The brandishing of weapons at the fake townhall protests has been portrayed by the right-wing media as a 'free speech' and '2nd Amendment' issue. Intresting that none of these media pundits seemed too concerned about the 'pre-emptive raids' or other heavy-handed 'security' tactics during the last administration. How close do you suppose anybody would have gotten to Junior with an AR-15?
Anyway, the gun-toting thug was interviewed; and somebody did a follow-up report on him. I'll bet you haven't heard this side of the story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fBRglimkgo&feature=channel_page
--- End forwarded message ---
To the person who sent this (Name?)
Probably most of us agree that a town hall meeting is not the place for anyone (except police/secret service) to bring a gun and the pastor's sermon was way out of line.
However, I don't agree with the inference that these are the people mainly behind the town hall protests. People send me information about when the town halls are going to be, but no conservative group that I get e-mail from has tried to get an organized group together. The only groups that tried to get me to join an organized group to meet with a congressperson was the United Educators of S.F. (hardly conservative) and a local democratic group.
I did read in our local paper about Jackie Spier having a town hall meeting at the farmer's market in San Carlos, so my husband and I went. As it was held in the street, the crowd came and went as they were shopping. We stayed about an hour. There was only one man who raised his voice in anger. He was a conservative and he went away of his own accord after he lost his temper - the 3 policemen there did not have to tell him to leave.
The only organized group there was a group of about 6 people trying to get people to sign a pro Obama health care petition and all 6 were wearing those little round Obama stickers that say "Organizing for America" on them. The only thing about the meeting in the paper the next day was a picture of 3 women dressed in dancing outfits who came from the south bay to dance for Obama's health care plan. I missed seeing them in person.
So my point is, the crowd was 99% orderly, 50% for Obama's plan and the only organized people there were 2 groups of liberals.
Marge
It's a very interesting question why the Secret Service is allowing
people with weapons at Obama events. They would never have done that
with Bush, and Obama is not notably a Second Amendment supporter. The
phenomenon is also drawing a lot of media attention. Is it Obama being
set up to be hit, or Second Amendment supporters? Or both?
Mike,
I read that the people with weapons at the Arizona event (who included the LP's own super-activist Ernest Hancock, btw!) were like a quarter of a mile away from Obama, and at an outside location, while the president was inside a building. I haven't heard of any other Obama appearances where people other than government agents carrying weapons, have you?
Personally I was delighted to hear civilians carrying weapons at a public political event. The more people see their fellow civilians exercising their right to keep and bear arms, the better. People who take issue with it should be reminded that government agents have been bringing weapons to such events for years. I suggest asking them (preferably in a tone of surprise) whether they really trust government employees more than ordinary Americans. As is reflected by the phrase "going postal," the fact that someone works for a government is no guarantee of responsible behavior. Timothy McVeigh was honorably discharged from the Army less than three years before the Oklahoma City bombing, and of course police officers not infrequently open fire on innocent people.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
I certainly wasn't opposed to people openly carrying weapons at
Presidential appearances, or anywhere else; I favor it for the same
reasons as you. But the apparent change in policy, with the attendant
media coverage, was a little disquieting.
The Secret Service didn't allow anyone with a gun within shooting distance of Obama. This is all being blown out of proportion by a hysterically anti-gun media that uses tricky camera shots to hide the fact that the guy with the "assault rifle" is himself black, or that the crowd of people of whom only a few are armed are actually quite a long distance away from where Obama got out of his not only bullet-proof, but BOMB-PROOF limo, walked maybe ten steps in the open air which had probably a dozen rooftop snipers to take out anyone within range of that short open-air walk, and was immediately inside a building that had been totally swept by the Secret Service, after which the only people who entered the building had to pass through a magnetometer.
The Secret Service is one of the very few areas of government that is almost totally immune from partisan politics. Their job is to prevent another Lincoln, Kennedy, Reagan, etc. type of shooting. That the media is making it look like they're not doing their job shows just how anti-gun the media really are.
Rob
I'm prepared to believe that this is purely a media phenomenon-that the
same open carrying was done under Bush, but simply ignored. But it
would still be interesting as a purely media shift, and still
disquieting.
I don't know how you can say that the Secret Service is "almost totally
immune from partisan politics." They take their orders from somewhere.
I assume you've seen the video of the Secret Service agent standing on
the bumper of Kennedy's limo being ordered to stand down, and protesting
bitterly? At that time, the Secret Service was under the Dept. of the
Treasury; it's now under Homeland Security-hardly less subject to
political agendas (ask Tom Ridge).