I randomly stumbled upon President Clinton’s motorcade leaving downtown Seattle once in my mom’s beater Toyota. They were hauling ass, I wonder if they always drive that way for security reasons? We were stuck for a minute by a bike cop along the route or so but it seemed like surprisingly little security (physically) so I wonder if they just didn’t have a publicly known route and used speed for safety. A normal civilian driving that speed on surface streets and not stopping at stop signs would get in big trouble.
They probably blocked off the entire route, from start to finish, for the entire time they were on it. Driving fast meant that normal traffic could resume sooner. People always got pissed when the President came to the Twin Cities because they’d close off the freeway all the way from the airport to downtown Minneapolis.
And, really, unless you’re in a parade, if they’re going to block off the road so that only you could drive on it, wouldn’t you drive like a maniac?
I have stayed there a few times, and if I recall the rumor was that the hotel was not suitable because several of the upper suite floors were full time rented out to some local entrepreneurs who were taking full advantage of the import/export business friendly nature of government employees and politicians who would not let red tape stand in the way of free market selling opportunities. Not sure if the lock down last year cleared them out or not.
I’ll be damned if I’d let Clinton leave town in my mom’s car, even if it was a beater Toyota. Even if he promised to have the seats cleaned…
Well, in Clinton’s defense, he only used it because he misunderstood quite what was meant by “beater.” Wink wink, nod nod.
And it wasn’t just him, but his motorcade. Quite the party, and what with the “wheels up rings off” mentality of the secret service, I recommend a deep clean and detail of the toyota, or fire.
If it had to be somebody I probably would’ve chose Slick Willy anyway. 
and the SS agents didn’t question you?
I’m no lawyer, but when there’s an eyewitness to a crime, he usually gets questioned too.
Sounds a bit scary that the SS jumped on a guy just because of an anonymous tip. What if you were a prankster?
Of course. This anecdote has been modified from its original version. It has been edited for internet to run in the time allotted, and formatted to fit this screen.
We were both cops at the time, told them the deal, then went in later to give statements.
I recently spoke with a DNR Range Officer at a WMA range north of Atlanta. The USSS had come to him for help getting to a residence, deep in the North Georgia woods, and somewhat off the beaten path. They needed someone who knew the area, since there were no real roads for miles from this guy’s place.
He said OK, but why? He had signs in his yard threatening the life of BHO. He asked how they knew that if they couldn’t get there. They just said “We have satellite photos. We know.” 
You really want to watch what you put on your poster at your next protest!
Ronald Reagan visited our campus back in the 80’s and the same thing. Every rooftop seemed to have an agent on it.
Here in Atlanta, when the President comes to down, they do what’s called a rolling road block. It minimizes the disruption to local traffic since the roads are not completely closed down. This is a link to a local news segment on rolling roadblocks used by the President for a recent visit.
So Tebow didn’t kill JFK…
I was at a Clinton appearance at a military base near where I lived, and there was a Man With a Rifle on every rooftop. From what I could see, the scopes were approximately the size of the Hubble telescope. I imagine that those so armed could shoot the proverbial fly off a bull’s ass. I would not have wanted to be a Suspicious Figure anywhere around.
Evidently, anyone trying to take out the President not only needs to be a good shot and bulletproof themselves, but they need to be able to defend themselves against a man armed with a banana