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Video: Reporter Throws Shoes At President Bush, Secret Service Asleep At The Wheel
It was quite an episode today when that disgraceful journalist in Iraq threw not one but two shoes at president Bush. Thankfully, the president’s quick reflexes allowed him to duck both shoes just barely. But the question I have is where in the hell was the Secret Service? That nut was able to throw a shoe, then wind up and throw a second shoe followed by at least a couple of seconds before he was tackled.
By my count it was more than 6 seconds before Bush’s lead Secret Service agent made it over to the president’s podium. Imagine if that had been a gun and not a shoe? Secret Service agents are supposed to be constantly scanning a crowd looking for unusual movement of any kind. How in the hell was that guy able to throw two shoes before anybody did anything?
What we saw today was a complete failure of the Secret Service to protect the president. The president casually waved off his lead agent who was about to extract him from the room following the incident. Had that been a gun, the president would have already been dead. That agent looked like a deer in headlights. The president should send that greenhorn back to the academy for a bit more training before he entrusts him with his life again.
Watch this video of the incident. Note the piss poor response time by the Secret Service:
Secret Service Responds To Obama Security Controversy
The Secret Service has issued a response to the report I posted earlier about the alleged lapse in security at a recent Obama rally.
From UPI:
WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) — The U.S. Secret Service Friday denied reports that security measures at a recent Barack Obama rally in Texas were relaxed or deviated from established plans.
Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said there was no order from the Secret Service to stop screening people going to the Obama rally Wednesday at Dallas’s Reunion Arena. He said that the event’s security plans didn’t involve having each participant pass through a magnetometer, as may be the case at other events.
The Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported that some police at the event expressed concern about people not passing through metal detectors.
“Any allegations to the fact that we had suspended screening or deviated from the original security plan would be entirely inaccurate,” Zahren said.
Obama, D-Ill., spoke before some 17,000 supporters at the rally ahead of the March 4 primary election in Texas. There were no security-related incidents.
While stressing that security preparations are different for each venue and event, Zahren said officials were happy with the security plan for the rally at Reunion Arena and the way it was implemented.
Limited use of metal detectors “in no way constituted a security lapse at this venue,” Zahren said, adding that the security measures were developed with Dallas-area law enforcement personnel.
Regardless of whether or not the Secret Service deviated from the original security plan is irrelevant. What’s important is that the Secret Service acknowledges that at some events people don’t have to pass through metal detectors.
All it would take is one nut with a gun in a crowd of 17,000 people and it would be all over. Given our country’s history with JFK, RFK, and Reagan’s near assassination you would think the Secret Service would have learned their lesson.
-Chris Jones
Secret Service Stopped Weapons Screening At Obama Event
From UPI:
The Secret Service told Dallas police to stop screening for weapons while people were still arriving at a campaign rally for Barack Obama, a report said.
Police stopped checking people for weapons at the front gates of Reunion Arena more than an hour before the Democratic presidential hopeful appeared on stage Wednesday, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported.
Police said the order to stop using metal detectors and checking purses and laptop bags constituted a security lapse, the newspaper reported.
Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence — who heads the department’s homeland security and special operations divisions — told the Star-Telegram the order had been intended to speed up seating of the more than 17,000 people who came to hear the candidate speak.
Lawrence said he was concerned about the large number of people being let in without being screened, but that the crowd seemed “friendly,” the newspaper said.
Several Dallas police officers — speaking on condition of anonymity because the order came from federal officers — told the newspaper it was worrying to see so many people get it without even a cursory inspection.
The Star-Telegram said the Secret Service did not return a call seeking comment.
I don’t even know what to say about this. I really hope this is some kind of misunderstanding and not actually true. The idea that the Secret Service would stop screening people in any city, but especially the city that JFK was assassinated in is simply stunning.
-Chris Jones
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