Tempest in a T-shirt ends in an apology

February 2, 2006

The most engaging angle to the State of the Union — Cindy Sheehan’s arrest — drew plenty of attention, but fortunately, the controversy ended yesterday in an apology.

Sheehan, of course, was arrested Tuesday night when the Capitol Police spotted Sheehan wearing a T-shirt that read “2,245 Dead — How Many More?” Around the same time Sheehan was taken into custody, Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.), was also thrown out of the House gallery because she was wearing a T-shirt that said “Support the Troops – Defending Our Freedom.” For some reason, Sheehan’s shirt was enough to warrant arrest, whereas Young’s shirt was not.

Realizing there was no legal defense for any of this, the Capitol Police backed down yesterday and apologized to everyone involved.

Capitol Police dropped a charge of unlawful conduct against antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan today and offered apologies to her as well as to a congressman’s wife after they were ejected from President Bush’s State of the Union address for wearing T-shirts with war messages. […]

Capitol Police did not explain why Sheehan was arrested and Young was not. However the unlawful conduct charge against Sheehan was being dropped, according to Deputy House Sergeant of Arms Kerri Hanley. And in a private meeting today with House members, Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer reportedly apologized and planned to issue a statement.

“They were operating under the misguided impression that the T-shirt was not allowed,” Hanley said today. “The fact that she (Sheehan) was wearing a T-shirt is not enough reason to be asked to leave the gallery, or be removed from the gallery, or be arrested.”

A top Capitol Police official told MSNBC, “We screwed up.”

But before we move on, it’s worth noting that Rep. Young is still not quite satisfied.

Young was pleased by the apology, but suggested to the Washington Post that he may nevertheless file a lawsuit against Capitol Police Chief Gainer, whom his wife wants to see fired. Asked if he might take legal action, Rep. Young said, “I’m taking it one step at a time.”

And in case there was any doubt, Rep. Young also mentioned that he didn’t mind the fact that Sheehan was arrested, only that his wife was removed from the gallery.

Young said he wouldn’t be so mad if it were just Sheehan. “I totally disagree with everything she stands for,” he said. But by removing his wife, Gainer’s officers clearly “acted precipitously,” Young said.

It’s the kind of principled even-handedness we’ve come to expect from the House GOP.

1) End result is that they were both removed from the gallery and did not see the speach. Even if the charges were dropped etc. the authorities wrongfully removed and detained these two women.
2) I want to see Sheehan file the exact same suit as Young’s wife. I thin it will be fun to watch the same case procecuted for similar crimes but from these two perspectives. I want to hear Young say “for us yes, justice will be done, but since I disagree with that woman she should not receive equal justice under the law.” Any time Repubs have to stand up and protect their double standard they look worse.

  • I applaud Sheehan for her courage.
    You couldn’t pay me enough to sit with a bunch of cult members mindlessly cheering their Great Father’s inane, diction-challenged, lies & half truths.
    But I did enjoy the Social Security bit.

  • Personally I’m skeptical that they didn’t know – I think they were told to protect Bush from the horrid sight of someone who might not agree with him no matter what, with the assumption that any charges would be dropped. And yes, it would be entertaining to watch Sheehan file the same lawsuit as Young.

  • If no lawsuit is filed by the left, the BushCo KGB has won. I agree with Leslie that these charges were always going to be dropped — who needs to charge Sheehan with anything when the real objective was to keep her t-shirt from receiving an audience? They succeeded in that objective; that opportunity cannot be replaced now. There is no way to undo the specific First Amendment harm. But there has to be some sort of punishment as a deterrent from doing it in the future. To let the thugs acheive their objective at no cost ensures they will do it again and again until there is a cost which they have to balance in the equation.

  • One remarkable thing about today’s wingnuts is their shamelessness. Rep. Young openly mocks the first amendment by tacitly saying suppression of speech for reasons of content is permissible.

    In a healthy democracy this guy would lose his seat over such a statement. The fact that there’s no controversy over this goes a good way toward explaining the current GOP’s pathology. They neither know nor care about the Bill of Rights, except as it might apply to them.

  • Like Der Fuhrer the Capital Police thought they could just make up their own laws. The intimidation arrest was idiotic. I think a lot of peoples eyes were opened as to how far things have deteriorated with this administration.

  • I agree with yesterday’s poster ( I forget who it was, but I’m sure he or she is very intelligent and likely a lovely person) who said that people everywhere should start showing up places with these t-shirts.

    I’d like to start printing them and selling them at cost just to flood the streets with them. Yellow “Support the Troops” magnets my ass. The death toll shirt should be the new ribbon. Picture most celebs wearning them instead of gowns and tuxes at the Oscars. Can it be done?

    Anyway, the Oscar thing would be a far cry from Michael Moore’s reception just a few years back.

  • I wonder if Rep Young had been fighting “frivoulous lawsuits” and seeking tort reform prior to this event.

    Not really.

  • Chief,

    One problem with death toll t-shirts is the number on them goes obsolete every day. Maybe you could have a thing with velcro numbers so you could change it as the number goes up.

  • jimBob,

    That is a great idea. I was thinking along the lines of numbers on flaps of fabric that could be folded back like old scoring cards from Olympic competitions. But your solution is probably more workable.

    Here in NJ there is a very poignant display outside a small architecture firm where there is a small flag for each soldier killed, and a running total on a sign nearby. At this point the front of the small building is almost entirely covered with flags. It never gets any attention in the local press, but it is on a main road. The thing that shows me just how screwed up the US has become these past few years is that it took me several months to decide whether the display was meant to be for or against the war.

    I love my country, but I hate this jingoistic ultranationalist bullshit. The right really does seem to have hijacked patriotism.

  • Anyone out there still think that the U.S.A. is the land of the free and home of the brave? It seems to me that most of the country is populated by cowards. The fear instilled by the fascists in charge have Americans willing to throw away the very freedom so cherished in order to provide security. How stupid we have become.

  • Jeff

    Well said. The war in Iraq for freedom and against dictatorial rule is one we should be fighting here. A little fear dangled in front of cowards has served the Bush administration well. Now we are doing the same with Iran.

  • Of course it’s easy to apologize now, after the damage has been done. Cindy and Beverly still missed out on the SOTU.

  • Oh, and also, Rep Young is a disgusting dick. He doesn’t like Cindy Sheehan so he has no problem if her rights are trampled on, but if it’s his wife, then he’s willing to go to court for damages. Absolutely abhorrent.

  • Rian, were I defending the Capitol Keystone Cops, that would actually be part of my defense:

    “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, not only did my client do them no real harm, we saved them from having to witness the State of the Union address! We may have added years to their lives, and preserved numerous precious IQ points!”

  • LOL, Zeitgeist. And saved them from all that extended applause! I think my hands would be giant callouses if I clapped that long.

  • Heh. The picture that popped into my mind was the old posters from the Gus Van Sant/Uma Thurman movie “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” with the giant oversized thumb. With some female R nutjob like the one that went after Murtha. But altered so every digit on both hands is big and puffy. “Even Congresswomen Get the Blues.”

  • This action by the Capitol Police is the EXACT same technique used against the Denver Three and so many others who were forceably ejected from Bush/Cheney events (both during the 2004 Campaign as well as the BamboozlePalooza Tour). The clowns didn’t realize that all the cameras and media attention present would work to expose their Gestapo tactics.

    How typical that the Rethug Rep thinks it’s OK to take away Cindy’s rights — the woman who actually lost something of value more precious than gold — but NOT his poor wife’s rights. Again, it comes back to the hypocricy of the IOKIYAR mantra.

    Thugs and whores…

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