Mitt Romney: Scared of Wisconsin Protestors

Sun Apr 01, 2012 at 09:31 PM PDT

by BatmanWIFollow 

This is a picture of me after I was kicked out of  the town hall. I put my Romney sticker back on, and grabbed one of the R-money signs that my friend Ed had made. Photo by: Callen Harty

Today, Mitt Romney held a town hall in Middleton, Wisconsin, which is in the VERY liberal Dane County. Although I didn't receive a phone call about the town hall, I heard about it from other left-leaning friends, some of whom had received 4 or 5 phone calls asking them to come to it. I decided I was going to go and try to get a chance to ask Mittens a question about birth control and the fact that he obviously knows everything about woman's health, and therefore has the ability to tell us what to do with our bodies. I even went online to RSVP for the event to make sure was on the list to get in.
After putting on some semi-dressy clothes so as to look like I at least kind of belonged there (which is hard considering I have tattoos and a lip ring), I headed over to the Marriott hotel where the town hall was being held. I got there about an hour early, and ended up near the front of the line that had formed outside.
As I stood there, waiting to get in, I had to suffer through listening to republicans talking about how there's an injunction against having to show an ID for the upcoming election on April 3rd, but that they're hoping it will be back in effect soon so that they will have a better chance at winning the recall election... which means they realize it will disenfranchise many people who would normally not vote republican. They also brought up concealed carry, the iVerify the Recall site, and other things you would expect people waiting to see Romney would be talking about. I was having a hard time biting my lip and not saying anything to them, but I managed to stay quiet.
I had to listen to these people for about 45 minutes before the doors were opened and they started letting people in. Once I got inside, I had to show someone my ID, and they then looked up my name on the computer to see if I was registered to get in. The man didn't react at all when he first saw me, but once he looked up my name, he said, "You were at the Walker event yesterday, weren't you?" Although it wasn't actually a Walker event (it was an event with Romney at an office that was set up for Walker's campaign), I said yes. In fact, I had been there protesting, but there were also people there supporting Romney, so I didn't see a reason to lie to the man.
He gave me back my ID along with a Romney sticker and let me in. I went into the room where they were holding the town hall, sat down, and put the Romney sticker on my shirt. Within a minute, a security guard tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Secret service identified you as a protestor, so you need to leave." I said the first thing that came to my mind, which was, "Are you serious?!" He responded with a simple, but stern, "Yes." I told him, "I'm a citizen, and I'm here to ask Romney a question." The security guard said, "This conversation is over. Leave now." So, I stood up, ripped off my Romney sticker, and left.
There were people outside protesting Romney's visit, most of whom I knew, so I went out to join them and told them what had happened. In the end, there were a few other people who had been kicked out, as well. It turns out, they had used the iVerify the Recall site to check for people who had signed the recall petition for Walker. A good friend of mine heard this from the Dem Tracker who was at the event. But the funny thing is that a couple of people did make it into the event, and it's probably because the iVerify the Recall people did a horrible job at entering the data.
But, the point that I'm trying to make is that Mitt Romney is scared of being asked hard questions. So scared, in fact, that he kicks out anybody that might oppose him. What's the point of having a town hall if you aren't willing to listen to ALL of your potential constituents, and not just the ones that will get down on their knees for you?

Sun Apr 01, 2012 at 10:03 PM PT: I should also include the fact that I was invited to a fundraiser with Joe Biden last Thursday, and the secret service not only let me into that event, but one of them actually used my camera to take a picture of myself and the VP. But, at a PUBLIC event with Romney, they kick me out instead.