Wow, that secret service guy that follows Kerry around looks like a badass

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

It's been the same guy in every speech I've seen.

Looks like he could snap your neck like a pencil.

[captainjack]

1. ss guys/gals are awesome

i have so much respect for them. yeah, i think i know who you're talkin about - i wouldn't want to fuck around with that guy.

[Technowitch]

3. I lost my respect for them when they turned into party hacks for Shrub

They're the ones who enforce the 'no protest' zones and shit.

I'd like to see just one of them have the guts to say, "No, Mr. President. Our job is to save your scrawny ass from an assassin's bullet, even if it means taking it in the chest for you. Our job is NOT to protect you from seeing somebody's hand-painted protest sign or dissenting t-shirt."

But they won't, alas.

[The Traveler]

5. Their job is not to profile potential threats

but based on the profiles given act to protect the President.

Don't blame good soldiers for bad orders. Besides, word on the street is they ain't all that happy about it ...

[CityHall]

7. It's usually the local cops

The local are ususally the ones who are eager to round up the protestors. The Secret Service agents are inside the security zone, the protestors are outside.

At the Kerry rally in Pittsburgh, they were concentrated around him when he shook hands with the crowd, but there were only a couple on the ground outside by the metal detectors.

[LTR]

14. They follow orders

They don't institute policy.

The job of the Secret Service is to protect, and squash any potential threats. And they do a phenomenal job. They really risk their lives to protect the people they're supposed to protect.

At one time, they were in charge of fighting counterfeiting, but I believe that administration of the S.S. has been shifted over to Dept. of Homeland Security in the past few years. Always thought it was a weird double-job.

I don't agree with why so many of them need to protect the Saudi Embassy, but I'm not so sure they're crazy about that either.

[The Traveler]

2. Yeah .. check out the older guy

who looks like he could be his father. Serious pro, there. They're all serious pros.

[RummyTheDummy]

4. They are

I focused on his eyes. The one who was directly behind Kerry along the rope line. They were all over the place.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

6. Exactly.

Everywhere Kerry moves, he's half a step behind. I told my wife he looks like a coiled serpent ready to strike.

[DemBones DemBones]

8. Are you talking about the guy who's about 6'8", kind of blond?

If so, he's Kerry's "body man" and Kerry hired him after meeting him at a windsurfing shop. I guess it was Olbermann who did a segment on him. They also talked to Clinton's "body man" and Dave Powers, who was JFK's. (The Bush campaign wouldn't allow them to talk to Dubya's guy but he was shown and he looked like a twerp.)

[PopSixSquish]

12. I Remember Back During the Monica Fandango...

when Ken Starr wanted Clinton's guy to testify. The Secret Service very politely but firmly told Starr to "get stuffed" Hell even George HW Bush said this was a bad idea. That if the President had to worry about the Secret Service agents being called upon to recount what they'd seen or heard, that the President might start to keep them further away. Made me wonder what Bush the elder was afraid of...

Anyway, think about that phrase "body man" for just a moment. The agent who is always closet to the President and/or candidate and who has only one responsibility. Yeah, these fellas are pretty bad ass and deserve all the respect in the world...

[symbolman]

13. That's Marvelous Marvin

I know him, he's a pretty cool dude.. met him and Teresa in a gymnasium during the Primaries in New Hampshire..

Teresa even invited us to go along with them to the Carole King concert, but we all had the flu so I had to beg off..

but later when Kerry WON the nomination Marvin and Teresa walked right up to me through the crowd and REMEMBERED me.. I was in shock..

I hope to hell Kerry wins (for more than one reason, obviously) - one reason is that I think if I can get near them again, within eyeshot, maybe I'll get a chance to Jam on the guitar with John..

I know this sounds nutty, but it's true :)

However the Secret Service guys look at you like you are going to go insane and attack at any given second..

I always tell them, "Hey, you got some pasta behind your ear, musta been a sloppy lunch eh?" to warm them up.. it never works.

[captainjack]

15. wait

teresa heiz kerry and jfkerry's bodyguard met you at a gym? that's so freakin awesome! dude, i'd have gone to that concert if my entrails were hanging out of my belly!

it's cool tho, maybe you'll get to go the WH once jfkerry is prez!

[LiberalFighter]

16. They called gw*s guy the "two minute guy"

[Neoplatonist]

9. Kerry's going to need them badasses when elected Prez...

There are too many right-wing, nutty Pukes out there.

[PittLib]

10. I'm not sure of the "badass"

I was too busy checking out the incredibly hot one ...

[Buddyblazon]

11. Met several of them when we moved a rally from outside...

into the Fillmore here in Denver this summer. We worked all night...every once in awhile...I'd make small talk with this guy in jeans and a tshirt hanging out watching us build stage and go about our business. Nice guy...laughed at all my jokes...got me a bottle of water (hey...we had 12 hours notice...and worked all night). I figured he was part of the traveling production staff.

Imagine my shock when the guy left for a couple of hours...then came back at 8AM in his black outfit and earpiece.

I walked up to him and said, "No shit?". He just laughed.

They were good people.

[kodi]

17. my step dad is retired secret service.

good, dedicated democrat.

he always told me that the country had no fear from left wingers, but he said that if americans know how many times the feds had stopped right wing mass violence we would all freak out, and this was a half a dozen years before mcveigh and OK city.