In defending a lawsuit by an anti-Bush protestor, Upper Darby Twp. finds the Bush name toxic

[marmar]

From the Philly Independent Media Ctr.:


By Robert M. Smith, staff, Brandywine Peace Community | 07.22.2007
Oh How The Great Can Fall - even in Upper Darby.

September 15, 2003, President George W. Bush came to Delaware
County, PA, to speak at one of the those four figure fundraising
dinners. The venue was the Drexelbrook Club in the Drexel Hill
section of Upper Darby Township.

September 15, 2003, Bush had invaded Iraq six months prior,
announcing "mission accomplished" two months later. Just a month
before his trip to Upper Darby, Bush had, as was assumed, been re-
nominated in New York City at the Republican National Convention
as hundreds of thousands of people protested in the streets, many
having their civil liberties violated in "pre-emptive" mass arrests by
New York City police.

So Bush, in his second presidential campaign, was coming to
Delaware County for the first of a number of visits to the bastion -
Upper Darby - of Republican bastions, Delaware County. The
Brandywine Peace Community got wind of the Bush visit just days
before and decided to protest. But before that, something about
Upper Darby.

Working class, Catholic, I was born and raised in Upper Darby. I
lived most of the past fifty years in Upper Darby. I was part of and
arrested in Vietnam War protests in Upper Darby, was in and out of
court in Upper Darby, advocated for homeless people around
Upper Darby's SEPTA terminal area. I know Upper Darby and I
know more than a little something about the behavior of the Upper
Darby police, about investigations and suits into civil rights violations
over the decades.

So when Bush came to Upper Darby on September 15, 2003, the
Brandywine Peace Community organized a protest of the three letter
agenda of Bush: war. We mistakenly allowed ourselves to be
corraled into the "protest zone" designated by the Secret Service. It
was a mistake that we wouldn't make in subsequent protests and
presidential visits. While we caught a glimpse of the Bush
motorcade as it sped past our protest and chants, others, due to
timing and a bit of luck, were a lot closer to the site of the Bush
speech, the Drexelbrook Club. One of those with anti-war sign in
hand, steps from the front drive of the Drexelbrook, was Harold
Lischner, a retired immunologist at St. Christopher's Hospital for
Children and professor at Temple University's School of Medicine.

Upper Darby police told Lischner to leave or face arrest. Lischner
refused and the seventy-eight year old at the time was arrested,
cuffed, and taken to the Upper Darby Township Police Station. Two
months later, an Upper Darby District Magistrate found Lischner not
guilty. Two years later, Lischner sued. This week Lischner's civil
rights suit will be heard in Phila. Federal Court

Since September 15, 2003, the majority view of Bush, his policy of
endless war, of unconstitutional treatment of prisoners, of "you're
either with us or against us" has moved from support to questioning,
to disapproval and intolerance, to opposition and resistance. Upper
Darby knows this and hence made the "can you believe it" motion
before U.S. District Court Judge Gene E.K. Pratter to prevent the
mention of the name of GEORGE W. BUSH before the jury in
Lischner's suit. Basically, the attorney for Upper Darby argued that
the name of Bush and what it evokes in at two out three people -
including prospective jurors - is war, lies, and arrogance.

Citing that Bush has "the worst approval rating of an American
president in a generation" the Township's motion argued that
"President Bush's identity, in and of itself, presents the danger that
the jury will favor plaintiff." They saw a Republican Presidential
Pandidates debate a few weeks in which never did the name Bush
pass the lips of those on stage. They know that after years and
years of Republican Curt Weldon, the district chose Joe Sestak not
because he's a Democrat, but because he's a career Navy Admiral
who opposes Bush's policy on Iraq. Just how far Sestak will take
that opposition, considering his recent vote for war-funding, is
another matter. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.phillyimc.org/en/2007/07/41251.shtml

[TomInTib]

1. That is just stunning.

I know that area and it is almost solid red.

Words fail me.

[Berry Cool]

2. Keith Olbermann had fun with this story tonight.

He said this means Bush is "He Who Must Not be Named." :rofl: