SwiftVets.com

[shawa]

H-mmm. How convenient to be handed prime tickets by a stranger in
the crowd (shades of Bill Burkett at an auction?)

H-mmm. Daschle, Cleland.

H-mmm. ABC News just happens to give him camera time.


http://hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/012605/reidaide.html

Inaugural run-in for Reid aide
By Geoff Earle

An aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was arrested on the West Front of the Capitol for disorderly conduct during President Bush’s inaugural address last week.

The aide, Nathan Ackerman, is a television producer on the Senate Democratic Communications Committee — an organization that was folded into Reid’s new communications “war room.”
About 20 minutes into Bush’s speech, Ackerman, 36, and another man held up a sheet that said “No War.” According to a Capitol Police report, Ackerman and another suspect “were blocking the view of the audience and they were engaged in a verbal dispute with members of the audience.”

The report states that Capitol Police officers told Ackerman and the other suspect to relinquish the sign or be arrested but that “neither complied and both were placed under arrest.” The report did not name either suspect, although Ackerman’s identity was confirmed with the Capitol Police.

The other suspect had been standing on his chair and “continued to display the banner and argue with members of the audience” before the arrest, according to the report.

Ackerman’s arrest was aired on national television by ABC News on Inauguration Day, although he has not previously been named or identified as a Senate employee.

The charge, a misdemeanor, carries a $25 fine. But it also brings some unwelcome publicity to Reid, who is trying to mount a unified party opposition to Bush’s policies without resorting to tactics normally employed in the street. Ackerman said that he was acting on his own and that no one in Reid’s operation encouraged him to undertake the protest.

Jim Manley, Reid’s communications director, declined to comment, other than to say that Ackerman’s “actions were not anything that Senator Reid condones or supports.” Manley said that he would not talk further about what he called a personnel issue and that Ackerman had Inauguration Day off, as many Senate staffers did.

Reid voted for a 2002 resolution granting the president authority to go to war in Iraq, although many Senate Democrats have been increasingly critical of how the administration has executed the war and its toll of casualties.

In an interview, Ackerman said that he got his inaugural ticket — which placed him in close proximity to Bush, members of Congress and other dignitaries — from a well-dressed attendee who had extras. He said that when he first acquired the ticket, he didn’t realize what a good seat he had gotten.

“I didn’t think I was doing anything illegal,” he said, referring to his sign, which Capitol Police referred to as a banner.

“I didn’t yell,” he said. “I did not resist. Other people who had signs were approached and given warnings. I was given no warning. I was immediately shuffled off.”

He declined to answer whether he was connected in any way to other protesters who were arrested. As a producer, Ackerman edits video material produced for Democratic senators but does not have a role in developing party strategy.

Ackerman, who said he plans to plead not guilty to the charge that he was “disorderly, loud and boisterous,” said that he thought his sign was within size restrictions and that he saw a government placard posting limits on the allowable size of signs at a security checkpoint.

But a Capitol Police spokesman, Sgt. Michael Lauer, said the Inaugural Committee clearly prohibits signs and banners. “You’re not allowed to protest on Capitol grounds unless you have permission to do so,” he said.

Inaugural invitations issued by the bipartisan inaugural committee listed such prohibited items as explosives, mace, pepper spray, backpacks, coolers, thermos bottles, signs and posters.
Mark Goldstone, an attorney representing Ackerman, said Ackerman would probably fight the charge on First Amendment grounds. He said that police allowed pro-Bush signs in the crowd and that there may not have been adequate notice about what items were prohibited. “It’s a political event — it’s not a church service,” he said.

Ackerman said that when he held up the sign, he turned his back to Bush so that the crowd could see the sign. After that, Ackerman said, members of the crowd called him a “commie” and began “cursing like I’ve never heard anyone curse before.”
Ackerman, who previously worked for ABC News in Los Angeles, described himself as one of a number of Democrats like former Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) who dared to speak out on controversial issues.[\b]

“Sometimes there’s this persistent notion that if you question the justification of a war, that you are somehow lacking in patriotism,” he said. He said he might defend himself in court next month.

“I think it is important at times like this to make people aware … that the country is at an ideological crossroads, and maybe the America being represented by the president isn’t the America that half of us believe in.” He said he is “deeply respectful” of the men and women serving in the armed forces.

[b]Ackerman, who was hired by former Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) two years ago, said he considered his activities to be those of a private individual, not a Senate employee. He said he declined opportunities to get tickets to the inauguration through Senate sources and was told by his office that he did not have to come to work on Inauguration Day, although it is not clear whether he reported for work the morning of Jan. 20.

Although word of Ackerman’s arrest clearly was not welcomed by Reid’s office, Reid — a former boxer — has advocated a tough political posture.

Reid earned media attention around Washington when he created a communications “war room” to launch aggressive attacks on Republicans. “We will use every tool and innovative avenue available to us to get our message out,” he vowed in a November 2004 statement.

Asked in December on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about a story in The Hill that outlined his new strategy, Reid replied, “We’re going to communicate with the American people to make sure that they understand the Democrats are in tune with millions of Americans across the country. ”

[GM Strong]

Most people seeing these clowns will not see them as people trying to communicate anything or a legitimate protest. Most viewers will see them as selfserving posterior orifices disrupting a solemn and honored ceremony of the Republic and bringing comtempt upon themselves and any associates for the disrepect and lack of decorum they exhibited. They should be disciplined by the people they work for and disbarred from any other such occasions.
_________________
8th Army Korea 68-69

[Me#1You#10]

I will be interested to learn of the consequence to this individual. Hopefully some news entity will keep track of this story. I would guess, however, that he'll probably be dismissed from Reid's staff and transferred to some other job on the taxpayer's dole.

[I B Squidly]

Consequences/ Yeah, right.

...and who hired Craig Livingstone?