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Politicians, with rare exception, are THE highest level criminal element.

They make the mafia and other lower level criminals look like children in comparison.

Understanding this keeps me from being surprised by their organized criminal efforts...

mamabearCali wrote:I'd try to leave whether I was armed or not. In truth I have no desire to meet a person such as he is. I'd rather sit in traffic for 4 hours than sit in a restaurant with him.

Agree, he pops in, I pop out!

That reminds me of when I was in college in 2005 at Baylor, when Waco's proximity to Crawford made for some crazy situations with W Bush's security at times.

It was pretty common to have him fly in and out of town, obviously, but that spring Baylor was hosting some sort of symposium or summit with Bush, Vincente Fox (then President of Mexico) and Paul Martin (then Prime Minister of Canada), on the campus of Baylor itself. It's one thing to have the president drive at a brisk pace between Crawford and Waco's airport...it was a HUGE different thing when the collective leadership of most of North America was sitting down for lunch and a talk in the same building I was doing some research in!

I was in the main library on campus, down in the forgotten basements of old books dealing with Latin and Ancient Greek manuscripts (classics major for the win!), and my presence was missed during whatever sweep of the place they did. I walked out of the building without noticing anything unusually on my part, but almost as soon as I was outside of the south doors on a sort of raised sitting area, LOTS of SS agents rushed me and very quickly whisked me out of the area down the block. They never really talked to me other than saying who they were and why they were removing me from the area, and never searched me or "lectured" me about anything. I got the impression that that sort of stuff probably happens real frequently when you have to close off a large section of real estate and they're used to sniffing out real threats and risks very quickly and very effectively... normal, nonthreatening folks are simply removed without discussion.

The real fun part of the story was when I was walking away from that library back towards my apartment, there was a Blackhawk helicopter hovering about 500 feet above the block where I lived, with its beauty of a Minigun hanging out the door and someone sitting behind it, watching back towards campus. That's the lesson that sticks with me: these guys don't mess around. Serious folks with serious toys.

Edit - picture of the library where I was whisked away. Probably the fasted anyone made me run a block and a half's distance since I was playing lacrosse back in the day!

koine2002 wrote:Anyway, other than the whole "ooh look, it's a Bush," it was no big to do. The secret service guys would just be really watchful and be posted all at key locations. No one was frisked.

It would likely be for different for a sitting president. Also, such a visit would not likely be impromptu. It would be arranged and only certain people would probably be allowed to be in the vicinity. Whether constitutional or not, I don't know. It's just the reality.

If a business owner doesn't want the hassle, can they refuse a visit? Without repercussions now or in the future?

Another interesting thought. For all his faults, nobody would have worried about that in the Jimmy Carter era.

Glad I was not there.

denwego wrote:That reminds me of when I was in college in 2005 at Baylor, when Waco's proximity to Crawford made for some crazy situations with W Bush's security at times.

It was pretty common to have him fly in and out of town, obviously, but that spring Baylor was hosting some sort of symposium or summit with Bush, Vincente Fox (then President of Mexico) and Paul Martin (then Prime Minister of Canada), on the campus of Baylor itself. It's one thing to have the president drive at a brisk pace between Crawford and Waco's airport...it was a HUGE different thing when the collective leadership of most of North America was sitting down for lunch and a talk in the same building I was doing some research in!

Sic 'em, Bears! I was at Baylor then too. As the photo editor of The Lariat, I was in the SUB (Student Union Building) when the three of them had a Q&A for the media. Pretty cool to be in the same room with all three of them. We had to show up pretty early and submit our camera equipment for inspection. I think we got wanded (not frisked), and they checked out the camera bags both by hand and with dogs. In fact, somewhere I may still have the picture of the inside of my lens cap taken by a SS agent to make sure my camera was really a camera. I'm pretty sure the press pass had my name on it so I imagine they ran a background check beforehand as well. A girl on my hall in South Russell was from Canada and got to have tea or something like that with Paul Martin. Another time when I was interning for the local paper, Bush flew into TSTC to get on a helicopter out to his ranch. I found out that whenever he does that, the local press all has to go out and keep the cameras ready from the time Air Force One is in sight to the time the helicopter is out of sight just in case anything noteworthy happens. It was both really cool and incredibly boring.

RPBrown wrote:If BHO were to enter a restaurant that I was in, I would probably leave anyway. He would ruin my appetite.

yep

and probably say a few things to irritate them on my way out

sjfcontrol wrote:In the early 1970's, Nixon decided to visit K-State (prompting KU to dub us "Nixon's favorite High School" )

Anyway, for a couple of weeks before the visit, the campus was crawling with Secret Service. In order to blend in with the college crowd, they were apparently allowed to take off their jackets. So, yeah, a bunch of older men, with short hair, wearing white shirts and ties blended well with a bunch of younger, long-haired kids in tie-died t-shirts.

My buddy recorded his speech, and also picked up my running commentary (not complementary). The Republican Students brought in signs, which were strictly forbidden.

That's the only time I've been in the same room with a president.

Nixon and I have since settled our differences.

Small world. I was there as well. Cheering him on, booing the five or six protestors that tried to shout out "Four dead in Ohio". Yet not long afterwards, I was supporting George McGovern.

philip964 wrote:

sjfcontrol wrote:In the early 1970's, Nixon decided to visit K-State (prompting KU to dub us "Nixon's favorite High School" )

Anyway, for a couple of weeks before the visit, the campus was crawling with Secret Service. In order to blend in with the college crowd, they were apparently allowed to take off their jackets. So, yeah, a bunch of older men, with short hair, wearing white shirts and ties blended well with a bunch of younger, long-haired kids in tie-died t-shirts.

My buddy recorded his speech, and also picked up my running commentary (not complementary). The Republican Students brought in signs, which were strictly forbidden.

That's the only time I've been in the same room with a president.

Nixon and I have since settled our differences.

Small world. I was there as well. Cheering him on, booing the five or six protestors that tried to shout out "Four dead in Ohio". Yet not long afterwards, I was supporting George McGovern.

Funny how we change over time...

philip964 wrote:George W after he left office .... I asked how close could I stand to take a picture. ... He said "stand on the other side of that hedgerow" it was about 60 feet away....

One of the mistakes the SS made during Reagan's attempted assassination was letting Hinckley stand 15 feet away behind a rope line. He fired 6 shots from a Röhm RG-14 .22lr revolver six times in 1.7 seconds, hitting Reagan and 3 others.

Four hits in 1.7 seconds from a cheap revolver is one heck of a lot less probable from 60 feet.

I tend to avoid large crowds as a rule, but as to the traffic, shutting it down for the Prez probably didn't make a discernible difference.

I was at a Repo Depot in Frankfurt, Germany waiting for transportation to my unit. I had to stay over the weekend so I was stuck. Anyways, somebody stated that the chow hall was serving steak and lobster for Sunday Brunch. Great that means a VIP is in the locale. I was getting my drinks when the boys in Gargoyle glasses showed up. Behind them was the Army Chief of Staff. Behind him was a bunch of smoozers and in the middle was Tipper Gore.

I walked to the table I had set my tray on, put the drinks on the tray, picked it up and walked everything over to the skullery and turned it in. I left the building.

Next morning as I was leaving my quarters a unit runner came up and asked if I was SFC such and such? I affirmed and he told me the Repo Depot 1SG wanted to see me ASAP. I reported to him and he proceeded to dress me down for snubbing the ACS and VP's spouse. I kept my tongue and temper in check and let the 1SG perform his duties. That was all I received was the verbal chewing out.

A couple of hours later after PT the 1SG caught me at the chow hall having coffee. He came over and sat with me. He inquired why I had walked out the previous morning. I stated to him this " I may have to take orders from her husband one day as the Commander and Chief and I will follow my orders. But that does not mean I have to eat with them."

Never heard anything else about it.

myntalfloss wrote:.... shutting it down for the Prez probably didn't make a discernible difference.

another time Clinton was coming back from a overseas visit..... decided to stop in Hawaii for a round of golf..... HPD closed down H1 freeway in BOTH directions so he could be driven to the golf course..... normally wouldn't have been a problem but it was during evening rush hour.... played 9 holes and closed freeway again so he could leave....

I remember seeing George W. Bush wave to us as he departed the White House and it was a cool feeling and a great story to go home and tell. I don't agree with a lot of what he did as President but it was still cool to have the CiC wave at you. If President Obama walked in to where I was eating I would stay because it would make for a good story and if he happened to speak to me I'd tell him exactly what I think of his policies even if that means having to disarm before he enters. I may not respect his decisions but I respect the office he holds and was elected to and at the end of the day you're closer to the President than most people in the country will ever get.

Scott Farkus wrote:

Keith B wrote:

Redneck_Buddha wrote:I'd be super peeved if I had stood in line for 3 hours with a bunch of hipsters only to be removed from the premises so a politician I can't stand can cut to the front of the line.

My understanding is that his order was around $600. He could have called than in and avoided the line!

There's your first mistake. Ain't nothing worth that type of wait unless it's a free gun or ammo!!

I hear you but in fairness, it is really, really good barbecue. Probably the best I've ever had.

Franklin's is no doubt the best I've ever had.