Sherry Wolfe in protest t-shirt at President Bush event on Oct. 3, 2007 in Lancaster, Pa. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo.
by Frank James
President Bush doesn’t like to see protesters at his events. No president does really. The job is stressful enough without them. Plus most presidents enjoy being accorded great respect. It’s something they get used to.
Staffers in the Bush White House and on the president’s campaigns know this president especially doesn’t want to spot protesters at his events, no more than he wants to hear a reporter’s cell phone ring at a presidential press conference.
Bush aides and campaigns have well-deserved reputations for screening people who get into the president’s events to make sure protesters don’t get in. And when they’ve managed to slip into an event in the past, they usually were quickly ushered out.
All of which makes it remarkable that a woman named Sherry Wolfe was able to get into, and apparently allowed to stay in, a Bush appearance in Lancaster, Pa. today at which he spoke to the local chamber of commerce about fiscal discipline.
Wolfe wore a white t-shirt with the stark message on its front: “GEORGE BUSH, YOUR WAR KILLED MY FRIEND’S SON.” The back said: “BRENT ADAMS KILLED DEC. 1, 2005, RAMADI IRAQ.”
It’s unknown on this end if Bush saw Wolfe, but if he did, some poor aide probably had some explaining to do.
(Inset picture: Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo.)