What next? Loyalty oaths?

Well, BushCo has decided that if you want to hear the golden tones of Dick Cheney's voice live in person, you need to prove your loyalty first by signing an endorsement for Bush.

Some would-be spectators hoping to attend Vice President Dick Cheney's rally in Rio Rancho this weekend walked out of a Republican campaign office miffed and ticketless Thursday after getting this news: Unless you sign an endorsement for President George W. Bush, you're not getting any passes.

I love the logic. In order to even get a chance for Cheney to persuade you to vote for him, you have to prove that you were going to do so anyway. Uniter indeed--uniting Us against Them.

State Rep. Dan Foley, R-Roswell, speaking on behalf of the Republican Party, said Thursday that a "known Democrat operative group" was intending to try to crash Saturday's campaign rally at Rio Rancho Mid-High School. He added that some people were providing false names and addresses and added that tickets for the limited-seating event should go to loyal Bush backers.

Lesson learned. If you want to go to a BushCo event, make sure that you have your false name and address enshrined in a false ID so that you can sign your loyalty oath.

First they want a photographer to identify herself by race in Arizona, and then they want people to essentially sign loyalty oaths in New Mexico. The brillance of this is startling. God knows that if you want to find a part of the country where people are open to having their privacy invaded, the best place to start is the Southwest. They love having the government up in their shit out West.