| John Kerry's Visit to Canonsburg, PA | |||
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| Netlore Archive: Email flier purports to expose the 'truth' behind presidential candidate John Kerry's 'front porch meeting' in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on September 6, 2004 | |||
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Email example contributed on 11 September 2004:
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Subject: FW: Kerry Coverage~ Good Tuesday morning! John Kerry brought his "front porch meeting" to our Canonsburg, PA neighborhood on Labor Day morning. Since you will never hear the truth from the TV or print media I thought that you should know from someone who was `almost' there. The residents who live on the street where the event took place were not allowed to attend. Kerry shipped in approximately 90 invitation only VIPs. In addition, there was a hard luck case who was about to lose her job at USAIR and another was an elderly woman who was having health care problems. Neither one was from this neighborhood. The street was closed to all traffic the night before and all residents on the street were REQUIRED to remove their Bush/Cheney signs. The sympathetic police officers on duty told us that Kerry used imminent domain to claim the street for his purposes. Residents who have homes within the perimeter (approximately 1 full block) were kept behind a line away from the partisan crowd. The rest of us were not allowed within the 1 block cordon. A neighbor from across the street came to the line where we were being kept and asked us to come onto his property. The police told us that we could stand on this mans FORMERLY private property! This was set up so that Kerry's views could be heard - but not the neighbors. About 30 peoples (mostly neighbors) shouts echoed down the street "Let the neighbors in". We could barely hear Kerry speaking with his microphone because press buses were used to block us off from view! This mornings papers are reporting hecklers tried to interrupt Kerry as he spoke to the neighborhood gathering, but he turned our chants to his favor by calling us rude. Even though most of the media was there to record our stories of not being included in the neighborhood forum, not one of them printed or aired the truth. This is what America will look like if Kerry becomes president. Get registered and get all of your friends registered to vote if they have not already. Kerry thinks that he is better than the rest of us and he has the media on his side to make him out to be what he is not! Finally, last night as I drove down the street where the rally was, I was shocked to see Bush/Cheney signs in almost every yard on the street! Please send this e-mail on to as many people as you can. LET FREEDOM RING! |
Comments: Mostly false, according to news coverage from a variety of standard sources.
It's true that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry made a campaign stop in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on Labor Day, holding a "front porch meeting" at the home of local firefighter Dale Rhome.
It's also true that the block was closed to traffic by the Secret Service for security purposes. But Kerry did not invoke the government's power of eminent domain (misspelled "imminent domain" above) to "claim the street" as is alleged in the email, nor were neighbors excluded from the rally or required to remove Bush/Cheney signs from their lawns. (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published a photograph, viewable here, of pro-Bush resident Beth Soucie, who "stood in a yard filled with Bush signs" throughout the event.)
When Kerry was challenged by hecklers he responded by addressing the substance of their complaints, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Did he call them rude? Yes, more than one source confirms — but only after they tried to drown out 70-year-old Canonsburg resident Patricia Romano as she recounted her problems getting adequate health care:
At one point, protesters tried to drown out an elderly woman who was straining to have her question to Kerry heard because of 11 surgeries on her throat. "While Bush people were rudely shouting, a 70-year-old woman . . . was telling the story about how she has had to go back to work because she needs to take pills at such a rate that she can't afford to pay for them because of the prescription drug costs," Kerry said. He pledged to lower the cost of prescription drugs, by allowing seniors to import drugs from Canada, and by offering Medicare an opportunity to purchase drugs in bulk to reduce costs. (Washington Post)
In Canonsburg, Kerry Jousts with Hecklers
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7 September 2004Kerry Visits Canonsburg
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 7 September 2004No Free Ride for Kerry in Canonsburg
Observer-Reporter (Washington, PA), 8 September 2004Prepping a Porch for Kerry
Observer-Reporter (Washington, PA), 8 September 2004Rendell, Hoeffel Stump in S. Strabane
Observer-Reporter (Washington, PA)Kerry Attacks Bush on Handling of Iraq
Washington Post, 7 September 2004
Last updated: 10/11/04
