Anti-war protests intrude on Bush's trip to Maine

Anti-war protesters rally outside the Bush compound, seen at top left, across the cove shrouded in fog, in Kennebunkport, Maine, on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2006. President George W. Bush is vacationing at his parents' house while the protest was going on. The president is spending a long weekend at the family oceanside home and plans on attending a relative's wedding. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach)

I wonder if Bush even saw these protestors. From Yahoo News:

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine--President Bush came to his parent's century-old summer home on the Maine coast for a little relaxation, a distant cousin's wedding and some family time. He got all that, along with a boisterous reminder nearly on his bucolic doorstep of the unpopularity of his Iraq policies.

What local police estimated were about 700 anti-war demonstrators marched Saturday to within half a mile of the Bush compound before being turned back at a security checkpoint. Called Walker's Point after the family of former President Bush's mother, the stone-and-shingle retreat covering a craggy promontory is owned by the current president's parents.

The protesters sang, chanted, beat drums, waved signs and even played fiddles to call on Bush to bring troops home.

"Bush is fiddling while the world burns, just as Nero fiddled while Rome burned," said Pippa Stanley, 15, of Richmond, Maine, who was helping with the backdrop for pair of fiddlers dressed in togas.

The group was loosely aligned with activist Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier who died in Iraq who gained international attention when she shadowed Bush last summer while he vacationed at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll this month found that only about one-third of Americans support Bush's handling of Iraq.

Anti-war protestors carry banners while marching through Kennebunkport, Maine towards a checkpoint leading to the Walker's Point compound of former US president George H.W. Bush, where his son President George W. Bush is staying.(AFP/Mandel Ngan)

And what was the Bush administration's response to these protests?

A spokeswoman for Bush said he wasn't bothered by the demonstration that briefly took over the tiny, scenic downtown of Kennebunkport.

"As the president has said, Americans are free to protest," said White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino.

A police officer stands at a check point near the home of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, where his son President George W. Bush is staying for the weekend, as protestors call for the end of the Iraq war in Kennebunkport, Maine, August 26, 2006. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES)

You can bet that Bubble-Boy President was shielded from these protests.