During last night’s debate (which I didn’t watch, but I am referring to a news article) at one point Mitt Romney got agitated and approached the President and the moderator, Candy Crowley, asked Romney to get back to his chair.
I wonder if the Secret Service agents who were present got slightly nervous in that situation. Usually, all public appearances by the president are carefully staged and nobody is allowed to physically approach the President in an agitated mood.
(BTW, last week during a debate between two contenders for a US Congress seat in California, a policeman had to step in because the two politicians were about to get physical).
The Secret Service guys ALWAYS look agitated during public appearances, even when things are going well. This seems to begin once POTUS is on stage or coming through. They seem to relax when they’re guard the area BEFORE he comes through.
I believe that the Secret Service would only react if Mitt Romney physically assaulted the President. Which just ain’t going to happen. On the theoretical what-if side, his own detail would participate in taking him down if it came to that.
This is right. In the ridiculously absurd hypothetical of a presidential candidate engaging in fisticuffs with an incumbent, the Secret Service’s priority list is extremely clear: get the president the hell out of there.
It’s not their job to give a shit about who threw the first punch. It’s their job to protect the president (first) and other protectees (second) and everybody else (last.)
But personally, I believe the debates would enjoy far greater TV ratings if each one began with a girlish slapfight.
Off-topic anecdote here, for the SDMB readers’ entertainment (a story I remember reading once):
President Eisenhower once attended some major parade (4th of July?), sitting with a group of VIPs in a reviewing stand. Trick roping artist cowboy Monty Montana was in the parade. He planned to surprise Eisenhower by lassoing him as he passed by. He mentioned this to somebody-or-other, and it ended up with Eisenhower hearing about and agreeing to the plan.
So Montana lassoed Eisenhower and everybody got a good laugh about it.
Postscript: The Secret Service goons were clued in on the plot too, of course. One of them remarked something to the effect that if Montana had lassoed the president without having it planned and authorized in advance with the Secret Service, they’d have made swiss cheese out of him.
I wonder how something like another 9/11 attack would be handled if it happened during a debate. Does somebody come up the President and whisper what’s happening into his ear, or do they just stop everything & remove him from the scene?
It’s about assessing the threat…a very difficult thing to do. I take it that they did not react to that asshole Romney violating the stage space…though I’m sure he was advised to do it…an old show businesses trick…that people always like. I do it because people remember it when the “Box” is broken.
They’re not opposed to each other, and they are not under the authority of those they are guarding. They’re all on the same team, they don’t have alliances.
I think Chimera is right that Romney’s own detail would probably pull him away in the extremely unlikely event that he tried to assault the President.
And if it comes right down to it, they have to protect the President first. That doesn’t mean they would let the President assault anybody, though. Likely they would just hustle both guys off the stage in opposite directions.
As extraordinarily unlikely as any kind of on-stage, physical scuffle between the candidates would be, I bet the SS has a plan already in place for it. They plan for every contingency.
If I understand it correctly, Secret Service agents are law enforcement officers. But given their special task of protecting the President, one could ask if there are also special rules of engagement.
The President certainly has the right to tell the Secret Service agents who protect him that he doesn’t need them momentarily and leave him alone. So if Romney indeed started to physically assault Obama, Obama could tell the Secret Service agent “I can handle this myself” and get back at Romney with some Karate kicks. Would the Secret Service agents, noticing that the President is capable of protecting himself, follow his orders and retreat momentarily?
I assume that there were, in addition to the Secret Service agents, also local police officers present at the debate. To them, the President and his contender are ordinary citizens, they don’t take orders from the President. A cop could not possibly stand idly by when there is a violent altercation between two citizens, he has to step in and stop the fight.
The Secret Service agents on the other hand, who are also law enforcement officers, but who more or less work for the President, wouldn’t step in?
Has it ever happened, that 2 Presidential candidates go at it physically? Besides Burr & Hamilton. Vice Pres? Senator? How far down the food chain do we go til we have had some fun fisticuffs in the otherwise boring political debates? I seem to remember Richard Daley (Chicago) & Frank Rizzo (Philly) going after hecklers, but not opponents - and they were only mayors.
vectorsdog, political jabs of this kind are not permitted in General Questions. Since you’re new here, I’m making this a note rather than an official warning, but don’t do this again.
