CAPITOL POLICE CAVE
When Cindy Sheehan was hustled out of the House gallery on Tuesday night, the Capitol Police sent a message: there will be no disrupting the president's speech. When they ejected a Republican congressman's wife for wearing a T-shirt supporting the troops, the same message was sent. This is not a political protest event. Everybody has to be respectful. No attention-getting cheerleading allowed. No signs in the gallery. Finally, somebody put their foot down on civility.
But that was Tuesday night. Unfortunately, the Capitol Police have now caved in. Yesterday afternoon, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said the ejections were a mistake. He says Cindy Sheehan and the congressman's wife should have been allowed to stay. "We made a mistake" he said. He says just wearing a T-shirt isn't against the rules. This was the absolute wrong thing to do.
Why so? Just wait 'til next year. Let's see how many people show up to sit in the gallery wearing T-shirts with great big political messages on them. Cameras will find their way to those people during the speech, and the attention will be taken away from the person doing the speaking. The other problem is that crazies like Cindy Sheehan have now been emboldened. George Bush has a couple more State of the Union addresses left. Thanks to the weak-kneed Terrance Gainer, she'll be back. Now the State of the Union Speech is going to become just another stage for political protesting.
Let's not leave this without addressing California leftist Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey. Woolsey gave Cindy Sheehan her ticket. The California Democrat said yesterday: "Since when is free speech conditional on whether you agree with the president?" Sorry...it isn't. But there's a difference between freedom of speech and freedom to disrupt. We have hear a member of congress who invited a woman who has stated that George Bush is ten times the terrorist that Osama bin Laden is to watch that president deliver his State of the Union Speech. Legal? Yes. Cheesy behavior? You bet.