Story of the Day: Disturbing Security Lapse at Dallas Obama Rally

With the John McCain-New York Times story dominating the news cycle, the most underreported political news of the day is the startling breach of security, evidently ordered by U.S. Secret Service, at Barack Obama's Wednesday rally in Dallas.

Yes, you read that correctly.

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Raw Story), which broke this news (a Google News search reveals that United Press International is thus far the only other mainstream media outlet to either pick up or report on this story):

Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on.

"Sure," said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a "friendly crowd."

The Secret Service did not return a call from the Star-Telegram seeking comment.

[...]

Several Dallas police officers said it worried them that the arena was packed with people who got in without even a cursory inspection.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because, they said, the order was made by federal officials who were in charge of security at the event.

"How can you not be concerned in this day and age," said one policeman.

The police officer makes a good point. Though I'd add that President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas nearly a half century ago, his brother five years later in Los Angeles on the way to almost certainly winning the Democratic presidential nomination.   

No one wants to think about such a horrific potentiality. But we damn well better pay attention to it in order to avoid similar inexplicable breakdowns in security for any national candidate, especially a wildly popular black presidential candidate - often compared to JFK, RFK and MLK - who's promising to end a war that Republicans and their friends in the defense and oil industry want to prolong indefinitely.

Comments

[Brad Jacobson]

Disturbing Security Lapse at Dallas Obama Rally

[Oldnovice]

We were there, and the situation went from almost 2 hours waiting in a line that barely moved forward to a line that suddenly moved so quickly that we were asked to hustle to get in before he spoke.

No more people were allowed on the main floor, so we were steered to the nosebleed seats. I'm no expert on firearms, but I'm pretty sure one would need a rifle with scope from that distance.

That's how I justified "no search" to myself at the time (before I saw the articles).

We were typical of the folks who got there at 10:30 (when we were told the doors would open). Some people were there since 4am and the doors opened at 10am, so the early birds who were seated on the main floor got searched.

All that said, I sure hope security tightens from the publicity on this incident in Dallas.

[Sharoney]

Say, isn't this the same Secret Service that wouldn't let a couple in to a Bush event who had the wrong (i.e. critical of Chimpy and his policies)?

I guess that an attendee packing potential heat is OK to go if it's a Dem event. A couple with a nasty bumpersticker on their car (or a teeshirt of mass destruction, a la Cindy Sheehan) is grounds for arrest.

Glad to see that the nonpartisan SS has its priorities straight.

[From up north]

I was connected to this story first thing this morning and I immediately sent it to everyone I know. I find it shocking, but then again, nothing this administration does or will do in the future will shock me anymore.

Look into 9/11Truth.org

It will be, and has been done in plain sight. But there seems to be nothing anyone can do to stop it.

Perhaps that is why there's such an enthusiastic, if not frenzied support for Obama. People are looking for a savior, just like RFK and M.L. King, and look what happened with them.

Google George H. W. Bush and the Kennedy assassination if you really want to get freaked out.

[Jack Coleman]

Agreed, a mind-boggling lapse in judgment here and in Dallas of all places. That RFK "almost certainly" would have won the Democratic nomination in 1968, however, is a stretch. Winning California did not mean that RFK was a shoo-in.

[ianqui]

I left this comment at Americablog, who linked to you, but the same basic thing happened in NYC a few months ago at the Obama rally in Washington Square Park. The lines were huge, and shortly before he was supposed to speak, the park was only like 1/8 full. So they took down the barriers and everyone flooded in. No one thought strangely about it (but this was months before he became the front-runner).

[euthyfro]

A deranged commie obsessed with Cuba, then a deranged Arab obsessed with Isreali fighter jets. are we waiting for a deranged racist obsessed with the possibility of a black president?

[kbubba]

Obama was given Secret Service protection long before any other candidate because of threats against him and his family. The Dallas Police Department does not want any more assassinations--I imagine that if the SS needed help screening people, they could have requested it. The Obama people had better start providing additional security for their candidate, because they can no longer rely on the SS.

[Steve Bates]

I agree wholeheartedly that the lapse in security for Obama is terrifying, and that the matter bears watching as the campaign continues.

But your concluding prose implies that RFK, like JFK, was assassinated in Dallas. RFK was assassinated in Los Angeles. I was alive back then. I remember those killings with deep regret, and with thoughts of what might have been if those men had lived.

Not every evil thing happens in Texas. Please correct your error.

[martha]

This is inexcusable, irresponsible to the point of being criminal on the part of the secret service and the United States Government. Senator Obama is the LAST PERSON where secret servicemen should fall down on the job. Where's Al Sharpton and Jessee Jackson. Hell, where's the American people? If anything happens to Senator Obama, this nation will pay in a way they've never paid before for any other assasination. And they can "take that out of their banks"

[Barry in Barcelona]

Why is it when one goes to an NBA game for example, as I did several years ago in Miami,that 18,000 fans can be thoroughly searched gotten seated by gametime and this can't be done in some of the venues where Senator Obama is speaking? Criminal? It goes beyond that: it is ominously sinister to my mind. And with the recent series of shootings across the country, it should be self-evident that security concerns should be increased by a factor of ten. I am well old enough to remember what happened in the Sixties and I pray that the country and none of the energetic, dedicated, fine young people who are the essence of the amazing campaign ever, ever, have to know what we went through back then.

[John Crampton]

No it happens ll over the coutry....I'm sure that the Republican-facist party will do everything possible to see that a popular Democratic candidate is neutrailized, either by smear or by aassasination. It worked so well for Rove, Cheney and Bush when they assasinated Paul and Sheila Wellstone and made it look like a plane crash.

[Brad Jacobson]

But your concluding prose implies that RFK, like JFK, was assassinated in Dallas. RFK was assassinated in Los Angeles.

Mr. Bates, maybe that line could've been extra clear, but in no way was I implying such a thing. Clearly RFK was assassinated in LA and not Dallas (am I giving people too much credit to know this?). The sentence you point out is specifically in context to the preceding quote from the police officer wondering how this security lapse could occur in this "day and age." Thus the following point that, well true, with all of the "war on terror"-driven security measures, it is hard to believe. But this is in addition to the fact that JFK and RFK were assassinated in a day and age long ago. But to make sure readers unaware of this history don't draw the wrong conclusion, I've inserted "in Los Angeles" into the sentence. Thanks for pointing this out.

[apinchinat]

One thing is certain :

Whites will do everything possible

(or thought impossible)

to prevent non whites (aka:brown,non-100 percent white,cream )to become USA PRESIDENT

[waylon]

i was there. i parked around 12:20 and strolled right in. i could have snuck a huge rifle in with *no* problem. i was astonished. it felt kind of morbid even thinking about but it was really shocking. it's dallas for crissaakes!

the next night i saw bob dylan and went through a physical search before i could get in.

[Georges S.]

Obama has to be careful. There are lot of extremist racist nuts out there. They just can't play fairly.

[Tommy]

>>That RFK "almost certainly" would have won the Democratic nomination in 1968, however, is a stretch. Winning California did not mean that RFK was a shoo-in.<<

Winning the California primary on June 5, 1968 put RFK over the top in the number of delegates needed to win the nomination. After his death, Hubert Humphrey was nominated as a result of back-room dealing at the convention, though Eugene McCarthy actually had more delegates.

This would not have happened if RFK had lived, so the statement is not a stretch. The statement is correct.