Should the Sergeant at Arms be allowed to remove Congress people who heckle during the State of the Union speech?
Asked by
janbb (
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)
February 8th, 2023
I think the reports of the behavior last night of some Congressmen and women is pretty appalling. I don’t think it should be tolerated from either side for any President during that speech.
Should transgressors be removed or should their rude behavior stand?
I’m putting this in General and want to stick to the issue in a non-partisan way. Any off-topic or what-aboutism remarks will be flagged.
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66 Answers
I personally think such behavior should not be tolerated in that circumstance by anybody. The State Of The Union address is not an open discussion of bills to be passed or not, it is not an open forum.
And yes, (to the staunch conservatives on this site) I would be as appalled if the Dems were doing it.
Yes, the Sergeant at Arms should remove them.
Yes. Heckling should not be tolerated at the SOTU address. It comes off as immature.
But it wasn’t surprising that the most vocal was MTG. But all members of congress should behave better.
I expect more out of members of Congress.
No. People would just complain about being censored.
Let them heckle, and expose themselves as clowns.
If time is allocated for comments and questions, then that’s when they should speak up. If no time is allocated for that, they should be quiet.
I’m going to be blunt.
It’s only the rabid conservatives who are heckling Democratic presidents. It started when a representative from South Carolina shouted, “You lie” at President Obama. It’s gone downhill since then.
It’s just the Republicans who are heckling. They are rude and uncivil.
Yes most definitely, and it doesn’t matter what side does it.
Hecklers think they are showing
strength but they are just being rude, and disruptive, and showing how much of a bully they can be throw them out on their ear.
Yes. I believe they should follow a certain decorum or leave. Funny how republicans can have an unruly person removed from their town halls or even threaten, but think once again that they are always above norms. And Townhalls usually have time for people to ask questions and still, they toss them out. But a State of the Union is not their time. They always have time after the state of the Union to make comments to reporters about what was said. This behavior of late is idiotic and childish and they should be escorted out and led to a play room if they want to behave like children. Correction. I’ve met children who are better well behaved.
I agree with @ragingloli. Don’t think they should be removed. That would just be played up as some martyr for censorship. [eyeroll]
Instead there should be a policy to get dinged for poor behavior that would affect eligibility for positions on committees.
Freedom of speech. Besides, it makes those boring speeches more interesting to watch.
That level of “freedom of speech” wastes everybody’s time. The people who are trying to speak will lose their opportunity to speak. Doesn’t that violate their freedom of speech?
@Acrylic You really don’t understand the whole “freedom of speech” thing, do you. The First Amendment doesn’t protect you from the consequences of your speech, in this case you would simply be removed from the area.
Keeping order is the role of the Sergeant at Arms and the people who can’t behave should be given one warning and the second time they act up, they get the boot.
It has nothing to do with freedom of speech. They can stand on the street corner and say Biden is a liar if they want to. They can’t and shouldn’t be allowed to act up during a speech, the same way they wouldn’t be allowed to act up during a movie in a movie theater or at a ballet or opera performance. Another example of what they can’t do is yell “fire” in a crowded movie theater.
To me, yelling during a speech given by the President is rude and childish. My teenager wouldn’t have acted that way when she was 3.
I say give them the boot. People here are trying to be polite and include “both sides,” but we all
know it’s just one side. Idiots that they are.
Of course. Both sides are so childish it’s ridiculous. Maybe next time Republicans can just boo loudly like Democrats so people think they’re more mature. (Eyeroll)
@KNOWITALL When did Democratic Congresspersons during a State of the Union address boo Trump?
No. Both sides are not childish.
Frankly I think Marjorie Taylor Greene is a tool of Satan.
That said, I would hesitate stopping her from exposing how awful she is.
@Hawaii_Jake So Nancy Pelosi ripping up Trump’s speech on National TV at the end of his State of the Union speech wasn’t childish. Good one. HA!
@gondwanalon Did Nancy Pelosi ripping up Trump’s speech interrupt Trump’s speech in any way?
There are still some Republicans who possess decency, respect, and a sense of what’s appropriate to the occasion. Much as I would have liked to see the hecklers hauled out by a hind leg, I would leave it to the responsible members of the party to discipline their own.
Meanwhile, I thought Biden handled it pretty well.
No, @KNOWITALL, my outrage is quite genuine. I don’t watch these things, but MTG was featured in the news snippets, so I was actually outraged. And BTW, I thought Pelosi was out of line. So your high-horse declaration of hypocrisy and “faux outrage” (thinking you don’t really understand that phrase” is just off.
I’m conflicted. I do find it offensive for anyone to heckle the president during the State of the Union speech. My first instinct is to say yes, take them out the door, but that is very disruptive and gives them more camera time, and possibly plays more into their hands.
Then I was thinking how I like most of the obnoxious personal attacks on fluther to stay put. Let the whole collective see how horrible that jelly was.
I thought Biden was overall great last night. The heckler did not take away from his speech and McCarthy eventually shushed the disorderly people on his side.
The big problem is that if you allow a heckle or two, it can become totally out of control with lots of people calling out or behaving badly in other ways. Then something would have to be done.
I wonder why the SOTU address needs to be in person. If feedback is not ok I wonder if the POTUS can just video tape it at the White House.
I thought that the Sergeant of Arms is just ceremonial.
In Canada we have a Sergeant of Arms with a ceremonial mace. I don’t see him clubbing anyone with it
Though he did shoot a terrorist who attacked the Parliament a couple of years ago in Ottawa.
@canidmajor Surely we can agree on the definition of hypocrisy, which is the point.
@RedDeerGuy1 I disagree with taping it. It’s one of the few times Americans can see the president in action. If it were taped, there would be soooo many criticisms from the other party, whomever that may be, that it was cut, edited, faked, what-have-you. Migawd, people still think the moon landing was faked!
I haved mixed feelings about whether they should be removed or not. My knee-jerk reaction was YES! Those of us who know how to behave with class and dignity assume that it would be embarrassing for someone who is removed. But some people – MTG – are such rednecks that they’d be proud of being removed.
Not sure if having the sergeant-at-arms escort them out is the right thing. That, then, becomes weaponized somewhere down the line. But the hecklers should grow up. Letting Biden ramble on is enough. America is wise to his rhetoric and they recognize he has a revisionist view of reality. Heckling is immature and distracts from the fool Biden makes of himself.
@smudges But don’t you think that passive heckling is just as rude and distracting as active heckling?
The clapping or not, standing up or staying seated, who you greet personally, the famous wearing white pantsuits, etc…it’s all so cringe. Obvious political grandstanding usually followed by tweets. All of it detracts from the speaker, whomever it happens to be.
I’ve also pondered not allowing the clapping.
At times I have suggested that on the news they should not write what party a politician is with when they are interviewing. I feel like the public at large doesn’t think for themselves and just takes their cues from whatever their favorite politician or talking head tells them to think.
@smudges Ok if being live in person is important than I wonder if the President can give his speech in the place where he took the oath of office. Should be able to hold a large amount of people.
After all the citizens are the presidents bosses. He should directly speak to them without an intersesor. (CNN, PBS, ect).
It blows my mind. Any High School student who would yell out inappropriately would be removed.
We’re going backwards.
@KNOWITALL But don’t you think that passive heckling is just as rude and distracting as active heckling?
Actually, no, but I’m not 100% devoted to that answer. Sorry, my brain is tired from writing to our favorite fluther republican. XD
@RedDeerGuy1 He couldn’t address millions of people in the Oval Office or wherever he was sworn in. Actually I think he’s sworn in on the White House lawn, but I’m not sure. But wherever he gives the speech, there are going to be news media. That’s just how the world works. And if I’m the president’s boss, why doesn’t he listen to me? Why can’t I fire him? and don’t say I can; here in the U.S. we all know that’s not really true. Hell, the true majority can’t even elect him or her!
I remember on the news whenever anyone tried to heckle the Don Father they were thrown out so fast their feet never touched the ground.
@SQUEEKY2 At his rally’s, yes. He also told the crowd to ‘get them out’ creating a violent situation. And he mocked and demeaned the hecklers, too. Very true.
Rude? Of course. But that’s the whole point of the performance. It raises money for her political coffers. Shameless opportunistic performers should be removed from such a seriously important event. No performances allowed!
Just playing devils advocate. Pelosi ripping the speech was a snub and a distraction. At least her snub had class.
Pelosi did not interrupt the delivery of the speech.
^Just curious. Did you read the fact checkers report after trumps SOTU address?
Response moderated
Throw the bums out. Dem or Repub regardless.
@chyna Always. Did you on Biden’s speech before I posted the link?
@NoMore Exactly! Happy birthday, btw!
^No, I didn’t even watch the speech! I know. I should have.
But like most people, I did catch the clips of the booing and catcalls.
Response moderated (Off-Topic)
@chyna I’m under no delusions about politics here. My first vote was for Bill Clinton, who literally looked into the camera and lied about his affair. I really liked him, too.
Since then I’ve watched them all lie to us to various degrees. I’m not mad, but neither party has the high road, in my opinion.
Absolutely. And to think of all the lies we don’t know about.
@KNOWITALL Neither party may have the high road but one party definitely has the lower road at this point. Sorry!
@janbb Until I see a semen-drenched dress from a Republican president all over the tv and news, I’ll disagree. But to each their own. Haha!
I would say that, individually and summa summarum, palling around with Epstein, bragging about grabbing women “by the pussy”, colluding with Russia, extorting Ukraine for political favours, attempting election fraud, and inciting an insurrection, is just a teeny tiny bit worse than banging an intern.
I wonder if “Stormy Daniels” has video ?
No. They should be allowed to be despicable. It’s frankly better than being able to use public opinion to silence members of Congress,
Hey @KNOWITALL would you mind posting the fact checker link to Trump’s union address it would be cool to compare it to Bidens.
@all I’ve asked the Mods to move this to Social. It was kind of inevitable that it would wander.
[mod says] Moved to Social on request.
There were two people at least that should be embarrassed:
MTG’s mother for bring up such a raging idiot.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ father for what ever school he sent her to nonsense sentences and missing logic.
Thank you Penguin ! !
@Jeruba It was a snub which is considered childish. (I liked what she did but I’m not a hypocrite.)
WOW I missed a good one here. So many fun things to address I’ll try a couple of them. One @KNOWITALL I still think the dress thing should be between him, his wife and the intern. What does that have to do with running the free world? @ragingloli “by the pussy” etc comment EXACTLY! Bravo! a million % worse!
BUT I do believe the hecklers should have been run out on a rail and tar and feathered! This was a SOTU address not the PTA meet and greet. WTF?
@Dig_Dug He looked into the camera and lied to the American public about it.
@KNOWITALL How can you tell a politician is lying?
@Dig_Dug Their mouth is open?
For me, as a first time voter, the experience was personally offensive and felt very much like betrayal.
But it also taught me that people really need something to believe in, even if it’s utter shite.
@KNOWITALL I really don’t feel comfortable believing in utter sh!t I refuse to stoop to that low level. Make belief, fairies and magical beings are not my forte.
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