This past Tuesday, March 14, President Bush held a "town hall" meeting in Canandaigua, NY. Today, I present a new "twist" to this type of event, one that I have
never heard of before. According to one attendee's accounting, she was
NOT ALLOWED to speak to the media after the event.
Brenda Snyder attended the town hall meeting as part of a group representing the Cattaraugus County, NY, Department of Aging. She had wanted to speak at that meeting regarding her concern for the number of Americans who cannot afford health care. However, at this particular town hall meeting, no one was given the opportunity to present questions, and Mrs. Snyder was not very happy about it.
At the conclusion of the meeting, after the president had exited the room, the press started questioning the attendees. When Mrs. Snyder started answering, she was ordered out of the room, and she was not the only one:
"We were answering questions and this big guy in a suit came along and said, `move along,'" she said. "I said, `Why can't we answer questions?' And he said,`I have been given my orders.'" Mrs. Snyder said she felt threatened by the security officer. "He kept saying `move along' and kept blocking my way and I kept saying, `I'm a U.S. citizen I have a right to answer some questions,'" she said. "It felt like if you were out of order at all, someone was going to take you away. It was very threatening." (emphasis mine)
Wow; it seems now that you cannot even talk to the press after such an event. I wonder, though, if she were "happy and excited" about attending the speech if this would have happened to her.
It looks like Mrs. Snyder's experience has led her to a new "life mission":
She said her experience in Canandaigua has changed her life. "I think America is going in a very scary direction. I felt like I was in a police state and that as a citizen I don't have many rights," she said. (emphasis mine)
She said she plans to work harder to ensure Americans maintain their right to question the government officials who work for them. "I was just interested in the process and how I would be treated. I wanted to ask a few questions and answer a few questions. I wasn't allowed to do that and I was outraged," she said. "The president was out of the room. Why couldn't I talk to the press?"
To be "fair and balanced", as they say, I offer White House Spokesman Ken Lisaius' response: "It isn't the White House's policy to prevent people from talking to the press." "Upon completion of the event, they can interview whoever they want, obviously." The White House policy is that they usually ask reporters to wait until the president is out of the building before they start their interview process. As for this past Tuesday's event, they state that, "no one was told to prevent people from talking to the press", (try to convince Mrs. Snyder of that one), and that perhaps there was some confusion because Mr. Bush stayed a while for photos and autographs.
Again, Mrs. Snyder stated that Mr. Bush was out of the room when she was approached by the press. Was he out of the building at that time? Were attendees allowed to leave that room before Mr. Bush was out of the building? (Mrs. Snyder was escorted out of the room.) I don't know, but it seems silly to think that after he exited the room that he was not escorted directly out of the building and to his transport caravan. It would also boggle my mind to think that any attendee would be allowed out of that room prior to his exiting the building. So, at this point, my thought process leads me to believe that not only was Mr. Bush out of the room, but that he was also out of the building. (I guess that I could be wrong.)
Is this an example of "message control", or is it just simply procedural confusion on behalf of the media? I'll let you decide.