C&L: The Assault On Free Speech - A woman was removed from Clinton rally for wearing a

[ariesgem]

Troops Home Now shirt.


On Tuesday’s Hardball, Joe Conason from The New York Observer and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink had a lot to say about Monday’s controversial tasering of a University of Florida student and go in depth about the state of free speech, or lack thereof, in America today. The discussion of free speech zones and political expression took an interesting turn when Benjamin claimed to have been pulled out out of a Hillary Clinton rally for wearing a shirt that read “Troops. Home. Now.”

Benjamin: “I got pulled out of a Hillary Clinton rally for wearing this shirt.”

Matthews: “No.”

Benjamin: “Yes.”

Matthews: “Pulled out of the rally –

Benjamin: “Pulled out of the rally.”

Matthews: “Who were the pullers?”

Benjamin: “She has goons, just like the Republicans have goons and they drag you out of there and they say, no signs other than the signs that we hand to you. The Republicans and the Democrats do the same thing.”

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/09/19/hardball-the-assault-on-free-speech-in-america

[rateyes]

1. Well, if this is true, then

all those who condemned Bush for it should also condemn Hillary for it...along with any other Democrat or Republican who pulls this shit.

[ixion]

10. exactly

using BushCo as a precedent is not going to restore our republic any faster. :grr:

[niceypoo]

33. Of course she offers no proof...

thus I dont believe a stinking word of it....

[blm]

37. Medea Benjamin is NOT a liar.

And this isn't the first time people have noticed that Clinton2008 is running more like Bush2000 than Clinton1992.

[Gman]

2. I don't believe a damn word of it

If there is some obscure and nuanced "truth" in this story, that's all it is. Benjamin's no better than the worst freeper when it comes to attacking Democrats. I believe she'd twist any situation to hurt a Democrat.

[Cleita]

4. I don't think so, but I also want to hear from Hillary's

people as to what exactly their security criteria are. I get a feeling it's the hired security companies that are at fault here.

[liberalmuse]

9. I'll bet she has no idea about someone being ejected for a t-shirt.

I've found that too many security guards (failed cops) are just horrible. Idiots with weapons. I think the cops who tasered that student were campus police (glorified security guards). I really think the Dems need to be aware that these tactics are being used at their public gatherings and that their supporters adamantly object to them. Bush has an army of trained jack booted thugs in the form of the security guards who work Republican rallies and conventions, not to mention the wilingness of local police to engage in thug tactics for the 'pubs in some places, along with the thousands of overpaid Blackwater mercs in Iraq and NO. Nice to know.

[parasim]

5. So, the Code Pink folks are Freepers?

Wow, I did not know that.

[jberryhill]

11. Check the video from their action back around March 15th 2007

...where they are shouting "The Democrats are worse than the Republicans".

Oh yes indeedy.

[TheWraith]

18. Not to mention, Benjamin is a Green, not a Dem. She's a pure Nader type. NT

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Webster Green]

6. I seriously doubt she would lie about it..

She's no freeper either. There is good cause to criticize and protest our representatives, be they dems or pukes.

Code Pink Rocks!

[Stephanie]

14. Utter bullshit.

Medea has no beef with Democrats. She has a beef with warmongers. And if she says she was thrown out then it's true. I know some of the Code Pink members who got thrown out of a Hillary women's luncheon in New York. Yes, it happens.

[Cleita]

3. I'm seeing a bigger issue here. Thom Hartmann alluded to it.

Apparently the hired security goons have been previously trained by the Bush/Cheney security goons. I do believe that they are local companies and hired by each location, which means a company that specialized in crowd control like for rock concerts, games and political rallies. However, previous to the campaign maybe the only security they did politically was for the tightly closed Republican venues that we all know keep out everyone except the Kool-Aid drinkers. Maybe they think offensive T-Shirts and bumper stickers are security risks because the Republicans taught them that. Stay tuned.

[derby378]

8. Maybe what we need are counter-goon squads

A group of volunteers who are trained to identify goons who target people for exercising their First Amendment rights. They could form a protective shell around the protester and use (hopefully) nonviolent means to neutralize the threat.

[liberalmuse]

7. I hope this is not true...

since it looks like Clinton might possibly be our nominee, though it certainly isn't inevitable. I have a lot of respect for Code Pink and can't see Medea Benjamin lying about an incident like this. If this happened, then it is disturbing and I wholeheartedly condemn this type of suppression of Free Speech. I'm so burned out. I agree with Flynt who said something along the lines of, 'I'm not going to deplete all my energy fighting for free speech. If Americans can't bother to fight for their own rights, Fuck 'em.' Wisdom from a smut peddler who has more decency than most of our representatives.

[FrenchieCat]

12. Not good if true......

I'll have to hear more on this and since there's quite a bit more campaigning to come, I'm sure, if true, there'll be other incidents.


:thumbsdown:

[RandomKoolzip]

13. I admire Medea Benjamin and comend her honesty.

I also admire Hillary Clinton. As much as it pains me, something like this will not prevent me from voting for HRC in the GE; but it will be with a heavy sigh that I pull that lever.

[Tellurian]

15. Right, Medea explained the new rules were set up during the Bush Campaign..

people are automatically extricated as a disruptor when they exhibit inflammatory tendencies at political gatherings..

This thread is a non-issue!

[tkmorris]

16. Your lack of objectivity alarms me

Just because Bush did it does not make it acceptable. Our society under Bush has been lurching towards complete authoritarianism; it makes no sense to preach about change and then offer more of the same.

[Desertrose]

19. Well said!

We are too easily accepting all this authoritarianism.

Doesn't anyone have a memory that goes back before 2000 anymore?


Throwing people out because of what their t-shirt says?? WTH country IS this?!

DR

[Tellurian]

22. You have to keep up!

Read post #20

[Tellurian]

20. It's THE LAW... Bush made it part of the Pats ActII

Some demonstrators after their arrests and arraignments have been banned from DC for a year...

I'm not condoning it in anyway, it's just that the Law is against you from the getgo!

[onenote]

34. link for the claim that demonstrators have been banned from DC?

[TheWraith]

17. Reminder: Medea Benjamin is NOT a Democrat, and deliberately attacks Dems.

Rather than targeting the people who support the war, Benjamin and her group publicly attack anti-war liberal and moderate Dems, simultanously boosting both the ideas of the Dems as being responsible for the war and depicting anti-war people as screaming, irrational nuts. They're some of the best friends the Republicans have.

I'm not a fan of Hillary at the moment, but Medea Benjamin is just a Ralph Nader wannabee.

[jgraz]

21. Not a Democrat? Then she clearly has no rights.

:eyes:

[TheWraith]

25. Out of curiousity, would you rally to her defense if she was a Republican?

She is, after all, a Green, the next best thing to a Republican, even more so than a DINO.

[jgraz]

27. Absolutely yes, no question about it

It's been pretty discouraging lately to see how many DUers really don't have the first clue about democracy. I don't care if she showed up wearing the fucking nazi flag. No one should be ejected from a political event for what they're wearing. Ever.

[Forkboy]

35. It's fucking pathetic here.

Way too many Democrats don't give a shit about democracy anymore than the Repubs do these days.

[Tellurian]

23. Regardless, read #20...what she said is TRUE!

[IndianaGreen]

24. Why do you defend Democrats that won't defund the war and won't impeach Cheney?

There is a reason why today's polls show the Democratic Congress at 13% approval, far lower than the war criminal Bush.

[TheWraith]

26. Why do you defend people who want to help the Republicans?

That's what Benjamin and her group are doing, after all.

And Congressional approval numbers are always low. Congress is a convenient target for every person who wants to complain about the government.

[jgraz]

28. No. Spineless, collaborating Dems like Hillary are helping the Republicans

Code Pink is just pointing out the obvious.

[Steve_in_California]

29. That was a criminal battery.

The legal definition of a battery is the touching of another's person without consent.

[onenote]

31. when? where? let's have some facts, please?

As far as I'm concerned, the only reasonable reaction to this story is to withhold judgment until there are more facts. A barebones allegation that someone was "pulled out" of a clinton rally because of a t-shirt, without any information as to when this happened or where, thus making it impossible to attempt to verify or determine the full circumstances is nothing that I am going to accept without question.

[cali]

32. No kidding

but reason and nuance are in short supply at DU.

[rinsd]

36. John Kerry cuts in line!

:eyes:

[Vickers]

38. I was arrested and was wearing a Dead Kennedys t-shirt.

What I was wearing had nothing to do with it.