TV Crew Covering President Claims Mistreatment

Originally posted by Human_Alien
You have a point. So like I suggested: don't tell your potential assassin your itinerary then.

Make up your mind. One minute, you think the President should be accessible to everyone. Now, you want him to keep his itinerary a secret. What do you want??

reply to post by whaaa


Thanks for the valuable insights.

Sounds like you are a true blue reporter out to get the scoop. Good for you. Too many "newsreaders" in today's news rooms.

reply to post by Human_Alien

Bravo, for you!

Very well said.

Originally posted by Aggie Man

Originally posted by Human_Alien
How dare him take vacation anyway? What the hell does he do that requires a vacation? This country is about to fall apart at the seams and he's in Hawaii? Good gawd.

Are you suggesting that the President can't run the country from Hawaii, the 50th state? You do realize that presidents may "go" on vacation, but they are never "on" vacation. He can be just as effective in Honolulu as he can in Washington D.C.

Now, on topic, the way the police handled this situation wasn't appropriate; however, I don't believe for a minute that Obama directed those officers to damage cameras, injure media members or obstruct the media.

Agreed, for the most part. I would have said,"He can be just as ineffective in Honolulu as he can in Washington D.C.

Obama DID NOT order the police to mis-behave, IMO. Many of them are quite adapt at doing that without any suggestions.

Originally posted by romanmel
Agreed, for the most part. I would have said,"He can be just as ineffective in Honolulu as he can in Washington D.C.

Yeah, but that is still the same scale. rated from effective to ineffective. Scales are always named after the positive, so....

reply to post by Jenna


You do realize that the police has no right to stop filming them. To take the camera away in the first place would be grounds for lawsuit. Even if it were done courteusly without injuring the woman.

Originally posted by romanmel

Originally posted by Jenna

Originally posted by romanmel
No doubt in my mind that these guys were out to cause havoc

Yes that's why, by the woman's own admission, the cop looked shaken when he realized her hand was cut by the camera when he took it away from her. That's also why he wrote his name and badge number down for her and made sure she understood how to file a complaint.

edit on 12/31/2010 by Jenna because: Fixed run on sentence for better readability, and to prevent grammer nazi's from finding me.

He only became "nice" because he realized they were being recorded. That is why everyone should carry a small camcorder when they are out and about to keep these types at bay..

To anyone who wishes to follow this advice, be very careful doing this. If there is a lwful detention, your rights of movement and actions are curtailed (and I could care less if you like that or not, as its a safety issue). 99% of LEO are wired from head to toe with audio, and in some states now video.

Also when it comes to Presidential Protection, most of the venues, regardless of location, are considered Federal and not local, where Federal Law is in effect and not local.

If you want to do these things, be intelligent about it. The number of threats received by the Secrete Service are massive, and there is an attempt to balance the peoples ability to be close and have access to their President, verse the bubble the Secret Service wants to keep the President safe against threats.

Its not the recevied threats that scares the hell out of the protection detail, but the ones they know nothing about.

Regardless of your views towards Law Enforcement, lumping all of them into the same group would be no different than lumping you into the group of paranoid delusional scare mongers intent on beleiving some delusional view about what you think this country should be, rather than what it is and how its been shaped by laws, the Supreme Court etc.

...but since I am not going to stoop to your level I wont lump you in with that group. Instead I will give you the benefiet of the doubt that your claims have some support based on your own personal experience.