During the 2004 presidential campaign, the Bush-Cheney campaign enforced a rigorous "bubble," which limited audiences to pre-screened sycophants, some of whom were asked to sign loyalty oaths. During Bush's campaign to privatize Social Security, a strictly-enforced bubble was used again, ensuring that the president would only take "questions" from those who were already convinced Bush was right.

Can we now, a few years later, finally put all of the "Bubble Boy" unpleasantness behind us? Not so much.

When school was canceled to accommodate a campaign visit by President Bush, the two 55-year-old teachers reckoned the time was ripe to voice their simmering discontent with the administration's policies.

Christine Nelson showed up at the Cedar Rapids rally with a Kerry-Edwards button pinned on her T-shirt; Alice McCabe clutched a small, paper sign stating "No More War." What could be more American, they thought, than mixing a little dissent with the bunting and buzz of a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by the president? Their reward: a pair of handcuffs and a strip search at the county jail.

The Bubble lives on.

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report