Chip Taylor

Reputations

In much of his career, George Jones, failed to show up for so many concerts that he was tagged with the moniker, "No-show Jones." He developed such a reputation, that unscrupulous promoters began booking fictitious engagements, knowing that when he failed to show Jones would be blamed, not them. Consequently, Jones was unjustly blamed for not showing up at many concerts to which he wasn't even actually booked.

So, what has that got to do with anything?

Well, in the comments to a previous post, a commenter has noted that the protesters who claimed they were removed from the premises during a Bush speech for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts may be lying.

One would like to give the President the benefit of the doubt in such cases, unfortunately George Bush, like George Jones, has made himself vulnerable to accusations. A South Carolina protester, Dan Bursey, was convicted and fined $500 dollars. His crime? He refused to comply when:

Police instructed Bursey and other protesters to go to a demonstration zone about a half-mile from where Bush addressed supporters in Doolittle hangar.

In a Charlotte Observer column about Bursey's arrest, Dan Huntley said:

there's a recognizable pattern here of more than a dozen similar incidents across the country in which protesters critical of President Bush have been cordoned off while supporters often are allowed to remain close.

Of course, they could be lying, too. Sometimes it's just hard to know who to believe.