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August 29, 2008
The Facts
During the Democratic convention in Denver Colorado an ABC reporter was arrested and taken to jail. The reporter, Asa Eslocker, and his camera crew were on a public sidewalk filming Democratic senators and lobbyist entering a hotel for a private meeting. Six uniformed law officers manhandled the reporter with considerable force, with one grabbing him around the neck and twisting his arms behind him. Earlier a sheriff deputy had pushed Eslocker off the public sidewalk into the street in front of oncoming traffic, telling him the sidewalk “belonged to the hotel”.
My View
While watching the video of the action by the police and resulting arrest of Eslocker, I immediately had visions of a very similar scene of an ITY reporter being arrested in Beijing during the Olympics. My very next thought was how we Americans, and particularly our politicians, have been highly criticizing the Chinese government for using such tactics.
If our elected officials are doing something so secretive or embarrassing that they demand this kind of action be taken to hide it, then our government is no better than the Chinese government. You can argue that our government is better, but your argument would be baseless. The visual documentation leaves no recourse but to hang your head in disgrace if you attempt to defend that comparison. And it doesn’t matter that this was Democrats; Republicans have done and will do the same thing, just as the Democrats have done the same thing in the past. They do not want the voting public seeing their corruption in action, especially during election season. My final point is this makes me ashamed of my government and elected officials, and if it doesn’t you, then you are saying this is acceptable no matter which political party you side with. Remember; if you make or agree with a rule, you just may have to live by that rule.
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