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Romney Supporters Not Allowed to Leave Freezing Rally in Pennsylvania

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GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney was about 90 minutes late to his 'Victory Rally' at the outdoor Shady Brook Farm in Morrisville, Pennsylvania on Sunday night.

While his supporters waited in the freezing cold, many were not allowed to leave, including a young girl who reportedly had frostbite.

Reporters tweeted various accounts of people trying to leave, but being prevented from doing so by volunteers, Secret Service and Romney campaign staff, reports AmericaBlog.com.

One mother begged to get her frostbitten daughter out of the cold, but a Romney staffer told her:  “It’s not cold enuf for that," tweeted the The New York Times‘ Michael Barbaro.


USA Today reporter Jackie Kucinich tweeted:

The New York Times‘ Ashley Parker tweeted that people were allowed to leave, eventually::

Romney HATES to be late and keep people waiting, but he is now running over an hour behind sked to his outdoor (32 degrees) PA rally.

This is a big rally for Romney in PA, but dozens of people — cold and angry — are begging to be let out.

Other people who left say they’re HUGE Romney supporters, just cold and tired, or with sick kids and spouses.

To be clear, the people asking to leave were delayed because of security concerns — not bc of a Romney staff decision.

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Comments

wellduh's picture

Blame any Secret Service

Blame any Secret Service stuff on Obama administration. But you know why...just like airport it takes time to clear people back in & you can guarantee people would not want to wait after he arrived. And of course there is always suspicion that early leavers might be leaving bomb behind. And crowd security is not deemed imprisonment merely public welfare issue.

False imprisonment would require an element of individual isolation for more than 8-24 hours (depending on state and circumstance)...and neither 8-24 hours nor isolation was involved.

For the most part laws do not really exist protecting free movement between areas of the US since it has never never really been an issue like in the old Iron Curtain USSR or China even today.

wellduh's picture

Democratically slanted CNN

Democratically slanted CNN agreed with the staffers - miserable temperatures but remain they above freezing.

And again within crowds the temperature is higher.

But yes I imagine casual attendees were shocked by the attitudes of true believers.

wellduh's picture

Of course on the political

Of course on the political side volunteers had a valid reason if not good judgement. People leaving the campaign rally early would have been pounced upon by reporters as a sign of Republicans conceding Obama victory too early in the game.

Additionally true frostbite or hypothermia could have been dealt with at the mandatory First Aid tent. Plus of course actual frostbite was unlikely given ambient areas temperatures and the heat boost of any large tightly packed crowd.

In truth the complaining families were probably merely quite miserable and did not think support for Romney quite that serious. They might have been extra good parents truly fearing frostbite but more probably the family came as site seers rather than one of the devoted. Silly them.

Brewmiker's picture

Saw the headline and knew

Saw the headline and knew right away that Lefty Michael Allen had written the post. Is there anything that he won't re-post in faux outrage to undermine a Republican or to deify a Democrat? This is not news and the staffer was right: you can't get frostbite in 40 degree weather... Nice work, hack.

RyanD's picture

@Brewmiker So all the flops

@Brewmiker

So all the flops and problems of that night campaign gathering were the smear attacks of the Left Liberals? The Governor was 90 minutes late, made the cheering crowd waiting the freezing cold night in frustration and most of them must came at least 2-3 hours before that. So children stood still with parents in the crowd for 4 to 5 hours under 40 degree weather was no big deal?

Nah! you lefty libs simply exaggerated the story of a sissy family. Yeah, how could people get a frostbite in 40 degree weather? you people are the sissy 47% that not deserve the love of Mormon God!! I tell you what you need to know how you can be the 1% of this great nation. You may even have to die for the good cause of my campaign. So, This is NOT news, the staffer was right !! Yeah, get back there to cheer for the Governor or I kick your sissy Liberal @ss out of here!! This campaign needs only tough people!!

Brewmiker's picture

No, Ryan, reporting this

No, Ryan, reporting this story as if it were somehow a case of false imprisonment of a large gathering of Romney supporters who disregarded the safety of THE CHILDREN in trying to promote their candidate, loaded with a bunch of fake outrage and vaunted hyperbole in order to make Romney look bad, and make Obama look better in comparison...THAT is the fault of Lefty lib Michael Allen and the rest of the people who think that their candidate is worthy of LYING for! I don't care if your candidate is Romney or Obama. Neither is worthy of lying for and giving up your decency and ethics for. Read the comments below from the people that were AT THE RALLY. Get a sense that this kind of article is manipulating YOU for the mindless Blue State cheerleader that you have become. Wake up Ryan...reject the hype.

cityboy's picture

Yeah, while the temperature

Yeah, while the temperature is still about 8 degrees above freezing, you can still get hypothermia and die from it.

And, there's no valid security reason to prevent people from leaving a venue - that argument doesn't hold water at all.

RyanD's picture

@brewmiker, I am sympathetic

@brewmiker,

I am sympathetic to your efforts of trying to defense the indefensible. I don't know who Mike Allen is and I don't give a damn if this Allen guy is a lefty lib or he is a neocon. The fact is this incident did happens at the gathering campaign and the governor did come over there 90 minutes late and the temperature was freezing cold at 40 degree, the fact is some individual lackluster fans or families with children just want to leave the scene and some clumsy stupid staffers just played hardball with them. This incident get reported as the news on clumsy staffers who didn't how to properly handle the public event situation when somebody in the crowd needed special attention no matter what excuse the fans have made to get out of their UN-comfort ground condition. You have defended for the whole Romney campaign as the fans was lying, no frostbite ever happens on 40 degree temperature, the reporter is a lefty liberal who sent out this news tweet with attempt to embarrass the Governor; Others on your right side blamed the incident on security reason, and you know what, that was a lame excuse but it was better than your lines of defense for the Governor. Your lines of defense didn't help the Governor by attacking the fans, attacking the liberal left as lying, manipulating the audience emotion, accused me as Blue state cheerleader become.You already help the Governor to loose my vote today. It's obviously that you GOP guys never have gut to admit your mistake no matter how blunt, how gross that is; The blames are always laid flat on the face of your rival even though you guys are the one to full the trigger. Oh well, like the old saying "If you don't like the message, shoot the messenger"

Brewmiker's picture

Ryan, I am not trying to

Ryan,

I am not trying to "defense" anything. I am not a Romney supporter. I say again, get off the partisan Koolaid! I am pointing out unnecessary, fake outrage for something that either didn't happen at all or didn't happen in any way close to the manner it was reported here. What you should be worried about is how easily a hack like this can manipulate you into a Blue Team frenzy over such pap. Oh, and I really don't believe you had any intention of voting for "the Governor" but if my reasoned examination of this partisan crap turned you away from him, so be it. It is your vote. My only concern is that you probably use the same reasoning ability to decide your voting habits as you do to argue your point, here. I did not vote for Romney and I don't care a whit that he lost. In fact, I am glad he lost.

Did you, in fact, read the posts of the people that were at the event? Did you notice that their assessment of the situation differed greatly from the spin the author put on this "article"?

Remember, I have no "dog" in this fight. I am simply pointing out manipulation. Try to open your eyes to see it before it convinces you to come to the wrong conclusion...again.

RyanD's picture

That was the indicator of

That was the indicator of desperation among the Romney Camp people when they tried to drag their supporters to stay for the camera show. They may presume that anyway they already lost these indecisive voters. How sad!!

The contrast was extremely different on the side of Obama supporters, these people patiently waited for 7 to 8 hours on the zigzag lines to wait for their turn to early cast their votes despite of the frustration and hassles imposed by the Polling Republican Officials. Winner or looser of this election already being shown. I can wait to see the Romney concession speech tomorrow night.

FSC's picture

What? 7-8 hours to cast your

What? 7-8 hours to cast your vote? That is a disgrace, and your country cannot claim to be a democracy with those kinds of queues.

The longest I have had to wait is less than a minute, your election procedures are disgraceful

carolandv's picture

If this is the extent of the

If this is the extent of the damning comments to make Governor Romney look bad...time to go home and conjure up some more mischief! This doesn't even make the "good try" category!

Why isn't this site talking about 4 murders and a cover-up in Benghazi and who perpetrated that tragedy!?

DesElms's picture

Okay, how's this? False

Okay, how's this?

False imprisonment - 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 2903

(a) Offense defined.--A person commits an offense if he knowingly restrains another unlawfully so as to interfere substantially with his liberty.

(b) Grading.--

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), an offense under subsection (a) is a misdemeanor of the second degree.

(2) If the victim of the offense is an individual under 18 years of age, an offense under subsection (a) is a felony of the second degree.

(Dec. 20, 2000, P.L.721, No.98, eff. imd.)

Gregg L. DesElms
Napa, California USA
gregg at greggdeselms dot com

Veritas nihil veretur nisi abscondi.
Veritas nimium altercando amittitur.

Kalthian's picture

Heh, Romney Lost by the

Heh, Romney Lost by the Popular Vote AND the Electoral College. Clearly, the American people know better, and don't want your flip flop etch-a-sketch. Sorry 'bout your luck, you cheerlead for the wrong team.

"How do you know so much about everything?'" was asked of a very wise and intelligent man; and the answer was "By never being afraid or ashamed to ask questions as to anything of which I was ignorant." - John Abbott (1821-1893)

Raptorcat's picture

Your delusional position is

Your delusional position is about what we have come to expect from you.

As has been said, here and in the press, the FATHER of the Ambassador wanted this to be left alone until AFTER the investigation had been done. Guess that you missed that, huh? You would have missed it since fakes noise wouldn't say anything that cold make their propaganda victims look good.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/11/02/hurried-response-to-benghazi-attack-came-too-late.html?ESRC=airforce.nl

Perhaps you should do some real fact checking...oh yeah, and your one note tune needs to change; it's gotten real boring.

The insanity principle is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. The far right, the far left, vegans, creationists and other extremists believe in the insanity principle, religiously.

RyanD's picture

WHY this site isn't talking

WHY this site isn't talking about the 4 dead diplomat victims in Benghazi?

Because at least they have the heart of the decent people who disgust of having your tailgate party on the grave of these victims for partisan politic on the emotional painful expenses of these victim's families. This hero team accepted the assignment to come to a very dangerous place on earth to advance the values of life that our American people cheering. No President wants to send them to their deaths and cover up as your Fox News crap and some selfish Republican politicians want to inject this crazy theory to the minds of the public for their political gain.

This team of hero came to a country that has no law and order, its government not even existed after the dictator Gaddafi government collapsed. Guns, grenades, RPGs, Rockets and Air Defense Artillery weapons still on the hands of the militants all over the country and only God knows who they are.The CIA has tried hard to identify the real attackers who were responsible for the attack. They are not willing to grossly and simply put the blame on the Al-Qaida for convenience like some Conservative politicians or some "undisclosed intelligent sources" do. Perhaps they strongly believe that the Al-Qaida has no credible resources, or capacity to carry out the attack in this North Africa country Libya. There could be a new local terrorist group that took advantage on the security vulnerability, using their local geographical knowledge, studied well the setting of our consulate and the schedule of the Ambassador to visit the consulate on the night of 9/11/12 and that they were successfully carry out this attack like a flash mob fashion, and who are they? how did they coordinate their activities before the attack? where are they now? why don't they claim credit like other terrorist organizations after the attack? No body has more anxious to know these answers than the President, the CIA and secretary Hillary Clinton. The CIA certainly has newer and tougher challenges in that region in the new setting of Arab Spring world and they are working harder than ever to meet with these challenges. So, Please give them time and confident and please "BUTT OUT" their back, let them to do their works and don't try to make your stupid naive opinions to interfere with their efforts.

Chris Steven was the hero Ambassador who has the toughest job on earth, trying to help re-establish a new stable government for that country, he had to work on the minimum resources as our congress wielding their partisanship knife to cut funding for the States Department down $200M a year.

That place still is the most dangerous place for our diplomats; The Ambassador rebuilt the US Embassy in Tripoli and the Consulate in Benghazi in low key in less than a year since he started; he knew that there are always security issues that made him extremely concern but that would not stop him to continue doing his job. He acquired buildings, converted to our Consulate, put in some construction works to re-enforce the facility to meet our needs for diplomatic interface with the Libyan people and at the same time changing some security parameters to provide at least the minimum protection for our diplomat personnel in case of upheavals, riots or embassy being attacked with the helps from the CIA. All of these efforts have been rushed out in less than 5 months and he never had the luxury of unlimited money, full US Marine base protection supports.

So would it be the fault of this President sending him to his death? Would it be a cover up from the CIA leading by our best capable official General David Petraeus,or may be his was so incompetent or negligent in his watch, let this tragedy happened and the cahoot with the President in the cover up scheme? Do you really believe the Fox News story which has been discredited right after their news break by facts check?

I want to see Senator McCain to be the real decent McCain in the past, who put the honor and integrity to his work of Congressional investigation to find down where was the break down of this tragedy, how it was happened, how can we fix and improve that, how can we prevent similar event ever happens again in the future...All of these need the right minds in Congress to do the right thing for our nation, not the monger partisan task in attempt to throw mud to the face of the President or his party. However, I was so disappointed and discouraged when seeing Senator McCain yesterday pushing for partisanship accusation again on TV for Mr. Romney. He loaded in his mouth a full load of mud and aimed at the President before even sitting on the chair of the investigator. I only hope that at the end of the election day, when Mr. Romney totally lost the election and things will settle down, Mr. McCain will have a few minutes to rethink his partisanship game that created a tremendous pains and disgusts for the families of the Ambassador and his three hero team mates, we can get back to the decency and dignity of the nation, doing the right investigation to honor the sacrifice of our hero and learn valuable lesson from their deaths to help our future diplomats and not allows their sacrifices die in-vain.

jaysea32's picture

WHY? Because the father of

WHY? Because the father of the ambassador asked that people stifle any comments about the raid until all the investigations are complete. Did you notice? The REQUEST is from the FATHER of the ambassador. Maybe you're the only poster who chooses to dishonor the fathers wishes and ignore that request, like, for example, the Fox News Network does.

jaysea

cityboy's picture

The proper place for security

The proper place for security is when people are trying to get INTO a venue, not when they're trying to leave. How can someone leaving pose a security risk? Rmoney just didn't want to lose the photo op of having that many people there, even though he was 90 minutes late.

@lululaura: TSA? WTF are they doing at a political rally held at a farm? This event had nothing to do with transportation - though I do think that associating that failure of a security organization with that failure of a candidate is an apt one.

lululaura's picture

Security was surrounding the

Security was surrounding the candidates at the event and also at the entrance. The walkway entrance around the stage and the Romney bus was right up against the crowd. They had to secure the bus/stage area with gates so that when people exited from behind the bus, they could not get onto the bus or stage.

Also, Yes TSA- It said it on their shirts, badges and uniforms. They were called in to do security for the event and it was even announced on line and on television that security would be airport-quality. I don't know why they chose to have TSA security run it, but they did. Clearly you were not there or you would have seen their uniforms and identification when you went through security.

The set-up at the farm was awful, and the event coordinators and staff hired to do security were at fault for that. As I said, and will continue to say, all Romney associated staff I dealt with were nothing but helpful. People assumed all at the event were Romney staffers when in fact a lot of the rude people were people that worked for the farm itself, or TSA, not Romney.

lululaura's picture

I was at the rally, and there

I was at the rally, and there was a 2 minute period of time after the closing statements that people were asked to wait before being let out. It was cold but lets not exaggerate, it was only 2 minutes and I was waiting there since 1pm. The only people that were asked to wait were those who were behind the stage, and behind the Romney campaign bus. Everyone else was able to go as soon as the speeches ended because they were on the opposite side of the venue. The issues with staff at the event weren't Romney, they were workers at the farm and for TSA security (at the entrance) that were unhelpful. I spoke to Romney staffers specifically throughout the evening and they were more than willing to help the people at the event. The failure of organization was on the event planners not the Romney staffers that were there to ensure the candidate's safety. Jeeze people.

McBeth607's picture

Finally a person who was

Finally a person who was there & told the truth. Refreshing.

beth weisleder

cityboy's picture

So you're saying that all the

So you're saying that all the people who were reporting their unconscionable treatment at this event (people who actually went there to support Rmoney) are all lying, and this spin-bot is telling the truth?

lululaura's picture

I'm saying that people are

I'm saying that people are very dramatic, and others post hearsay assuming they know whats going on. Spin-bot, really? Is that all you've got when someone says something you don't like to hear?

Having been there from 1pm on, I know what I'm talking about. I was even sitting in the section where they were asking people to wait that one minute before securing the area to let them exit. People are dramatic. No one was "detained". This entire newsline is b/s.

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