Posted on 04/02/2006 2:27:04 PM PDT by LA Woman3
President Bush calls the 1,600-acre ranch he owns outside Crawford with his wife, Laura, “our little slice of heaven,” but some experts question whether anti-war demonstrators are making the Western White House a less attractive getaway.
“That used to be his sanctuary, out in the middle of rural Texas where he could get his mind off his troubles,” said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of political science at the University of Texas who specializes in presidents. “And now his troubles are right down the street.”
Although Bush is in Crawford this weekend with hardly any protesters around, the size and significance of the events around his extended stays there reached a new level last summer when the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan, decried the war on a roadside for weeks.
Some say the president is less visible in Crawford, but others say Bush’s desire to spend time in his home won’t be changed by critics who follow him around the country.
“He’s used to it,” said McLennan County Commissioner Ray Meadows, who represents Bush. “He is in a fish bowl wherever he goes.”
Waco Police Chief Alberto Melis said Bush has returned noticeably less often since the hurricanes struck last August and September, with fewer visiting dignitaries. He also said he was told Bush is “not coming” to Crawford for the Easter holiday weekend April 16, when he has annually gathered with his family there.
The White House has not released plans for the Easter weekend, but spokesman Blair Jones emphasized that Bush looks forward to visiting the ranch whenever he can and said protests will never diminish that appeal.
“The American people have the right to protest, and the president welcomes the opinions of all Americans,” Jones said.
No other law enforcement sources could verify Bush’s plans for Easter. His annual vacation in Crawford has caused the local historical society to plan the 100th anniversary celebration of a public school that day, hoping to lure the visiting media.
Opposition rallying
Protesters also have scheduled events for that weekend, including a 13-day march from Dallas to Waco and a third anniversary celebration of the Crawford Peace House, which has opposed the war in Iraq.
Meadows said that he is not surprised Bush may celebrate Easter elsewhere but that critics are getting too much credit.
“I don’t think what happened last summer has had any impact on him not coming to Crawford or to the ranch. He’s just got a lot on his plate,” Meadows said.
But since protesters opposing the Iraq war staked out the roadside near the ranch in August and hurricanes blasted the gulf Coast in August and September, Bush has not welcomed a visiting dignitary to his ranch or held a news conference on the property.
“It seems he has been here less since hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” said Melis, the police chief. The department had expected to spend more money on overtime related to the president’s security during recent months, he said.
The controversial Iraq war and the trend that presidents’ popularity dips in their second terms would suggest that such protests in Crawford were inevitable, said Tom Myers, a Baylor associate professor of political science.
“Has it lost some of its luster? Yes, I suppose that is true, but any other place would have.”
Bush isn’t alone in wanting to get out of Washington, the professors said.
‘The first prison’
“If you look at presidents throughout history, they have all wanted to escape Washington to get away from it all,” said James Riddlesperger, chairman for political science at Texas Christian University. “If you look at the White House, it can be the first residence or the first prison.”
The added attention at Crawford makes it less of a getaway than it was in the first term, Riddlesperger said.
“My guess is that Crawford is a little less inviting than it used to be,” he said.
Sheehan and numerous anti-war organizations that support her have been drawn by the visiting press corps and the chance to publicly challenge Bush.
If he does not come for Easter, “we’re having our actions regardless,” said Rena Guay, a spokeswoman for the Crawford Peace House, which has been a base for many of the protests. “We would prefer that he be here, that he would be close by, but he doesn’t pay much attention (anyway).”
Good for community
The protests have indisputably changed the national perception of Crawford, said restaurant owner Dorothy Spanos, whose Coffee Station counts the president as its most famous customer.
She said most locals want the town to be known for its support, even as Bush’s opponents have flocked here for a few memorable events.
“The backbone of our community is our school and our churches and all of the events that we have,” she said. “It makes us proud to think that he chose our way of life for his way of life. It has been good for Crawford.”
The illegal aliens and the criminals who hire them and the criminals who harbor them are getting out in the street making their desires known. It is way past time those of us who support the rule of law and secure borders did the same.
Join Veterans for Secure Borders, The Minuteman Project, Latino Americans for Immigration Reform, Mothers Against Illegal Aliens, and other groups protesting amnesty for these criminals, and demanding the government protect our borders.
http://www.areckoning.com/
FReepers should be at this rally in strength. Saturday, May 6, in Crawford, TX.
Is Cindy Sheehan going to be there, too? I mean, this was her idea.
Jim Gilchrist will be there though.
The media does not like Crawford - no fancy hotels or restaurants. Waco is not really a swinging city - just a typical college town.
Well, you know the media. All you're going to get out of this is a bunch of press screaming about "right wing groups copying Cindy Sheehan."
It's going to be horrible PR.
Sign ideas:
Settle illegals on the Crawford Ranch
No Mexico Merger!
(my tagline)
Don't abolish the USA - No to "Amerexico"
Amnesty is Treason
I hope I don't get yelled at, but I hope Bush doesn't spend multi-week vacations at Crawford anymore. It just gives an invitation to the nutbags like Cindy Sheehan that they can get some free press by hanging around Crawford to annoy him. The President will have plenty of time to spend there once his term is over, so he shouldn't worry about it.
If I were Bush I would go to Camp David instead of Crawford.
The media has a whole school for their pr jihad against bush in crawford. The media has their satellite trucks their to go after Bush.
The Sheehan brigade is set up in crawford.
The media always highlights Bush being on vacation when he is in crawford and how many times he has been there. Crawford is also always refered to the month before 9/11 and before Katrina.
Camp David has no media, no protestors, that is the only place in the world he can go and be left alone.
When Bush goes to Camp David there is no coverage instead of Crawford where the media is camped out.
Camp David is fenced off and there are no hotels for the media to camp out nearby. There is no place for protestors to stage their protests like in the house in crawford. Camp David is up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere and fenced off. Bush can go from the white house lawn and land marine one in the fenced off camp david complex.
Well, he can always dress up as the Easter Bunny for the annual Easter egg hunt on the White House lawn :-D
They still do that, don't they? I mean the egg hunt, not the President dressing up, lol!
What betrayal?
Homeland Security has just allocated funds to set up vehicle barriers on the whole arizona border.
The border is much better protected than it was during clinton. You have infared cameras set up all over the border for much better survallience.
The catch and release program was stopped by Bush.
Double the agents there than under Clinton.
Predator Drones are going to go up helping the survallience more, sensor detectors going up. Additional fencing is being built in arizona and texas right now.
The problem is that illegals can get here if they want to. They can forge documents at border entrances and come for visits and stay passed their time.
Or they can come by commercial planes.
Everyone is focused on the border when the majority of illegals come by commercial planes legally for visits and illegals don't return.
If you compare the border situation under Clinton when nothing was done to now it is night and day.
We are catching triple the illegals that we were catching just five years ago.
If you are crossing the border now you have a better chance to be stopped than 5 years ago.
Also Bush sends the illegals back inland where as clinton just sent them right across the border.
Damn that bastard Clinton. He did nothing about social security, terrorism, borders, ports and he gets no blame.
Mexico needs new leaders. They need to create an enviorment where illegals will want to stay there. They also need to stop the staging areas in the border towns in mexico and stop the illegals using trains for transportation up north.
But if Mexico doesn't change it will be impossible to stop illegals. They will all just fly here on visits and over stay there welcome.
Hmm, as a dachshund lover, I browse breeders' websites...longing for another wirehair...and saw this AM, that one Laura Bush has bought a longhaired dachshund puppy from a California breeder. Wonder if it's the first lady? If so, she's got excellent taste, but we already knew that!
The puppy is going to Texas!
The obvious place -- right at the border between California and Mexico. Southern California has the biggest media concentration on the planet, you're guaranteed a HUGE turnout, there are enough motels, restaurants, etc., for the protesters coming from out-of-state, and the border itself provides a backdrop.
What the heck does Crawford have? Besides doing their unavoidable stories on right wing folks copying Cindy Sheehan (who will I'm sure be held up by CNN as some sort of protest genius), you'll get infinitely less media, have no facilities for your protesters, and tick off the poor, law-abiding people of Crawford -- who have had to put up with more than small town Americans should ever have to put up with.
I don't think a lot of brainpower was used in the site selection here.
Now that those who are opposed to illegals are protesting in Crawford, the media is suddenly concerned about it.
When the liberal moonbats were in Crawford the media didn't care.
This drives me nuts. I have a real sense the President doesn't sit around a whole lot trying to get his mind off HIS troubles. He is looking for a little downtime from WORK and to get reconnected with life outside DC. That is a big difference. Sheesh.
Where was Gilchrist during Clinton's years.
Clinton signed nafta only increasing the border flow.
Clinton didn't do one damn thing for 8 years and passed the border to bush.
I am sick and tired of hearing how great everything was under clinton.
That jackass wouldn't take out bin laden when the military had him spotted with a predator drone.
Clinton called it a legal matter.
Clinton was the do nothing president. He passed on social security to Bush. Clinton did nothing on social security. So with the baby boomers retiring Bush gets the blame for the debt.
Clinton cut the military and bush gets blamed for having to refund it and get the debt.
Clinton did nothing about ports for 8 years and gets no blame. Bush gets all the blame.
Clinton did nothing about terrorism for 8 years letting afganistan become a terrorist haven to launch attacks against the u.s but bush gets blamed for 9/11.
Clinton left with the dot com bubble and stock market crashing and Bush gets the blame.
Clinton was the do nothing pass the buck president and he let Bush get all the blame for him doing nothing for 8 years.
I want 9/11 debt on his watch. I want Nafta debt on his watch. I want the afganistan war cost on his watch. I want social security out of control growth debt on his watch.
Clinton did nothing about the New Orleans levies for 8 years and yet Bush gets the blame and Clinton does nothing.
How is clinton looked at as being great when the liberal media is screaming about all the problems in the u.s
What did Clinton do about them.
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