I understand that Heywood Jablome has pledged to cast eighty-seven votes for the president. 
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No its because its a political rally and not a debate with the public. I’m sure Kerry wouldn’t be too happy with hecklers in the audience and neither would his Secret Service escort. I doubt Kerry has as much trouble with rabid protestors but thats because Conservative voters tend to be more, um whats the word…conservative.
Actually, Kerry doesn’t prevent hecklers from attending his events.
Yeah, like the crew in the hallway outside where the FL recount was being done in 2000. :rolleyes:
I doubt he’s happy to have hecklers, but he doesn’t ban them, either. I heard a snippet of him talking to hecklers interrupting a speech the other day on NPR. I didn’t run for a pen and paper so I could quote his words on the SDMB exactly, but he said something like “on this side, everyone’s invited, even those with differing points of view.”
There are all sorts of different events for the big guys, from hand-shake parties to small issue events to huge rallies where the goal is to go as big as possible.
In my experience, the Kerry events almost always work one of two ways: either they announce ticket pickup locations where you can just come and get tickets, or they invite undecideds. The ticketed events are big rallies, with the tickets primarily being used so that the planners can get a sense of how big the crowd should be. The rallies generally have two restrictions: no signs, limit personal items. This limits anti-Kerry people to hecklers and shirts and so forth, without actually forcing them out. Sometimes the Kerry planners try to get attendees to sign their names and info when they get tickets, but I would guess that the primary purpose of this is probably to ID supporters to GetOoutTheVote them later, not to restrict them, and you aren’t required to sign anything that says anything.
The invite events usually involve finding undecided voters and calling them en masse to invite them to come hear Kerry make his case. I am not aware of Bush doing anything like them, and his reluctance to confront such people compared to Kerry’s embrace of them, is often cited as the reason Bush was such a big huff at the debates when he was actually questioned about things.
I know less about Bush events from experience, but they too also have rallies where the goal is simply to make the crowd look as big as possible. In the beginning, however, they still didn’t have open ticket distribution like Kerry had: you had to go to the GOP offices and indeed sign varoius pledges, or show ID, and so on. But it makes perfect sense that as the campaign closes, and the crowd size becomes much more important to the media, that they’d stop doing this and just throw the doors wide open in order to get crowds as big as possible, even if it comes at the price of having a less zealously pro-Bush audience. They’ve also taken a lot of flak over the pledge. But I should say that I think the purpose of the pledge is two-fold: it’s not JUST to restrict people who come to the events, it’s probably also, again, so they can be more certain of someone being a supporter, meaning they can GOTV them more easily.
Ah, politics.
Yeah, those people holding torn apart autopsy fetus photographs, dressed up as giant flip-flops and waffles, and so on: yeah they’re real interested in propriety.
I’ll be interested to hear what ‘Ann’ has to report tomorrow. Will the ticket suffice to get her in? Will she need to sign a loyalty oath? If she wears a “books not bombs” t-shirt, will she be pulled aside, interrogated, and refused admission?
Mind you, I’m not questioning Bush’s right to do these things at private campaign rallies. But the notion that we’ve got a President Who Must Not Be Shown The Slightest Evidence Of Opposition is really…surreal? Un-American? Both?
And when he stops and speaks at a public high school, and the students there are forbidden to wear Kerry badges or shirts - I do question Bush’s right to do that, because he doesn’t have that right. But apparently that didn’t stop everybody from acting like he did:
And Kos has more:
Expulsion is ‘big trouble’, alright.
Kos added this:
It isn’t a UL - it’s been authenticated time and time again, as this thread has made clear.
But here’s the deal on rallies and winning votes, Bush style:
- To the extent that the Bush campaign is aiming at new voters, it figures they can see clips of the rallies on the TV news, and the absence of hecklers or protesters will show the undecided voter that everybody loves Bush, and nobody opposes him.
- It’s been clear for some time that they’ve given up on the middle anyway, and are hoping to win by maximizing turnout among their base. Loyalty oaths don’t slow that down in the least.
Thats why I said as much trouble not no trouble both sides have their share of loonies. There are also a ton of loonies that aren’t much interested in politics and are more likely to vote for Xenon of Omega XII.
He still has to get an e-mail read on-air by O’Reilly to match Jack Mehoff’s performance.
Apos thanks for your longer post, its gives some insight into the process I didn’t have. I have never been to a political rally myself. I am curious, if dissenters are welcome and hecklers answered why haven’t there been any more footage of it on TV? Seems like something that would get eaten up by any of the networks. The only incidents I remember were at or near the RNC convention. The incidents I remember concluded with the hecklers being tackled or restrained by someone in the audience. Where I am working now CNN is on all day long. They broadcast live most of the speeches from both candidates. I have never seen Kerry or Bush deal directly with a heckler.
Well, some of us just got back from watching the motorcade go into the area.
“Ann” called a couple of hours ago. She told me that she only agrees with Bush on one thing–abortion–and that’s why she’s voting for him. She really went so her 4-year-old could have the experience of sitting around on the ground since 6am until 2:45 to see someone she doesn’t know from the distance. I’m sure it will be a happy memory for the little girl.
She said a girl we know is a “bouncer.” She is to watch people with Kerry shirts on and make sure they don’t get rowdy or anything. The funny thing is the girl is kind of small. What would she do about it if someone got rowdy?
The high school band and cheerleaders are there. Also the band from a neighboring community. Do you think they can force the kids to go? My daughter plays in the band at another neighboring community. The school superintendent decided not to send the band, I’m not sure why. My daughter says she would have refused to go “play for that fool.” Either the superintendent thought it was wrong to have the band go play for a political rally, as opposed to some kind of event the president was invited to, or it is because the band director has been ill for a couple of weeks and things are a little confused around there right now.
When we got back to work there were flyers on our cars telling us why Christians can’t vote for Kerry. Well gee! I’m a Christian and I’m going to vote for him! I just can’t reconcile the words Jesus said with the actions of this Republican administration.
You might want to send her this link, or print out the essay and give it to her.