Michigan Mayor: Security Threatened to Kick Me Out of Debate for My Vocal Bernie Support

[grasswire]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/michigan-mayor-security-threatened-to-kick-me-out-of-debate#.ugyAKqgdG

FLINT, Michigan — After expressing vocal support for Bernie Sanders during Sunday night’s debate, the independent mayor of Michigan’s third largest city says security warned him that he would be booted from Sunday’s Democratic debate here if he did not quiet down.

Jim Fouts, the 74-year-old three-term independent mayor of Warren, told BuzzFeed News Monday that he attended both the Republican and Democratic debates in Michigan over the past week. The audience at the GOP debate at the Fox theater in Detroit Thursday was loud. But the mood in the Whiting Auditorium on the campus of the Flint Cultural Center, where Sanders and Hillary Clinton met in one of their sharpest-elbowed debates to date, was very different, he said.

“The Democratic debate is totally controlled by Hillarys [sic] good friend DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz,” Fouts wrote on Facebook Monday. “No commentary is allowed by the audience. Particularly if you are cheering Bernie Sanders. Persons who do not adhere to Hillarys [sic] rules are threatened with expulsion.”

[grasswire]

1. it gets much, much worse.

At the debate, Fouts sat in the center section of the hall, directly behind Wasserman Schultz, the DNC chair. Next to him was his longtime executive assistant. Fouts told BuzzFeed News that at multiple times during the beginning if the debate, he turned to his executive assistant, praised Sanders’ performance and said the Flint debate — added to the calendar after the initial set were announced — proved that more debates were a good idea. “I was just saying ‘great job, Bernie!’ and ‘we need more debates,’” Fouts said. He said that at one point he vocally criticized Clinton for “wrapping herself around Obama.”
He insisted he was speaking at a “normal conversation” level. Staff for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia who were sitting near Wasserman Schultz and Fouts said he was being “very disruptive” and made it hard to hear the candidates.
.................
During an early commercial break, security confronted Fouts, roused him from his seat and pulled him and his assistant off to the side of the hall. He was told there had been “complaints” about his behavior and that security had been ordered to throw him out. “The sergeant at arms said, ‘The people that run this want you ejected, they don’t want you here,’” Fouts recalled. He said his assistant asked if the complainer was Wasserman Schultz.

“The security guy said, ‘don’t say I said it,” Fouts said.

[RobertEarl]

17. Hahaha

He was hassling DWS. Hahahaha And she couldn't take it!! What a wuss.

[iemitsu]

2. Figures.

[Motown_Johnny]

3. Fouts spoke at Saturday's rally snd was on fire.

He really went off about NAFTA.

It was a beautiful thing to see.

[Octafish]

4. Fouts is a Republican.

Perhaps there will be a lot more like the former educator tomorrow.

[madfloridian]

14. I can vouch for 4 Republicans I know who are voting Bernie.

They are afraid of their own candidates, don't like Hillary, and are impressed by Bernie's honesty.

[7wo7rees]

5. Holy shite! nt

[tammywammy]

6. So he was speaking at a "normal conversation" level

And shocked to find out people around him wanted him to shut up? People are there to hear the candidates not his running commentary.

[grasswire]

7. where does it say that he made a "running commentary"?

It's a performance. People cheer, and boo, and clap, and talk to their neighbors and sometimes they even stand up and holler at the stage.

[tammywammy]

8. He says he spoke "multiple times" and in a "normal conversation" level

I don't think asking the audience to remain quiet so as to not distract other audience members from hearing the candidates is going too far.

[ebayfool]

10. And the fact that he was seated behind Debbie Wassermann had nothing to do with it, right?

Puleeze. Pull my other leg, I want 'em to match!

[PyaarRevolution]

12. She would kick me out anywhere she controlled.

Since I'm not Bourgeoisie like her.

I despise the lady and exposing her in a Hip-Hop song is the only way to get enough spotlight on her to get her ass booted out of DNC Chair.

[ebayfool]

13. Yup. She wouldn't like what I would say in not 'normal conversational tones' ...

Anyone pretending she had him removed for that reason is - well, I'd say disingenuous ... but it doesn't convey what I really think.

Exposure is needed, in any way it can be formed. And music was a traditional way to spread the message in my youth. Do it and bring it everywhere!

[liberal_at_heart]

11. Are you telling me he was the only person who uttered a word during the debate?

I doubt it.

[7wo7rees]

15. Oh come on Tammy.

It was most unfortunate he was so close to Debbie. Otherwise probably would have not been a problem

He is the mayor for F's sake!

[Bread and Circus]

9. Wow...those are some strong words.

[Peace Patriot]

16. Fascinating! Clinton gets all maudlin about the children of Flint...

..and the Mayor of Flint, who got overridden by the state "Manager" in NAFTA-impoverished Flint--as per the agenda of "free trade for the rich" everywhere (i.e., destroy local power)--almost gets thrown out of the debate for being a bit too vocal at a POLITICAL event, and daring to say a few words to his friend in support of anti-NAFTA Sanders near the highly sensitive ears of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is taking a break from empowering the payday loan sharks in her district in Florida.

I remember the moment during the debate when Clinton was getting all maudlin about the children of Flint. (I yowelled--my husband can verify--thinking of the children of Honduras, the children of Libya, the children of Syria, the children of Iraq and the NAFTA-ed children of Jamaica, Mexico and other places.)

Didn't know that THIS was going on in the audience, though. Wow! What a story! Says it all!

[Uncle Joe]

18. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, grasswire.

[WillyT]

19. Kick !!!

& Rec !!!