I nearly got locked out of the debate grounds at Hofstra the other night. I was standing in a parking lot with about seven other lost journalistic souls and waiting for the media shuttle bus that would take us to the credentialing center. That was about when it got a little weird. The poor guy running the lot told us, first, that they'd be holding the credentialing process open for an extra 15 minutes because of our plight but, unfortunately, and these were his words, "The bus can't get back here yet because the Secret Service won't open the access road." This seemed odd, two hours before the debate was scheduled to start, so we asked why. "Protestors," the guy said.

This struck us all as hinky because we'd all been wandering around, and all we'd seen were some very well-behaved people waving signs and chanting, and yet we were getting second-hand reports that Chicago '68 might have been breaking out. It got even stranger when the bus finally showed up and we rode past the protestors, all of whom seemed perfectly willing to do their protesting from the sidewalk.

Forgive my suspicious mind, then, when I suggest that this whole bizarre pantomime may have merely been an excuse to keep the likes of us away from the fact that a presidential candidate was being hauled off to an improvised hoosegow....





Certainly, the notion that "protestors" had to be cleared from the streets was belied not only by the evidence of our own eyes, but also by the fact that Dr. Jill Stein tells Amy Goodman here that she and her running mate were the only two detainees in that facility.

We were held at a facility, especially created for detaining protesters at the debates. It appeared to be a warehouse which had been specially equipped. It was obviously-you know, they were prepared to handle a lot of people. They had 13 officers there and three plainclothesmen. For most of the time, it was just Cheri Honkala and myself, yet they felt the need to keep us in tight plastic restraints, tightly secured to metal chairs.

(Full disclosure: Dr. Stein and I are old friends. Our sons fenced together through high school.)

If there really had been disturbances, they'd have been a little less lonely in there. As it is, if what she says about the handcuffs is true, somebody should be turning on a spit.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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