American Politics Journal

Call Off the Crazies!
Message to Bush: Call off your surrogate "enforcers" before someone gets hurt
By Pamela Parker

Tuesday, June 5, 2001 -- WASHINGTON (APJP) -- While the Bush family jokingly rolls its eyes about Jenna's and Barbara's underage drinking and refuses to comment publicly, Bush supporters are bringing a bitter jihad of retaliation against Chuy's, the Austin restaurant at which the young lushes violated the law -- an the bar manager who did the right thing and phoned police.

The attacks against Mia Lawrence, the bar manager, are being orchestrated on the Internet. Her address, date of birth, drivers license and registration information, physical description, and even birth information about her infant child have been posted on freerepublic.com, along with calls for punitive actions. Freerepublic.com website's sysop pulled some of the information as it was called to his attention -- to his credit -- but the info has circulated and been posted to other Internet forums to spread the "Get Lawrence" frenzy.

Bush supporters have obliquely and directly called for Lawrence to be punished -- publicly humiliated, fired from her job, impoverished, and exposed to risky and dangerous situations.

A freerepublic.com member who uses the screen name "tracer" recommended using her private info for identity theft:

"Giving out her driver's license no. and her DOB opens her up to mucho identity theft. It also makes background checks by 'inquiring minds' a breeze [sic]. But at least that's better than the way a Democrat apparatchik in Chicago would have handled this if the roles/parties were reversed. The result rhymes with 'room.'"

"Eva" wrote:

"I think that you should visit the restaurant with a camera and a cell phone. Take pictures of the staff serving the underage college students and send them to the newspapers. Also take pictures of Mia What's her name [sic] and post it on the internet [sic], along with her license number. Make this chick so paranoid that if she thinks if she so much as goes through a red light, someone will call 911. Let her know that her picture is being posted."

Others suggest pouring bar drinks on her and making a permanent web site with her personal info. On the web site lucianne.com is posted a link to a 2001 personal bankruptcy claim filed by Lawrence, with all its unhappy detail about her finances, including many thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

The calls for retribution aren't limited to Ms. Lawrence.

"Robomatic" speaks up:

"One thing that I personally would never do ;) is walk into Chuy's with a LARGE bottle of buturic (sp. ?) acid and begin to liberally apply it to every surface. For those fortunate enough NOT to know what it smells like, let me only say that it smells worse than a rotting corpse and typically, the smell, immediately induces vomiting. (If I remember correctly, it is non-toxic...besides the odor) I wonder how long it would take, given that Chuys would not have a SINGLE customer for days after each application, to drive them out of business? One may easily find this chemical on a college campus in a chemistry lab. I love liberals. Have a nice day."

"ctonious" wrote an email to Chuy's:

"Have you noticed a drop in business? If not, you will soon. We are informing patrons arriving at your establishment that they are being closely watched for sobriety and strict adherence to all vehicle equipment and operational safety laws. However, unlike you - we won't be clogging legitimate 911 services to report trifling infractions - the regular police phone lines will do. However, we WILL use 911 to report obviously intoxicated patrons and restaurant staff leaving your establishment. You may not see us - but we see you. We thought you would appreciate that your unbending adherence to the law has inspired us to help you with your enforcement. Please don't thank us - it's the least we could do."

"P-Marlowe" advocates federal involvement:

"Chuy's is a restaurant. As a restaurant there is a lot of cash floating around that will not get reported to the IRS. Perhaps if enough people complained to the IRS then they could remedy that situation? If this Chuy's manager wants to be a liberal and waste a lot of taxpayer money I think maybe she ought to pay her fair share. Perhaps the IRS would be interested in making sure that all of these Chuy's employees pay full taxes on all those tips and other unreported income?"

"Ladylawyer" wrote:

"My message to Chuy's is that they must deal with their 'management team' in exactly the same spirit as the "management team" dealt with Jenna and Barbara Bush. They must take mean-spirited action that is designed to inflict the maximum damage, without regard to the seriousness of their actions."

Members named "cweese" and "area51" reposted Lawrence's address and drivers info; then a poster named "wideawake" suggested calling police repeatedly to make phony reports of suspicious activities at her home.

The cell phone number of Chuy's area manager was posted, as well as the toll-free number, with the hope that a barrage of calls would cost Chuy's money. A freerepublic.com member in Chicago urged that take-out orders for food be phoned in from all over the country, with no expectation of picking up the food, of course. Another member suggested calling in bogus table reservations.

Others suggestions included going to the restaurant and tying up the tables for hours with just one beverage order, passing out flyers at colleges warning students of the "narcs" at Chuy's, and even spreading reports of salmonella poisoning and cockroach infestation.

Americans have seen this mob thuggery mentality from Bush supporters before, most recently in post-election Florida. The "skills" of demonization, propaganda and pack assaults are nurtured by right-wing hate-filled press such as the FOX News Channel, talk radio, and certain Internet sites, including those named above. Eight years of vicious attacks on the Clinton family were only the baby steps of political warfare, it appears.

The difference in this instance is the mob's hounding of a young mother, a hard-working woman of very modest means who challenged the fraudulent and unlawful conduct of the spoiled and reckless Bush daughters, who were calculatedly breaking the zero-tolerance Texas law signed by their father.

There is a strong Bush family tradition toward rolling over others and flirting with lawbreaking. A long "rap sheet" of personal offenses and excesses has resulted in few consequences for members of the Bush clan over several generations. None of us should be surprised that Bush surrogates wage this war in the same scorched-earth, punitive style.

But, come on! Raining down firestorms from thousands of political thugs against a hard-working mom already on hard times?

Scapegoating Mia Lawrence is wrong.

It's time that former Texas governor Bush make a statement and call off the dogs - and that he make his irresponsible daughters accept personal responsibility for their actions, criminal conduct that Mia Lawrence is now being made to pay for.

After all, it's the compassionate conservative thing to do.



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