Put Me On That Enemies List

Preznit Armageddon My Purple Finger On, riding the crest of last night's platitudinous STFU SOTU speech, is on his way to Fargo to speak tonight. As he is (allegedly) the Preznit of all Americans, you'd think that all would be welcome to listen to him. Right? Well, you'd be wrong. There's apparently an extensive list of locals who are specifically disinvited to attend the event.

"City Commissioner Linda Coates says she was shocked to learn she and her husband were among more than 40 area residents on a list of people barred from attending President Bush's speech here Thursday.

"The list was supplied to workers at the two Fargo distribution sites, along with tickets and other forms citizens were asked to fill out, The Forum reported.

"The list includes critics of Bush or the war in Iraq. It includes two high school students, a librarian, a deputy Democratic campaign manager and a number of university professors...

"Coates said she had no idea why she would be on a list, other than the fact that she has been outspoken in her political beliefs.

"'I thought that was democracy,' she said.

"'To me, this is very revealing as to what this administration is all about - someone who doesn't want disagreement,' said Coates, whose husband, Mike, is also on the list. 'That's not healthy.'"

After getting rave reviews from paid-off, ass-kissing conservative shills pundits across the country for his say-nothing speech last night, you'd think the Man With The Purple Jingo would welcome as big an audience as possible in his first appearance since then, and would be happy to have a few of his past critics get to join in and see how well the "real Amurkins" like him. Yeah, right. Maybe he's afraid that someone with the facts will confront him on his vague plans for Social Security, or Iraq, or the budget (also here and here), or any number of potentially embarrassing issues that could make him look less than messianic. Without his coterie of sycophants surrounding him, repeating the daily talking points and telling him "Yes, sir, everything's fine!", why, he might get downright testy. And everybody hates to see a testy Preznit. So best to keep those nay-sayers off somewhere that they won't be seen or heard from, at least until Flightsuit AWOL is out of town.