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haha
walking to the sunset with their signs up
McCain Miami Rally, Getting Ugly Down Here
Look in later today for our On the Road piece from Wilmington, North Carolina. We're a bit ahead of our coverage, which occasionally happens out here with the long distances, input, output and timing demands. Tonight we'll be at the Obama-Clinton rally in Kissimmee, Florida, and we're breaking in from Miami, where John McCain just concluded his "Joe the Plumber" rally at Everglades Lumber.
After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a crowd when something goes from mere yelling to a feeling of danger, and that's what we witnessed. As photographers and police raced to the scene, the crowd elevated from stable to fast-moving scrum, and the two men were surrounded on all sides as we raced to the circle.
The event maybe lasted a minute, two at the most, before police competently managed to hustle the two away from the scene and out of the danger zone. Only FiveThirtyEight tracked the two men down for comment, a quarter mile down the street.
"People were screaming 'Terrorist!' 'Communist!' 'Socialist!'" Sorando said when we caught up with him. "I had a guy tell me he was gonna kill me."
Asked what had precipitated the event, "We were just chanting 'Obama!' and holding our signs. That was it. And the crowd suddenly got crazy."
Garcia told us that the man who originally had warned the two it was his property when they had first tried to attend the rally with Obama T-shirts was one of the agitators. Coming up just before the scene started getting out of hand, the man whispered in Garcia's ear, "I'm gonna beat you up the next time I see you." Garcia described him for us: "a big stocky man wearing a tweed jacket." He used hand motions to emphasize this was a large guy. We went back to look for the gentleman twenty minutes after the incident but didn't find him.
The two Obama supporters had attempted to attend the event with tickets printed from the McCain website. Both were clad in Obama T-shirts, Sorando in a blue "Obama '08" shirt, and Garcia in a white "Obama-Biden" shirt. They were told that the event was being held on private property and that wearing the shirts or carrying the signs they would be asked to either remove the shirts or not attend.
For an hour during the rally, the two had stood across the street from the lumberyard on public property holding yard signs. Some drivers honked in support, and others honked in disapproval. When the rally ended and the crowd spilled out, the disturbance began.
Garcia had a message for his stocky, tweed-clad threatener. "You tell that guy he can find Tony Garcia down at the West Dade library every day from 7 to 7 helping people early vote. I'll be there from 1 to 5 on Saturday and Sunday. You tell him if he wants to kick my ass that's where he can find me. Come beat me up."
Not thirty seconds later, John McCain drove by in his SUV and waved at Garcia on the sidewalk, who was happily waving his Obama sign.
-- Sean Quinn at 12:42 PM
haha
walking to the sunset with their signs up
So they went to the rally and starting yelling. People yelled back. Nothing happened but they felt scared. Then the guy's balls dropped out of his thoat and he talked when he "felt" safe again.
I love the media.
@ death threats by a mob being called "yelling back"
I thought you were in Ohio Manny!!
The death threats are unsubstantiated. If it happened, that's sad, but it's also not beyond people who crash an opponent's rally to embellish about the reaction, since reaction is what they're looking for.
I don't see the part where it says they felt scared.
Anyway, nice to see that McCain was a good sport about it. Too bad his supporters can be such wads.
Is anyone else surprised we haven't seen a full on politically motivated murder yet? Among supporters that is. We're a nation of 300 million people; isn't somebody, somewhere going to act on their most violent of fantasies towards the opposition?
No, we just like to talk big.
the B girl
I'm in San Antonio for a couple of tests I have to take but I'm leaving for NM again early Friday. I'll be back on Wednesday when my crazy whirlwind will end.
We'll get there soon enough...another 15-20 yrs we'll be suicide bombing eachother's local campaign headquarters.
Yeah, I got invites to join the Obama bus to NM and OH but I have to work like Joe the Plumber.
Say hi to my folks if you go to Las Cruces again.
If Obama loses you won't have to wait that long.
Why do dumb Obama supporters go McCain rallies?
They aren't working. What else would they do.
So all those McCain supporters aren't working?
Maybe on Tuesday.
So they can yell bad things posing as McCain supporters and get on the news?
If a riot started those guys would be held liable and charged a crime of Inciting a Riot.
Under federal law, a riot is a public disturbance involving an act of violence by one or more persons who are assembled in a group of at least three people. The act of violence must be one that presents a clear and present danger of injury to another person or damage to another person's property. Threatening to commit a violent act in such a group situation that could injure another person or damage property is also considered a riot if one of the persons in the group has the ability at the time to carry out the threatened violence.
Inciting a riot applies to a person who organizes, encourages, or participates in a riot. It can apply to one who urges or instigates others to riot. It does not apply to someone who merely advocates ideas or expresses beliefs, if those ideas and beliefs do not involve advocating violence.
The federal crime of inciting a riot carries a possible penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine.
Have you seen the Jake Byrd video from Jimmy Kimmel of the Palin video in Beaver Penn?
...funny ...
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