Kerry Campaign Stop Angers Pennsylvania Neighborhood

Okay, I don't get it. How on earth could anyone use
imminent domain to set something like this up?
Turning private properties into a rally. AND the
rally is AGAINST the wishes of the private property owners?

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chronwatch.com...

Excerpt -

Kerry Campaign Stop Angers Pennsylvania Neighborhood
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Ken Armstrong/Jack L. Patterson
Chronwatch.com

''Good Tuesday morning!'' John Kerry brought his ''front porch meeting'' to our Canonsburg, PA neighborhood on Labor Day morning. Since you will never hear the truth from the TV or print media I thought that you should know from someone who was ''almost'' there.

The residents who live on the street where the event took place were not allowed to attend. Kerry shipped in approximately 90 invitation only VIPs. In addition, there was a hard luck case who was about to lose her job at US Air and another was an elderly woman who was having healthcare problems. Neither one was from this neighborhood. The street was closed to all traffic the night before and all residents on the street were REQUIRED to remove their Bush/Cheney signs.

The sympathetic police officers on duty told us that Kerry used imminent domain to claim the street for his purposes. Residents who have homes within the perimeter (approximately 1 full block) were kept behind a line, away from the partisan crowd. The rest of us were not allowed within the 1 block cordon. A neighbor from across the street came to the line where we were being kept and asked us to come onto his property.

The police told us that we could stand on this man's FORMERLY private property! This was set up so that Kerry's views could be heard - but not the neighbors. The shouts of about 30 people (mostly neighbors) echoed down the street stating, ''Let the neighbors in!''



[edit on 9/19/2004 by FlyersFan]

Kerry doesn't care about you. He wants power. The American president is a very powerful position. He will step on any ones toes who get in his way.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
The residents who live on the street where the event took place were not allowed to attend. Kerry shipped in approximately 90 invitation only VIPs. In addition, there was a hard luck case who was about to lose her job at US Air and another was an elderly woman who was having healthcare problems. Neither one was from this neighborhood. The street was closed to all traffic the night before and all residents on the street were REQUIRED to remove their Bush/Cheney signs.

Im surprised that they could enforce the sign removal. In fact if they did forcebly remove the signs against the wishes of the residents, that is a violation of free speech. Im not surprised to see Kerry addressing a select crown of VIPs that they bring into a middle class neighborhood. So much the better to make him out to be a man of the people. While neighter Bush nor Kerry are anywhere close to the reality of a true middle class life, uber rich Kerry trying to pass him self off is a joke.

My point/question on this is how can ANY candidate
do this? This is just wrong. W-R-O-N-G WRONG!

Originally posted by FlyersFan
My point/question on this is how can ANY candidate
do this? This is just wrong. W-R-O-N-G WRONG!

Exactly. It is illegal. If someone came by and told me I had to remove a campaign sign from my property, I would flat out refuse. I would at that point make a nusince of myself to the best of my ability (all within the law mind you).

ChronWatch.com is a media watchdog and conservative news site, with a focus on the San Francisco Chronicle. We provide commentary on recent Chronicle articles, journalists and publications, in addition to our own guest columns and editorial.

Suspicious anyone?

Anti-Kerry Conservative news site... based in San Francisco set up to watch the SanFran Chronicle... Which is writing fluently about a story in PA?

I highly doubt any of this took place, if it did it would be wrong and illegal but i'm not exactly going to believe a conservative site that has numerous wacko kerry attack pieces.

This thing must be bogus. If it were to really happen and get out to the regular media like Nightline it would create a situation where Kerry would come crashing down so fast the fall would give him a nose bleed. Running people out of their homes and not allowing them access to the rally after taking the Bush signs out of their yard would distroy Kerry in the poles.

I agree this probably did not happen. When the only group reporting is a known conservative group yet no national media will or has picked up the story even though it would be huge.

Without verified proof you can't believe it. You need proof as good as the "loyalty oath" to show this is fact.

There were also reports of these wonderful people in Canonsburg, described as aggressive protesters by several media outlets, as drinking beer at 8 am in the morning (Busch beer, of course) and shouting obscenities and jeers during his speech. Nice neighborhood.

www.washingtontimes.com...
www.nytimes.com...
www.latimes.com... la-na-neighbors7sep07,1,3631220.story?coll=la-elect2004-complete
www.msnbc.msn.com...
www.chicagotribune.com...

Let's not kid ourselves--Kerry was staging a media opportunity at the home of a democratic couple, so inviting supporters is not surprising. But he didn't commandere a random home and roll tanks into a neighborhood. He was invited, got permits from the town and held his event. This happens with film crews all the time--in NYC, they get a permit to close off streets, and if you live on the block, you have to move your car off the street (else they will be towed) and you can't get into or out of your home if they are in the middle of shooting or building a set in front of your door. They will alter storefronts to remove branded logos and signs, but they need permission of the owner (and they sometimes pay them to do so.) This is why I am not sure about what happened with the removal of the signs--they probably could only do so with the owners permission. Perhaps they paid them off or the owners acquiesed, but I seriously doubt that they just ripped the signs out of people's lawns because this would be illegal and be highly criticised (and considering the source of the story, I think that this may be an exaggeration.)

Then again, considering what Bush does to keep his photo ops free from dissenters, removing a few signs is nothing. People are ARRESTED if they wear t-shirts with anti-Bush slogans in his presence. Protesters can't even get within shouting distance. I won't even get into the loyalty oaths and endorsement forms that those that attend Bush/Cheney rallies have to sign.

Bush wouldn't even dare to hold a front-porch rally like the one that Kerry held in Canonsburg or the many other small towns. The main reason is probably that he really doesn't do well in informal settings where his speech isn't scripted. If he does take audience questions, they are always pre-screened in advance. But if he did hold a "front-porch" event, the tactics to control the crowd would be even more drastic than the measures that were taken when Kerry was in town. Streets in at least a 10 block radius would be closed and the occupants of all of these houses would be forced out, not just the neighboring homes, and they would be herded into an area far from the rally. The surrounding houses would searched for bombs. Snipers would be poised on the rooftops, and if anyone uttered an anti-Bush peep, off to jail. At least Kerry has the guts to address the protesters.

Originally posted by lmgnyc
There were also reports of these wonderful people in Canonsburg, described as aggressive protesters by several media outlets, as drinking beer at 8 am in the morning (Busch beer, of course) and shouting obscenities and jeers during his speech. Nice neighborhood.

I know people from Canonsburg, that doesn't suprise me.

Here's a photo from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of people holding Bush signs right by the rally: