“It was a very confusing, very frustrating situation,” [ejected student Lara] Elborno said. “I said that I had a right to be there, I wasn’t doing anything disruptive – I was sitting, waiting for the rally to start.”
She said McCain staffers wouldn’t tell her why she was being asked to leave and when she got outside, she saw “a group of about 20 people” who had all been asked to leave.
Elborno said after seeing the people who were asked to leave, she was concerned that McCain’s staffers were profiling people on appearance to determine who might be a potential protester.
“When I started talking to them, it kind of became clear that they were kind of just telling people to leave that they thought maybe would be disruptive, but based on what? Based on how they looked,” Elborno said. “It was pretty much all young people, the college demographic.”
Elborno goes on to report how strong McCain supporters were among those kicked out.
“I saw a couple that had been escorted out and they were confused as well, and the girl was crying, so I said ‘Why are you crying? and she said ‘I already voted for McCain, I’m a Republican, and they said we had to leave because we didn’t look right,'” Elborno said. “They were handpicking these people and they had nothing to go off of, besides the way the people looked.”
that’s the tenets of what again?
When the McCain people are asked why ten times as many people attend Obama rallies as McCain speeches, they can say that it’s because they kick people out. It sounds better than admitting the difference in popularity.
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p> – Dan
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p>But they lie all the time so I’m sure the numbers from an actual person being booted was correct. NOT! Maybe you should have mentioned that “conflicting” number as well for full disclosure.
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p>BTW, what would the reaction be if a crowd of protesters started heckling Obama? One at a time people started screaming until they were removed, then another, then another… delaying Obama from getting his word out? I don’t support Obama but I would abhor this type of behavior. Stand outside with a sign or chant as he enters a hall but let him speak. McCain has had people disrupt his speeches and I don’t think there is anything wrong with booting out potential protesters. Maybe he will lose the votes of these “4 or 5” people but my gut tells me they weren’t voting for him anyway.
They threw out all the black people or all the middle eastern people or all the people named JohnD?
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p>What evidence do you have that these people weren’t voting for him anyway?
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p>Targeting young people in this way is not much different than racial profiling.
who was ejected who had already voted for McCain by mail. But she’s got voter’s remorse.
if it could, it might have noticed that one of the people ejected stated she had ALREADY voted for McCain.
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p>It might also have noticed that there is no conflict between the article and Zarifis’s statement. 20 people were thrown out because they looked funny, 4 or 5 actually had the backbone to complain about it. That seems about right for the strong-daddy crowd that’s likely to still be backing McCain.
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p>BTW what does your straw man have to do with anything? None of these people were screaming or disrupting the speech – it hadn’t even started yet. Perhaps you unAmerican types are good with arresting people because they don’t look right, but I’d say current polls suggest that’s not a widespread opinion here in the U.S.
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The “police” took 4 or 5 people out of the hall. One of the people removed said she saw 20 people who had been thrown out. Who was right, I don’t know but the original posting did not mention the conflicting numbers and that was my point.
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p>As for these people not having done anything, I believe you can do some things pre-emptively. I wish more things would be done pre-emptively. Of course you will make some mistakes doing this but it’s a risk I can live with.
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p>I don’t think there is anything “unAmerican” about it either. I would not blame Obama organizers for removing potential “McCain supporters” from an Obama rally… even before they started yelling or disrupting his speech.
I actually agree with JohnD. McCain rented the venue for the evening, making the rally a private party. He therefore had the right to disinvite whoever he wanted.
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p>Isn’t it funny though, JohnD, how easy it is to agree on this point when it is a McCain rally at stake, but not when it is an Obama rally, or a BMG blog entry, for that matter? Not that I’m accusing you of complaining about such things. But we both know what side of the blogosphere most of those whiny complaints come from.
Maybe you won’t believe me but I feel the same way no matter who rented the place. If I want to listen to someone, even whom I disagree with, I want to hear them speak without interruptions. It’s just right.
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p>As for a blog entry, I feel the same way. Your blogs don’t interfere with my comments and vice versa.
he is legally and ethically free to kick his own voters out of his private events, but he’s a raging lunatic for doing so. Most political rallies this late in the season are very noisy events because everyone is so charged up, so any protester a) is unlikely to be heard, and b) would be removed toot suite anyways by the secret service or police.
If you do a quick internet search on Lara Elborno, you’ll find that she is a leader of an anti-war group that has disrupted some of McCain’s speeches in the past, so they were obviously on the lookout for her.
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p>However, there’s a juicy bit of irony that they may have ejected a few supporters along the way simply because they looked suspicious. I hope those folks now have a better understanding of the Bush Doctrine.
and refuses halloween candy to tots who don’t support mccain!
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