Woman arrested at McCain event for "McCain=Bush" sign

A 61-year-old librarian was ejected from an ostensibly public McCain campaign event at the Denver Center of Performing Arts in Denver, CO on June 7 because she was brandishing a deadly memetic weapon: a hand-lettered sign that read "McCain=Bush."

Carol Kreck was standing outside the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, on city property. Ms. Kreck objected that she was standing on city property. She was lead away by a police office and ticketed for trespassing.

Carol Kreck, QED.

As ThinkProgress notes: "McCain has apparently taken a page from the Bush playbook. In 2005, the White House had three activists expelled from a Denver public forum with President Bush because it was the administration’s policy “to exclude potentially disruptive guests from Bush’s appearances nationwide.”"

Update: A commenter asks how I know Kreck was arrested. About 1:03 into the video, she asks whether she is being arrested. The police officer escorting her answers "yes."

Comments

[michael schmidt]

The sad thing is that this isn't really "news" anymore--we really sort of expect it.

Who does the Secret Service answer to? How can they get away with robbing people of their first amendment rights?

[Richard Kusaba]

Is it really over or can we 'hope' that Obama will fix this mess?

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

If it's no longer news that Republicans arrest people at campaign events for inconvenient signs, we're doing our job!

Just a few years ago, the default assumption would have been that a protester must have been doing something seriously nefarious or borderline terroristic to get arrested at a public event (whether the evil librul media reported it or not).

Nowadays, it's common knowledge that the State will happily fuck over average citizens for the convenience of our richer and more powerful counterparts.

Soon, we'll have the critical mass to effect major change (with or without future president Obama, all best wishes to him).

[QuakerDave]

Bush = suspension of civil liberties and constitutional rights, including freedom of speech.

Yup. McCain = Bush.

[Chris]

Lindsay,

Can you please explain how this lady was "arrested" as your title states? She was removed and given a citation, which should not have happened. But isn't your title the same kind of sensationalism that most people lambaste Fox News for?

You're not helping your cause at all by misrepresenting facts, as conservatives can use posts like these as ammunition just like liberals use Fox News.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Chris, watch the video. At approximately 1:03, she asks "Am I being arrested?" and the officer answers, "Yes."

[chris]

No, she's being cited for trespassing. on public property.

http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/al/Cqyh

She was issued a citation and threatened with arrest if she returned.

Cheers.

[In The Know]

Technically, it should have been "McCain == Bush".

[cfrost]

Oh thank God. If we can't manage to apprehend terrorist bears like bin Laden, at least we can stop terrorist mosquitoes vectoring subversive ideas like Carol Kreck.

[Cass]

"No, she's being cited for trespassing. on public property."

Whew! That's a relief. I remember how concerned I was over the arrests of protesters in NYC in 2004, only to find out they were all in violation of obscure city ordinances.

[Sachem]

Remember that this is the same secret service that is protecting Barack. Are we scared yet?

[John]

Land of the Free, baby.

[Ghost of Joe Liebling's Dog]

"Am I being arrested?"
"Yes."

Maybe it's just me and those six years of elementary school, but it looks like that's somehow not the same as:

"Am I being arrested?"
"No, I am citing you for trespassing."

Weird...

[TonyPony]

Folks, we are screwed if We The People have learned to kow-tow and suffer injury and insult from our own hired government servants! TAKE AMERICA BACK! Was a time, THEY cringed in fear of We The People and conducted affairs to OUR bidding! Beware the Ides! Remember Nicolae Ceauşescu and his wife of Romania?
Dec 25, 1989.
Sic Semper Tyrannis! Motto of the Commnwealth of Virginia...

[swampcracker]

Another example of McCain=Bush, one can always suspend constitutional liberties to level the playing field on behalf of a morally bankrupt politician who has nothing left to sell the American public. The scene reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut's story, Harrison Bergeron. In a McCain administration, we will all suffer broken arms and anger management issues in sympathy while singing "Bomb, Bomb Iran" in unison.

[Chris]

Hooray for idiots on both sides of the political fence.

SHE WAS NOT ARRESTED.

[Chris]

Here's some better sources on this topic that don't maintain such sensational posturing:

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9812206

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/07/librarian-with-mccainbush-sign-kicked-out-of-public-campaign-event/

and again:

http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/al/Cqyh

SHE WAS NOT ARRESTED.

This supposed "freelance journalist" has absolutely no journalistic integrity if she's misrepresenting fact.

A few quick phone calls to the actual reports verify that she in fact, was NOT ARRESTED.

Cheers.

[TB]

SHE WAS NOT ARRESTED.

Posted by: Chris

That's right Chris, it's best to talk about the ifs and the ands and the wherefores, because you know, they are SO much more important than what's going down here: Government suppression of free speech.

Distract by getting into the detailed minutia of what was or wasn't said, or the perceived bias on this or that.

Pull your head out and start to think, or shut the fuck up and get out of the way of those of us who can.

[Chris]

TB,

You're best to just take a seat way in the back if you think distortion of this story does it any benefit.

[Cass]

Your Cass. is not in a place where she can listen to the audio, but what I gather from the video and story is that she was ticketed and ejected from a political event, and told not to come back, supposedly for trespassing on city property (?) but almost certainly for carrying a sign that said unflattering things about the candidate. And yes, however accustomed we're getting to this sort of thing, that's still a big deal.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Watch the video, Chris. A uniformed police officer tells her that she is under arrest as he physically escorts her from the scene. That's an arrest. Maybe it was an illegal arrest, but that would only compound the injustice.

She wasn't taken into custody or taken to jail for booking.

A lot of people confuse being arrested with being taken into custody. In the final frames of the video, she explains that the police told her that she'd be taken into custody if she went back into the plaza.

[parse]

Folks, we are screwed if We The People have learned to kow-tow and suffer injury and insult from our own hired government servants! TAKE AMERICA BACK! Was a time, THEY cringed in fear of We The People and conducted affairs to OUR bidding!

When was that, TonyPony?

[swampcracker]

There is a crusty old curmudgeon with a pacemaker who lives in my beach community. Last month, he drove his electric-powered wheelchair to the local 7/11 store to buy a six-pack of beer. He left the store as he came … riding his wheelchair home and drinking his favorite Bud Lite en route when a police officer arrived and cited him for drinking while driving.

“Bullshit,” he said as a crowd gathered. The chief of police was called to the scene because my curmudgeon friend got real testy with the arresting officer. There were boos and hisses from the crowd, and the police chief backed down … dismissing his deputy … while my curmudgeon friend whirred his wheelchair back to his condo. End of story.

Our librarian friend missed an opportunity. If she had more spine, she might have reminded those in authority that a placard is constitutionally-protected free speech, that an open political rally on public property does not constitute “trespassing,” and that any attempt to censor her would be a violation of her civil liberties. Had she made a scene at the scene, it would have been a major embarrassment for McCain and his goons.

Next time stick it to them. Don’t capitulate. Civil disobedience unnerves those who would repress us.

[QuakerDave]

A-hem. Excuse me for reading my Constitution, but why does it matter that she was merely "cited" as opposed to being "arrested"? She should not have been hassled AT ALL.

[shrimplate]

Chris is merely playing the diversionary role of "bullshit troll." Such things are annoying but not uncommon.