Doug Wiken brought this story to my attention. Doug Wiken: old-guard McGovernite, liberal Democrat, local lefty-blog godfather.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke Tuesday at George Washington University about the need to protect basic freedoms. She declared, "The rights of individuals to express their views freely... are universal." She condemned violent reactions from Middle East governments to the citizens in their streets standing up and expressing themselves.
And she didn't miss a beat in reciting her script as security guards grabbed, bloodied, and arrested 71-year-old Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst who stood with his back to the Secretary in silent protest of American foreign policy.
Now Secretary Clinton isn't the only person deserving our criticism. As it appears on the CNN video, a whole roomful of people also sat silently as the police state declared the auditorium off-limits for peaceful exercise of First Amendment rights.
But Secretary Clinton, the voice of the Executive Branch in the room, could have called off the thugs. Secretary Clinton was the one speaking about universal rights and free expression. Secretary Clinton could have put those words into practice and called off the dogs. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, perhaps the second-most potent icon and preacher of Bush-era neoconservatism after Dick Cheney, offered exactly this protection to this very same Ray McGovern four years ago. At a public forum, McGovern rose to ask Rumsfeld a question about why he lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Security approached to evict McGovern, but Rumsfeld called them off and engaged McGovern in a conversation.
If I were still a Republican, I'd be all over this story, highlighting the hypocrisy of the Obama Administration. If I were a Tea "Party" blogger making a business model of driving paranoia of an evil Marxist police state and pending revolution, I'd be railing from the rooftops at this brutalization of a free-speaking citizen beneath the cold Orwellian gaze of a high government official.
But I guess Ray McGovern is just some aging hippie in a "Veterans for Peace" t-shirt, probably a commie himself... who prepared daily security briefings for multiple U.S. Presidents.
I take issue with your characterization of Doug as an old-guard McGovernite. McCarthy, not McGovern was his early passion. However, neither of us would much object to your words.
Is there any indication anywhere, that Secretary Clinton had any idea what this was about? Or that she directed the security folks? If not, why drag her into it? From her vantage point, perhaps the security officers had valid reasons for their behavior.
Were the klieg lights in the eyes?
Rumsfeld getting a patdown: http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/slideshow/Donald-rumsfeld-tsa-patdown-10667146