5 count 'em 5 SS agents around Obama in Ohio rally....

[MazeRat7]

Was flipping channels while working on some code and came across a speech being given in Ohio today. What struck me as odd/scary/sad/etc was there were 5 dudes with ear phones and dark sunglasses completely surrounding Obama as he walked the greeting line. Not sure why I noticed really, maybe shades of RFK in '68 ? I was 11 then, but still remember. Maybe it was the reinforcement of the crazy mad world we live in where some think its ok to F*ck something/someone up if you don't agree with them.

Via Con Dios Barack. You got my vote last week. But alas, I do live on a blue island in a sea of red.

Peace,
MZr7


edit: oops... spelling. My bad.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[leftchick]

2. only five?

I believe Kerry had many more than that when he came to my state in 2004.

[barbtries]

3. snipers on the roof in raleigh last wednsday

i just said, as long as they're the good guys. obama MUST be kept safe.

[gblady]

4. This is standard operating procedure....

and has been for quite a while now....
I've seen him with 7 around him on the rope line...

slightly off topic...I keep asking and haven't gotten an answer...
why do the SS wear sunglasses?

[MazeRat7]

7. so folks on the line can't see their eyes or where they are looking n/t

[kurt_cagle]

10. Sunglasses are ...

standard police tactics. It makes it harder to see where they are looking, it hides their emotional state, and, not surprisingly, it reduces glare when you're trying to see.

It's also just possible that the glasses are linked into a HUD, but they'd have to be awfully bulky to do that.

[shadowknows69]

12. Not that bulky

We have cellphones the size of matchbooks these days.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

31. What's a HUD?

H** U** device? :dunce:

[Edweird]

34. Heads Up Display

[Thor_MN]

42. As opposed to most repugs, HUADs

Head Up Ass Douchebags

[rzemanfl]

5. As I recall there were that many here in Florida too. They seem

to be the same guys every time. Everyone goes through a metal detector to get into a rally.

[Pirate Smile]

6. Standard procedure on the rope line. They have a system.

[Ikonoklast]

8. Those are only the obvious ones.

Many, many more SS scattered around the crowd. Both sides of the barriers.

I pray to whatever deity that would listen to me that they do their job successfully, and everyone stays safe.

[MidwestTransplant]

15. Plus many from afar watching the crowd in front of and behind Obama as he moves.

[amborin]

9. it's also all backed up by massive intell ops

checking who's in the area, who's in the crowd, whereabouts of known threats, etc., etc......

[janx]

11. DUDE!

:hi:

Nice to see you're back! Are you ready for this election?

[MazeRat7]

17. I'm done. Already voted. Just waiting for my own personal reprisal...

Huck looks good. How's Daisy ? Hope you have voted. NM is close from what I hear. Would not have suspected that from what I saw a few weeks back. Seems like ever car I passed had an Obama sticker. Now that I think about it, I didn't see hardly any McCain stickers. Got a ticket from the tribal police north of Santa Fe. Asshats... I was on the highway and suddenly the speed limit went from 65 to 45 for like 2 miles. They nailed me. Oh well. Ticket is paid no damage done.

Take care,
MZr7

[janx]

19. I voted weeks ago and Bean voted for the first time about ten days ago--

her first presidential vote. NM isn't close. http://www.electoral-vote.com We've been deep blue for quite some time now.

How far north were you? Glorieta area? I know there's a slow-down because of Rail Runner construction around Santa Fe, but that stops once you get north of the city. Hope you had a good time.

[MazeRat7]

21. Valle Vidal area north of Taos, via Santa Fe....

Could have thrown a rock and hit Colorado. Came down with a pretty bad case of altitude sickness (HACE) and had to break camp a day early and get down to a lower altitude. I retreated to Taos and licked my wounds at a B&B. It was suggested I was too old to do that kind of camping any more. Of course my first response to the doctor was "BullS**t". Guess I'm not a spring chick anymore? But don't try telling me that!!! That whole packing thing at 10,000+ ft was lot harder than I remembered. Anyway, all in all I had a good time but I needed a vacation to get over my vacation. So to speak.

Saw Obama here in Austin a few weeks back. I started working on get-out-the-vote here with my "affluent" neighbors.... I got 50 signs and whet door-to-door to get contributions. After 100+ homes, I had only "sold" (in terms of donations) 20 signs. Everybody else already had them, had already contributed, and only a few refused to talk to me. I would put Obama up by double digits here in Austin. Unfortunately, the rest of my state does not share that view.

MZr7

[janx]

24. Yeah, I guessed that was your destination

--but is that where the speed trap was?

Haha. Being 50--almost 51--is fun, eh? It's not so much your age, as you know. It's the altitude. My friend is 55 and lives in Glorieta. He still goes for jogs with his dog, backpacks, etc., but he's used to the altitude. It probably just takes longer to adjust at 50 plus years. Maybe next year you guys can spend some time in Taos for awhile to get acclimated before you go up into the hinterlands. They say it takes a couple of weeks to get the red blood cell count up, but any extra acclimation would probably help.

When I lived in CO, I got acclimated and had little problem going from 5400 feet to 7,000 or 10,000 feet, but 12,000 or 14,000 (Pike's Peak) still kicked my ass, and I was in my 30s then.

I'm impressed by your volunteer efforts. Someday I'll make it to Austin.

GOBAMA!

[MazeRat7]

27. Well considering...

I went from 500 ft to over 10k feet in 48 hours... I was surprised it happened on this trip considering I've made the same basic trip over two dozen times over the past 20 years. Oh well, I'll try to do something different next year.

It's good to hear from you. Glad you've voted, glad to hear you think NM may break for Obama. MSM is calling it "leaning", I just dont see that. I would be surprised if it didn't go for Obama in the single digits. I'm also counting on some D gains in the Senate and House.

All in all, while the Washington power may shift, the startup I'm designing code for is only funded until June of '09. VC's are really nervous right now as you can imagine. Still not sure I made the right choice in not taking that job with NRAO... but there is no going back. A lot like elections. Take the cards that are dealt and deal the best you can.

Take care, kiss Huck and Daisy for me....

Peace,
MZr7

[janx]

28. Awww...

that's sweet of you, bud. Yep, we're dealing with what we're dealt here too; Huck and Daisy are the same as ever. The MSM calls NM leaning because they want to keep people watching. It bothers me a bit that electoral-vote.com put us back into the light blue category. They're very thorough. With only a day or so to go, I guess the real poll will come on Tuesday. I might have to cut my office hours short to make "the drive" back from Socorro early enough to get the party started. I'm only making the drive two days a week these days, but talk about Groundhog Day! You can imagine: I've been doing that drive for THREE YEARS now! The wild honey and salmon place. The cows. No trees. Dirt. The longhorns. Lemitar. On the way back: the cattle living in their own shit stink. The goats. Los Lunas (yay!)--gettin' closer to the Rio Grande! At the Isleta Pueblo, the Cheroquet gas light goes on, and that means I can cruise into Albuquerque before running out of gas. It's so predictable, so funny, but so goddam repetitive! :rofl:

I forgot to mention UDALL! Mark Udall was my Rep. when I lived in CO, and now Tom Udall is running for U.S. Senate here in NM! He has enormous support, and I love the Udall family's record, stemming from Mo Udall, in the West. They're historic when it comes to Native American and environmental matters.

I will kiss the dogs for you if you kiss Jeeb for me. Keep in touch.

[janx]

25. Oh, shit, I just looked again,

and we're not deep blue anymore; we're light blue! What happened?

[RayOfHope]

13. Security at the rallies is TIGHT. Those dudes do NOT mess around

Last night I started to walk through the metal dectector a little too early for the guards liking (I guess the detectors have to reset each time or something). Hoo boy did he jump my ass, and how. I thought I was gonna cry! Well, not really, but he meant business.

[billyoc]

14. There could be a battalion of them in the crowd, who knows?

They know what their doing.

[TahitiNut]

16. I've been seeing 5 since the primaries and counted 7 in Missouri.

Three ahead of him in the rope line, three following him, and one at his back ... ALL with deadly serious looks on their faces and continuously scanning the crowd at about waist high, looking for any threat whatsoever. Lord (and the SS) only knows how many are working in the crowd. These are truly the "reality-based" public servants. Heroes.

[janx]

18. Beanley and I saw many at the rally here in ABQ last weekend.

We saw them arrive, coordinate, etc. And there were some we didn't see as well; apparently there were plain clothes agents who were out and about.

Beanley and I were about 20 feet from him when he made his speech, and those guys were all over it.

Obama's safe.

[givemebackmycountry]

20. And THANK GOD they are there for Barack.

I don't want no bullshit, and those guys are about ZERO bullshit.

And I'm just guessin' here, but I bet those guys LOVE working with Obama and his family.

[janx]

22. Not just guys.

At the ABQ rally, there was a female SS agent on the stage, scanning the crowd. She took her sunglasses off when the sun went down (it was a night rally). She was petite, alert, and serious. I thought that was very cool.

[mod mom]

23. I just got back from the rally. The roof of the statehouse had many secret servicemen w binoculars

[janx]

26. That's probably not all they had.

;-)

[TBF]

29. There may be a 2nd island soon... the Chron endorsed Obama. Keep the faith. n/t

[Duppers]

30. nothing can or must happen to Obama

I'd be one of the rioters in the streets if it did.

I shiver just to imagine such a thing happening. I'm glad they have 5; I'd be happier if it were 10.

[janx]

32. There are loads of Secret Service protecting him.

I marveled at the Secret Service as they arrived in ABQ and found some plain clothes people examining the crowds along with local law enforcement. The coordination was impressive.

Law enforcement are protecting our right to vote.

[tallahasseedem]

33. I saw just as many

around Joe Biden here in Tallahassee today! Jill Biden had three!

[yodoobo]

35. More like 50, maybe 150.

the 5 visible ones are just for public consumption to discourage any idiots from getting ideas.

[ACTION BASTARD]

36. That's just what YOU see.

They have people everywhere. See that trashcan in the corner? SS man is in there.

[yodoobo]

39. lol. funny but about true

A guy at my office has brother who is SS.

The stories I've heard, 3rd hand and heavily sanitized amaze (and scare) the hell out of me.

[janx]

40. Yes, and I'm glad for it.

;-)

[roamer65]

37. There will be shitload more of 'em around him sometime Tuesday night...

when he becomes President-elect Obama.

[Liberal In Texas]

38. I do hope he stops wading into crowds after the election.

It's way too dangerous in this day and age.

[NWPatriot]

41. I am NOT trying to be a party-pooper.....

...but I will bet that, when any candidate gets SS protection, they are told the following:

"We will do our utmost to protect you and your family. However, we are not perfect. We can't protect against a perfectly dedicated gunman who is willing to die AFTER he gets his shot off."

I remember reading in Tom Clancy's novel "Teeth of the Tiger" about how 'President Ryan' was still mourning the loss of his Vice President and friend, Adm. "Robbie" Robertson. According to the story, Robertson decided to run for President, and was doing amazingly well in the polls. It was nearing Election Day, and he was about to pull it off, being the nation's first black President. Unfortunately, one day at a campaign stop down in the South, some "aged Klukker" with a pistol shot him dead.

Now, I am in NO WAY suggesting that "life imitates art". Tom Clancy's novels are right-wing mush, good only for freepers and the occasional curious liberal who had nothing else to read. What I AM suggesting is that, despite the best the Secret Service can do...they cannot stop a dedicated (and likely crazed) lone gunman who is willing to throw away their life in order to accomplish his goal.