Four legs good, two legs better.

Wonderful article detailing how the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech. When the Prez travels around the country, the advance team from the Secret Service sets up quarantine zones - well away from the delicate sight of the Prez - where people opposed to Bush policies are required to go. When the Prez went to Pittsburgh on Labor Day 2002, that "designated free-speech zone" (and who says the Secret Service doesn't have a sense of irony?) was a baseball field, surrounded by a chain-link fence, a third of a mile away from the Prez's route. The local police cleared the motorcade path of all critical signs, but people with pro-Bush signs were allowed to stay. One local resident who mistakenly thought that the First Amendment applied to him declined the invitation to take his sign to the location away from the Prez (and away from the media), and was arrested for disorderly conduct. The judge who heard the case threw out the charge, saying "I believe this is America. Whatever happened to 'I don't agree with you, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it'?"

Sure, the Secret Service is supposed to protect the President. But people who peaceably exercise their First Amendment rights don't present any sort of security threat, they pose a political threat. And if there's any connection between being a terrorist and carrying a sign, aren't terrorists smart enough to carry a pro-Bush sign because that would give them much closer access? Apparently not in Ashcroft-world.