed up and informed me, I have since found out erroneously, that the Clinton
campaign had a permit for a "no-sign zone" and that I would have to leave. Not wanting to be arrested, I said that I would comply with his request but that I needed to assert my Constitutional Right of Free Speech. I was required to leave under threat of arrest. I did so.
Now if any of you have seen photos of this event, you will clearly understand my chagrin when you see the Pro-Hillary signs all over the Rally's designated "NO SIGNS" area.
Tuesday morning, I called City Hall and inquired as to the specifications of the Rally permit. Portsmouth City Manager John Bohenko said that there was no such restriction in the permit that
was issued to the Clinton Campaign, that they were required to permit entry to anyone who wanted to come in and he and City Attorney Robert Sullivan both said that I had every right to have been on public property with my sign.
I listened from outside the barricades and heard Hillary Clinton speak, more than once, to restoring the Constitution, and later, to not making anyone invisible. She spoke to the private-club, ownership society of the Bush Administration. I think, from her campaign's actions, that she might belong to the same club.
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