It seems that the spontaneous townhall meetings that John McCain has built his campaign on are becoming less and less inclusive as the November election approaches. First, a librarian was removed from an event in Denver and cited for trespassing because of a sign that read McCain=Bush. Now, it seems that a group of abortion rights protesters were refused entry at an event in New Mexico because they were wearing NARAL T-Shirts, according to Ben Smith at The Politico.
The McCain campaign is sharply disputing a claim by the New Mexico arm of NARAL Pro-Choice that it had three of the group's members barred from the Arizona Senator's event in Albuquerque yesterday.
A McCain aide, Jeff Sadosky, said hotel security and the Albuquerque police asked the abortion rights activists to leave the event after McCain's campaign had given them passes to enter.
This seems to be a recurring experience regarding those who qant to appear at the informal McCain campaign stops. As he suggests on the campaign trail that anyone is allowed to attend and as any question they deem necessary, there are numbering instances that make such claims appear comical.
NARAL has issued a press release over the incident (again, partially taken from the Politico:
Heather Brewer, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico, said today that three pro-choice New Mexicans wearing NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico T-shirts were denied access to Sen. John McCain's town hall meeting at the Hotel Albuquerque on Tuesday even though they had tickets to the event.
Several security officers confronted the pro-choice attendees, but gave no explanation for ejecting them as they waited in line with the other nearly 500 participants. Instead the pro-choice ticketholders were simply told that they were trespassing and the officers threatened them with arrest....
"Our folks had tickets, followed the rules and were waiting in line just like everyone else," Brewer said. "I can only assume that it was their NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico T-shirts that inspired security to single them out from the hundreds of other people there and to threaten them with arrest. If Sen. McCain has a problem with women accessing birth control, he should state that publicly. His voting record makes it clear that he does not support access to birth control, so why is he ducking the issue at his own town hall meeting?"
...After being confronted by security officers, all three pro-choice ticketholders left the building without incident.
Also, Ben Smith treats us to what may be the most important issue involving transparency of these events at the end of his post:
One note: The local press, a McCain aide said, had been aware of, and didn't cover, the story yesterday -- often a useful sign of how meaningful an incident is.
So what does this tell us? Why won't the media report any of this? And why is the MSM silent when it comes to McCain's openly interactive campaign events? These actions have become commonplace in politics today, especially ehwn one looks at the apparent designated protesting areas that are usually set up when President Bush visits an area. The problem, however, is that the McCain campaign seems to be eliminating such an area, and merely rejecting any person who dares disagree with the Republican nominee's opinions.
Trespassing Citations are the new Designated Protester Areas, folks. Please adjust your activism accordingly.