Public Only?

I promised a rant would be coming and here it is.

President Bush has been touring the red states to tout his social security plan to the public. Only thing is, the public will only be watching on television because in order to see the president, you must be pre-selected to attend and have an invitation/ticket from the offices of your Republican Representation. They wouldn't even let Louisville Mayor for Life Jerry Abramson welcome the President at the airport. Instead, it was Councilman Kelly Downard.

So why should a town hall meeting be promoted as "open to the public" when it's invite only? This makes no gosh-darn sense. No Democrats are invited. The Republicans are only invited as to make the President look good. At least one was able to see Senator John Kerry when he was running for the office of the presidency with thanks to the online tickets that were printable from his campaign site!

The President does not want to look bad...I got news for you, George. Your plan is dead on arrival. No Democrat in the right mind should support it. You go around to red states and don't even invite prominent Democrats? This doesn't make since to me.

So don't just promote town halls as open to the public as invite-only, instead promote town halls as open to those Republicans who support your plan.

So, congratulations, Mr. President and the Republican party for redefining the word "public" as "invitation-only." You've got me praying for the next 1,410 days, 11 hours and 18 minutes.

My time's up. You've been great. Enjoy shouting at your television (it's so great to be reading Bill Scheft again).