Sheehan, who won wide attention with an anti-war vigil outside Bush's Texas ranch, was attending the speech as the guest of Rep. Lynn Woolsey, a California Democrat.
In a speech on the House floor, Woolsey said Sheehan wore a shirt that highlighted the number of dead U.S. soldiers in Iraq. "Since when is free speech conditional on whether you agree with the president of the United States?" Woolsey asked.
"How can we claim to be fighting on behalf of freedom around the world, making the world safe for freedom when we are smothering freedom here at home?" she said.
2 comments:
Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young, R-Fla. was escorted out as well...for wearing a "Support Our Troops" shirt. They're being consistent. The rule they enforced in both cases is nothing new. Silly maybe, but new, no. The rule is intended to maintain a certain level of decorum in the gallery, which I find nothing wrong with.
Anyway, Sheehan knew exactly what she was doing. She got the exact result she was going for.
I'm with Six on this one. The guards enforce an old rule against t-shirts with slogans. They arrested an anti-clinton guy during the impeachment hearings for a shirt that said Clinton Sucks.
Cindy's experiance shows that this nation still has a great deal of free speach. She has provided her opinion loudly, often, in many places, and has reached a vast audience... all without legal reprecussions. Banning placcards -- on T-shirts or otherwise -- from the House floor during formal presentations is, at best, a very minor speach limitation, in my opinion. The view that her t-shirt expressed, by the way, has been previously entered into the official debate by many members of congress, all without legal reprecussion.
Post a Comment