In a video I think will shock everyone, a University of Florida student named Andrew Meyer was forcibly removed (UPDATE: Apparently 2 of the cops have been placed on paid leave) from a forum featuring Senator Kerry yesterday for asking "disruptive" questions. As he resisted arrest by the cops, they tased him as he pleaded for them not to. Now I grant that he was ranting and should not have physically resisted when the cops arrested him, NOTHING he said warranted his removal much less use of a Taser.
Law enforcement officers have to be especially mindful at public events which involve political figures that they don't make the appearance of silencing anyone for exercising free speech. Because that's exactly what the video makes this look like. It's like something you'd expect to see in a 3rd world country, not the United States of America and I'm truly appalled. As a footnote, police also arrested a couple wearing anti-Bush t-shirts at a public event on July 4, 2004 at the West Virginia capitol grounds (obviously a PUBLIC area) for "trespassing." Watch the video for yourself:
Law enforcement officers have to be especially mindful at public events which involve political figures that they don't make the appearance of silencing anyone for exercising free speech. Because that's exactly what the video makes this look like. It's like something you'd expect to see in a 3rd world country, not the United States of America and I'm truly appalled. As a footnote, police also arrested a couple wearing anti-Bush t-shirts at a public event on July 4, 2004 at the West Virginia capitol grounds (obviously a PUBLIC area) for "trespassing." Watch the video for yourself:
3 Comments:
I want to refrain from commenting on the civil liberties violations, rather thing about what this means for the rest of the election. Kerry, and this kid, was on every major network tonight, particularly making the Democrats look bad. Not nasty, but definitely the negatives outweighed the positives.
However, think of this in terms of the 2007/2008 primary campaign here on campus. After this incident, how quickly do you think any of the candidates will attend a college forum? Kerry graciously took questions in a town hall style debate, and this kid disrespectfully harassed Kerry for several minutes. Now he has his 15 minutes of fame. Did the police overreact? I have not seen the full footage to comment. Do you think the campaign managers for Clinton, Obama and Edwards saw this today? Yes. How quickly will they encourage their respective candidate to speak at a major university? The word "copycat" comes to mind...
How was he making the Dems look bad? He obviously asked those questions to be inflamatory and get his 15 minutes of fame (though I doubt he realized it would get national attention) but they were legitimate questions (even though there were a lot of them, and obviously not softballs) and, as you said, Kerry graciously agreed to answer. All three leading Democratic Presidential candidates know they need the college vote and they will come to speak on college campuses regardless. I definitely think this incident reflects more on the cops than students.
John Kerry was doing something special - a question and answer session with educated college students. Any question could be asked, nothing is really off limits. This is what politicians should be doing: promoting issues and discussion. Assuming the major democratic candidates come to the UW (since I truly believe the road to the White House passes through Madison), will we be attending a rally, with scripted responses, or an actual question session. I hope we get to ask questions.
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