# ACLU obtains "Presidential Advance Manual" -- "rally squads" to drown out protesters **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 29, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975 "2007-06-29T21:41:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/21 "2007-06-29T23:32:38Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Miscreants? Excuse me? [/QUOTE] 😉 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/22 "2007-06-29T23:39:26Z")
Cute. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/23 "2007-06-29T23:39:30Z")
[QUOTE=athelas] Right. Anti-Bush rallies just spring out of nowhere, once a single basher throws dragon teeth on soil. No organization whatsoever. [/QUOTE] Right. Two people with bumper stickers is an organized mob. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: In any case, you do realize the difference between a counter-demonstration which stands around showing support for the President, and one specifically organized to drown out protest, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/24 "2007-06-29T23:42:12Z")
Of course it was “planned”, the sticker was already on the car! Obviously, they’d been planing this move to demoralize our troops for some time! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/25 "2007-06-29T23:44:33Z")
[QUOTE=Harborwolf] Personally, I’d rather the president had other things on his mind when seeing protesters than “Hey. Those people are making me look bad. Get me some people to make me look good.” Plus it seems a bit too ministry of propaganda to me. [/QUOTE] You can’t run a government without propaganda. Unfortunately for Bush, his people just aren’t very good at it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/26 "2007-06-29T23:46:50Z")
You can fool some of the people all of the time. Roughly, 30%. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/27 "2007-06-29T23:49:37Z")
> [@BG](#): > > Have previous administrations stage-managed the president’s public appearances to this egregious a degree? Well, having an Advance Operations Manual of some sort is clearly nothing new: there’s one listed among the [Reagan library holdings](http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/resource/findaid/advance.htm), for example. I don’t know what’s in it, though, nor whether or how it differs from the Bush team’s version. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/28 "2007-06-29T23:49:44Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] You can’t run a government without propaganda. [/QUOTE] Of course you **can.** ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/29 "2007-06-29T23:52:22Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] But you haven’t given any reasons that the President shouldn’t do it, other than that it’s “dishonest” and “bad in a civic sense”. [/QUOTE] Those should be sufficient. [QUOTE=Captain Amazing] This is advertising; it’s PR, and the goal is to look as good as you possibly can. [/quote] That has its legitimate place – which is on the campaign trail and nowhere else; and never at government expense. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/30 "2007-06-29T23:54:35Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] story here [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR2005062101583.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR2005062101583.html) [/QUOTE] Yeah, these are the people who got tossed out by a guy impersonating a secret service agent. Did the GOP’s fake agent do any time in the slammer? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/31 "2007-06-29T23:55:02Z")
[QUOTE=Harborwolf] Personally, I’d rather the president had other things on his mind when seeing protesters than “Hey. Those people are making me look bad. Get me some people to make me look good.” Plus it seems a bit too ministry of propaganda to me. [/QUOTE] Not to worry. Bush has people to keep that stuff on their minds so he doesn’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/32 "2007-06-29T23:56:04Z")
[QUOTE=Kimstu] Well, having an Advance Operations Manual of some sort is clearly nothing new: there’s one listed among the [Reagan library holdings](http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/resource/findaid/advance.htm), for example. I don’t know what’s in it, though, nor whether or how it differs from the Bush team’s version. [/QUOTE] Every President has one of these, I’m sure. You can’t just wander into a location without preparation. I’m willing to bet Reagan’s doesn’t have anything about organizing demonstrations to drown out the opposition, though. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/33 "2007-06-29T23:56:46Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Not to worry. Bush has people to keep that stuff on their minds so he doesn’t have to. [/QUOTE] And the buck stops where? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/34 "2007-06-29T23:59:07Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] And the buck stops where? [/QUOTE] At a lower level, of course. We are too busy to deal with bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/35 "2007-06-29T23:59:24Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] You can’t run a government without propaganda. Unfortunately for Bush, his people just aren’t very good at it. [/QUOTE] Well aware of that. It’s the amount of energy they seem to be employing in it that bothers me. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/36 "2007-06-30T00:00:37Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] And the buck stops where? [/QUOTE] He has people for that. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/37 "2007-06-30T00:01:08Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Not to worry. Bush has people to keep that stuff on their minds so he doesn’t have to. [/QUOTE] With the amount of people he has keeping their minds on things so he doesn’t have to, one wonders what exactly he has on his mind. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/38 "2007-06-30T00:01:33Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] He has people for that. [/QUOTE] Heh. Those people have people for that. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/39 "2007-06-30T00:04:19Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Heh. Those people have people for that. [/QUOTE] I have a feeling that this particular chain of “people having people” ends in a single very tired wage slave. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aclu-obtains-presidential-advance-manual-rally-squads-to-drown-out-protesters/409975/40 "2007-06-30T00:08:51Z")
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