Obama, interrupted -- First Read and The Swamp reporting on the protesters.

[jefferson_dem]

Obama, interrupted
Posted: Friday, August 01, 2008 11:21 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: 2008, Obama

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli and NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- About seven minutes into his remarks here, Obama was interrupted by a handful of African-American demonstrators, who stood up in the last row of a section of bleachers behind him and held up a sign that said: "What about the black community, Obama." It had a link to a Web site, http://www.uhurunews.com/, which calls itself the "Online Voice of the International African Revolution."

Obama eventually stopped speaking, turned around, and said, "Excuse me, young men. This is going to be a question-and-answer session, so you can ask a question later. Let me make my statement. Why don't you all sit down? Then you can ask your question. That's why we're having a town hall meeting. Sit down. You'll have a chance to answer your question. But you don't want to disrupt the whole meeting. Just be courteous. That's all. All you got to do is be courteous. That's all. Just be courteous and you'll have a chance to make your statement."

The men eventually sat down and their sign was taken away by those sitting nearby, and eventually a campaign staffer took it away.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/08/01/1240564.aspx

Barack Obama interrupted by protester
Posted August 1, 2008 10:44 AM
The Swamp



Obama hecklers Hecklers interrupt a town hall meeting with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Friday, Aug. 1, 2008, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

by John McCormick, updated

A protester interrupted a speech this morning by Sen. Barack Obama when he raised a sign that said "What about the black community, Obama."

Several young African-American men standing behind Obama held the sign at the top of some bleachers in a high school gym in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Obama reminded the men that they were at a town hall-style meeting and would have a chance to speak.

"You can ask a question later," he said. "Sit down."

The rest of the audience started to chant, "Yes we can."

After others in the audience tried to take the sign away, Obama pressed forward with his speech on economic matters. "Now where was I," he asked, as he tried to regain his composure.

When the question-answer portion of the event started, Obama gave one of the men the second question, as a staff member held onto the microphone the entire time.

"My question is, in the face of the numerous attacks that are made against the African community, or the black community, by the same U.S. government that you aspire to lead," the man started, before naming sub-prime lending, police shootings of blacks, the Gina 6 case and Hurricane Katrina.

"In the face of all these attacks that are clearly being made on the African community, why is it that you have not had the ability to not one time speak to the interests and even speak on behalf of the oppressed and exploited African community, or black community, in this country?" he asked.

As some in the audience booed, Obama started his response.

"This is democracy at work and he asked a legitimate question, so I want to give him an answer," the Illinois Democrat said.

"I think you are misinformed about what you say 'not one time.' Every issue you have spoken about, I actually did speak out....I've been talking about talking about predatory lending for the last two years in the United States Senate and worked to pass legislation to prevent it when I was in the state legislature. And I have repeatedly said that many of the predatory loans that were made in the mortgage system did target African-American and Latino communities. I've said that repeatedly. No. 2: Gina 6. I was the candidate to get out there and say this is wrong and there has been an injustice that's been done and we need to change it...When Shawn Bell got shot, I put out a statement immediately saying, this is a problem....On each of these issues, I have spoken out. Now, I may not have spoken out in the way you would have wanted me to speak out, which is fine....I have spoken out and I have spoken out forcefully....I passed the first racial profiling legislation in Illinois. I passed some of the toughest death penalty reform legislation in Illinois. So, these are issues I have worked on for decades."

<SNIP>

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/barack_obama_interrupted_by_pr.html

[Ian David]

1. He should make them stay after class to clean the erasers. n/t

[asjr]

2. I wonder how much they were paid

by Republicans to do that.

[Ian David]

4. Because McCain thinks his 7% rating from The NAACP will win black voters to him? n/t

[Frustratedlady]

6. My first thought, too.

[glowing]

9. I don't think they were.. the racial relations between St. Pete's finest

and the black community are absolutely atrocious in this area.. Shoot now, ask latter.. They beat up someone they are arresting and then charge the beaten person with police brutality and resisting arrest. Its not good in this area, and the black leaders only do enough to take their pay cut, while the programs that they are supposed to initiate with the loans, pay for a new car.

Its just disgusting.. and I understand their frustration.. but Obama is not Malcolm X.. he wants into the system to change the system... He doesn't want to destroy America, but move to make changes to make it a more Perfect Union.. He's about lifting ALL Americans, not just one group over another... I wish they'd understand.. but I also understand their anger.

[JackORoses]

17. this is the McCain camp trying to play up the issue of race

why didn't you just send in some homeless folks in with signs, John?
it works for the PUMAs...

[redqueen]

19. I wondered the same thing...

[Ian David]

3. Note to protesters: Use The Google before you make a fool of yourself. n/t

[Skidmore]

12. What a snarky thing to say.

These men had a right to ask a question. In the pre-* era, it was acceptable to ask questions without being shouted down. I am extremely disappointed everytime I see our side engaging in Bush-Rove responses to free speech. That's my first reaction. My second is to note to you that there are still a good number of people in the nation who do not own computers to google with. Obama had the correct response. He educated them after showing respect for their concerns.

[Ian David]

16. I do not object to their right to free speech, or even to heckle our candidate.

But their proper response, after Obama's answer should have been...

"Oh."


I used to have one professor who would not let you ask a question in class if you had not done your homework the night before.

They certainly had a computer to print-out a huge banner with a web address on it.




They could have used "The Google."

[redqueen]

20. Um... who said they didn't have the right to ask a question?

[wyldwolf]

5. The way Obama's words were written in the post, he sounds like Morgan Freeman in "Lean On Me."

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

14. LOL!! I thought the same thing. On another note, THREE black men

standing up constitutes a "handfull?" McSame and Dumbya have hundreds, thousands of protestors that rise up against them on a daily basis and yet say little or nothing about it. Why is this even news?

[Barack_America]

7. Hey Swamp, Obama never lost his composure.

Nice try at rewriting the event though. :thumbsdown:

[babylonsister]

8. Is 'Gina 6' supposed to be 'Jena 6', and if so, what's wrong

with this journo?

I heard these guys represent some organization, but didn't catch the name. Will post if I find it.

[Enrique]

13. that's pretty bad

Gina 6. :rofl:

[Merlot]

10. Hard to believe those reviews were both about the same incident.

In the first story, Obama was calm and composed and handled the situation gracefully, and the men sat down and waited their turn.

In the second story, Obama was abrut and told them to sit down while the audience chanted. He had to "regain his compsure" while the audience booed, as "the staff member held onto the microphone the entire time."

Enquiring minds wanna know...

[MoJoWorkin]

11. Firstread MUST update to include Obama letting the protester ask a question, and his marvelous

response.

And, Obama never ever "lost" his composure, as Swamp insinuated.:puke:

I think the way Barack handled it was most impressive, and will help allay some unwarranted misinformed fears about his "catering" to so-called militant black causes.

It just reinforced the uniting factor of his campaign that he will be the President of ALL THE PEOPLE.

[liberal N proud]

15. There is something weird about those protester showing up like that

Was one of them Ken Blackwell?

[JackORoses]

18. they hid their faces because they are being paid and they are ashamed of it