Witness: Mississippi Congressman 'Opened The Barricade' To Closed WWII Memorial

[meegbear]

Source: TalkingPointsMemo.com

Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS) "opened the barricade" and allowed a group of 91 veterans on Tuesday to storm into the closed World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., according to a representative from the group.

Jen Walton, the secretary of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Honor Flight, which had been scheduled to visit the memorial Tuesday, told TPM the group "went in about 30 minutes ago" and hadn't necessarily planned to enter the memorial if it was closed.

"We didn't have a definite plan, so we knew we were going to come here and just see what was going on and if we were going to be able to go in," said Walton in a phone interview.

Walton said "several congressmen" are currently on the scene and that Palazzo and another official were on hand when the veterans arrived and negotiated with Park Police. Though she was unaware of whether he received permission from the police officers at the memorial, Walton said Palazzo eventually "opened the barricade" at entrance, allowing the veterans to enter. "Pretty much Palazzo just opened the barricade and we followed him in," Walton said.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/witness-mississippi-congressman-opened-the-barricade-to-closed-wwii-memorial

[TheMastersNemesis]

1. This Same GOPPER Voted Close It In The First Place.

[frylock]

16. having their cake and eating it too..

fuck this.

[big_dog]

2. stars and stripes reported that Rep Peter King was diverting Park Police at the same time

on their reporters blog http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-veterans-storm-closed-wwii-memorial

[hedgehog]

3. Anyone know how often these Honor Flights are held?

[hedgehog]

5. I answered my own question - apparently these are ongoing on a frequent basis

http://www.honorflight.org/tour/#2

[gordianot]

4. Be sure this is the only real public service Mr. Pallazo has ever done.

[Plucketeer]

7. Well then....... let's see

There's how many GOP congress-critters and how many waivers to personally effect??? Doesn't seem likely they could recruit many more from the senate to write "hall passes" like this. I'm betting they won't even ably cover the DC area.

[big_dog]

9. I cant wait for each gop congresscritter to have go down to these honor flights and to explain

directly to their WWII constitutients what the hell is going on in the House of Rep

[Plucketeer]

11. AND.....

WHY veterans benefits are being held up!

[lunasun]

27. They will .......and blame Obama/Dems

[Enrique]

8. they should have tased them

just kidding.

[lunasun]

28. yes I could see that happening at other closed memorials broken in to

if a large group had planned a visit and some rep opened the closed area for them ( or at least a lot of bad press and shamimg)
not kidding

[liberal N proud]

10. What a great day to visit the memorial - the crowds wouldn't get in your way.

Hypocrisy is the first trait of a republican. Lying is the second.

[Plucketeer]

12. You sure lying isn't in first place?

It's only thru their speaking (lying) that the hypocrisy is made evident. Not that that makes them any more palatable!

[mn9driver]

13. Very likely this is a violation of the deficiency act.

Felony. Federal offense. Jail time.

[DeSwiss]

15. That's what they'd charge you or me with, if either one of us had done it. :-| n/t

[24601]

23. Based on what? Please explain what federal funds were expended by anyone moving the barricades that

were not already expended by having them put up? Unless you can prove that additional (non-emergency) federal staff was called in to control the situation, there is no case.

And yes, the burden of proof is on the government, not on an accused.

Furthermore, an administration overreaction like you suggest has the potential to shift public opinion. Is that what you want?

[brentspeak]

31. Your passionate defense of this GOP idiot correlates

with many of your other posts -- like your sarcastic putdown of CA's minimum wage hike and your defense of Karl Rove.

[24601]

34. I defended nothing - I asked questions that have not been answered. I invite you to answer

in a non-emotional, factual post.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

14. For FREE???? That's SOCIALISM!!!!

[Liberalynn]

17. If there are any more stunts like this

and monument grounds are entered without proper security and personnel, and those monuments end up damaged or any personal injury claims get filed, the Reps who helped enter the grounds unlawfully should be held personally accountable financially. They should also be sent bills for any janitorial work that needs to be done as a result of the unauthorized use of grounds.

[silvershadow]

20. I agree. They are escalating. With each unanswered charge, they seem to get bolder. nt

[meanit]

18. "They stormed the gates!!!!"

is how the GOPress is reporting this. Right. A bunch of 80 and 90 year old WWII vets crashed the place so they could sneak in.

First off, the vets would have more dignity and respect for the memorial than to do something like that.

These tea bag, asshole, congress-vermin shut it down in the first place, then they sneak the vets in so they can have a big photo op while saying "the government won't keep our vets out!"

Dirty tea bag bastards tricking WWII vets into being propaganda.

How-fucking-LOW.

[B2G]

26. Talking Points isn't the "GOPress" n/t

[meanit]

35. Um....

of course Talking Points is not the GOP press. What in my post would lead you to believe that I thought they were?
It was the MSM that was cheer leading the "vets storm the gates" nonsense.

[rdking647]

19. areest them and keep them locked up. thats 3 less GOP votes to overcome

Last edited Tue Oct 1, 2013, 08:29 PM - Edit history (1)

[silvershadow]

21. I should think they could maybe be expelled from their seats for something like this, but maybe I'm

thinking of how things used to work.

[Pterodactyl]

22. Honestly, the monument should not be barricaded.

I've been to DC several times and most of the time you can visit the open air monuments without ever seeing a federal employee. Why does closing a monument take more employees than opening it?

[B2G]

25. Agree. None of the monuments were closed in '95.

[justgamma]

24. Hmmm? The same story was written about

the Iowa group. They stormed the gates. While the wonderful Steve King moved the barriers.

[appleannie1]

29. He should be arrested.

[seveneyes]

30. I see no good reason to barricade any open air monuments in the first place

Every monument like this I have visited there have been no personnel around or needed for visitors to enjoy. Playing petty games with OUR monuments is not anything I can get behind. There are plenty of other real jobs that may need attention, but not this situation.

[gopiscrap]

32. The fucker should be arrested

Obama should order his arrest!

[Recursion]

33. Palazzo is a douchebag. Should have been Gene Taylor opening the barricade

Alas.

[Daniel537]

36. +1

This jerk was one of those responsible for closing them. Nobody should be heaping any praise on him.

[lynne]

37. The memorial is open now -

- as visiting it has been determined to be a First Amendment right. Believe that all memorials are now open based on the same reasoning. Don't believe memorials were closed in any of the prior shut-downs.