And the fun begins... "A discordant note in the pomp and pageantry at the White House for Chinese President Hu Jintao's (hoo jin-towz) visit today. As Hu spoke at the welcoming ceremony, a woman in the T-V camera stand shouted, "President Bush, stop him from persecuting the Falun Gong." She continued shouting in Chinese. Reporters at the scene translated her shouts as "President Hu, your days are numbered." She was forcibly removed from the South Lawn by uniformed Secret Service personnel. The protest drew media attention away from the Chinese president's speech, with news cameras swiveling to focus on the woman." http://www.woi-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4795588&nav=1LFX How much do you want to make a bet that the White House encouraged this protester. Go Democracy and go this woman with the nuts to stand up face to face with a civil rights criminal!
I don't know. Did she sign her dubya loyalty pledge to be in the crowd? The "translators" are clearly attempting to misconstrue what she is saying. I reliable source said that she actually said: damn you mr. bush! You tricked us! Why did you tell the Chinese lesbians that the egg roll was today!
With the prosecution of Catholics and members of all religions, with the complete disregard for the value of employee life, health, and welfare, and degregation of the environment, I find it strangely ironic that Falun Gong is the only people standing up to the United State's acceptance of the Chinese as long as they can keep producing cheap crap for us to stuff our over-leveraged homes with. Outraged over the prosecution of Falun Gong? Sure I am. But no more so than the other gazillion things the Chinese government does to its people.
Side note : Those Fulan Gong protesters absolutely creep me out. They're a little too into it. THey have some good make up people though
I was there on the lawn this morning and about 30 yards away from the protestor. The Secret Service couldn't get to her quickly, because they don't have people stationed up on the camera stand and it's incredibly crowded with only two access points. The minute she started shouting, all the photographers converged around her, which made it even more difficult for the officers to get to her. That being said, I'm not sure she had a press pass. There didn't seem to be anyone checking credentials in order to get up there. Then again, until we know her identity, we won't know too much. For the record, though, there wasn't an intense screening process for this event (hey, I got in, after all). I personally got my ticket through the organization I work for and never had to give my name & SSN like I have for other WH events. It seems that the WH just gave out tickets to organizations and other entities that are friendly and/or interested in US-Sino relations. My guess is that one of those organizations then passed along one of their tickets to the protestor--whether they did so knowing her intent or not is probably something we'll never find out.
If I knew how I'd photoshop some epicanthic folds and an eight inch uncut vagina onto a picture of James Guckert and post it right here.
By the way, though the Chinese will undoubtedly be ticked off about the protestor, the bigger gaffe, in my opinion--which I haven't seen reported yet--was when the national anthems were announced after Bush and Hu entered, the Chinese version was referred to as that of "The Republic of China's", which is actually Taiwan's formal name (mainland China is the "People's Republic of").
Um, why? What does the White House gain, or what point is being made, by making that mistake? If the Taiwanese anthem were played instead of the Chinese anthem, then you'd possibly be on to something, as that would be a huge insult. But having an official announcer leave of the word "People's" doesn't really accomplish much. In fact, if anything, the WH would seemingly want to stress that this is a "People's" (read: Communist) country. The "Republic of" title bestows a popularly elected legitimacy to the government that obviously doesn't exist.
Wait, so she got a press pass through being affiliated with the Epoch Times? The Epoch Times is openly connected to Falun Gong. Matt's right - the Secret Service wouldn't screw something up that was that blatantly obvious.
Hold on. Should the White House NOT issue press credentials just because a media outlet is connected to Falun Gong?! If The Epoch Times were denied credentials because of their affiliation, I think we'd have a much, much bigger and more disturbing story on our hands. Epoch Times should be welcomed there with open arms--just as Chinese state media was. However, to then extrapolate that the White House and the Secret Service was then somehow sanctioning this protest...well, to me, that is a monumental leap. They didn't ban someone. That doesn't mean they endorse their views. Besides, it just wouldn't make logical sense. This administration has gone to great lengths to make this visit happen. And the White House was trying to get a lot out of it (Iran, North Korea, currency issues, trade, etc.). The last thing Bush wanted was an embarrassment like this. Even the NYT reported the apparent anger on his face when the protestor began. And, just to be accurate, this isn't something the Secret Service handles (other than screening people entering the grounds and removing the protestor). The issuing of press credentials would go through the White House Press Office. EDIT: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/04/20/D8H3USQG0.html
Eh, I'm going to recuse myself on this one. I have a really irrational hatred of Falun Gong that I have a hard time justifying.
What I think is interesting is the fact that the White House is usually so meticulous about controlling the environment at events, and they appear to have slipped up big time on this one. I think our posture towards China has gotten a bit more schizophrenically agressive recently, with the arming of India. (Disarming Pakistan would have been a better solution there - but then we wouldn't have a reliably friendly nuclear power in the region to help lean on China.) This was probably an accident, but I wouldn't be entirely suprised if it was an "accident". I'll agree that poking the hornet's nest isn't exactly wise, given the fact that a huge portion of our debt is Chinese-financed and we need their help to keep Kim Il Jong in line. But a lot of this Administration's East Asian policy is a bit baffling.
Let Hu get a taste of freedom of the press. Or,rather, freedom of the wild screaming protestors, whatever. I don't think he gets to see much of that in China, and I think it's a good thing that he was exposed to it.
I doubt it; just BushCo incompetence. Bubba makes his mistakes on purpose. Like slamming a missle in the Chinese embassy in Bulgaria.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/04/20/D8H40S300.html WTF? Dubya apologized? What a ********ing pansy.
This one protester gets to say everything that the administration want's to say but can't due to diplomatic protocols. Calling China "The republic of" remind's them indirectly of who we think is the real China and who's side we are really on. Just like when the Chinese refer to "One China", you know where they stand. What's even better is that GWB has built up so much "I'm a dumbass" collateral that he can actually use is to make a point. Both of these incidents are proof. And Minorthreat is totally right. If the press corps can silence Helen Thomas for so long, certainly the Epoch Times could be excluded with no consequence.