Can We Talk?
SAN ANTONIO, TX -- It was clear even before Chelsea Clinton took the stage that it might be a tough crowd.
Speaking at an outdoor question-and-answer session on the campus of San Antonio College today, Clinton faced an anti-abortion heckler, rowdy Barack Obama supporters and a tough question about one of her mother's most controversial Senate votes.
As supporters and curious observers gathered before Chelsea's address, chants of "Vote for Obama!" were audible, and a man sporting anti-abortion signage circled the crowd. Almost as soon as she took the microphone, the former first daughter glanced back at the loud Obama supporters with a nervous smile and said: "I'd love to have a conversation. And if it's interrupted, I'd like to keep having a conversation."
And the interruptions came. The first from the pro-life advocate, who carried a sign urging Democrats to end abortion. His repeated comments forced a visibly exasperated Clinton to reiterate her mother's pledge to make abortions "safe, legal, and rare." The protestor's comments were, in turn, interrupted by the fiesty Helen Gonzales, a local Latina activist who - gesticulating wildly - delivered a passionate defense of abortion rights and encouraged Chelsea to take the man's question in order to silence further interruptions.
Perhaps more interesting, though, was questioning from Dale Curtis, a sophomore at San Antonio College who objected to Hillary Clinton's vote to classify the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. "I'm proud that she showed up to vote on that," she shot back, an obvious reference to Obama's absence from Capitol Hill the day the legislation was considered. "I'm proud that she stands up and takes a stand on tough issues." She went on to add that her mother's vote was based on an assessment of the organization's threats to American security, with help from "her advisors."
Curtis, who carried a loudspeaker to ensure that his shouted question was heard and answered, told NBC/NJ after the rally that he is not a supporter of any candidate but that he believes Hillary Clinton's vote could be used to justify a hawkish stance towards Iran.
Despite the day's boisterousness - which at times made Chelsea Clinton visibly uncomfortable despite fairly cool-headed responses - there was one solemn moment that went uninterrupted. At the beginning of her remarks, the former first daughter asked attendees to participate in a moment of silence for the motorcycle policeman killed in an accident this morning as he escorted her mother's motorcade in Dallas.
For once, not a single peep from the crowd.
(NBC/NJ's CARRIE DANN)
This story is flawed about this morning. There was no silence at that moment, the man who carried the cross would not be quiet about abortion the entire time. I repeatedly yelled back at him that he was acting obnoxious and needed to have respect. It was so bad her secret service agent had to tell him to refrain or else, because he would not stop. It also agitated her that the man interrupted her several times. The man eventually had police around him because he looked to be aggressively mad. I think that many heartfelt moments were not mentioned like the one where the man thanks her mom for working on the s-chip bill. There was also the one by the reservist that thanked her mother and father for supporting troop legislation that helped him receive equipment he needed, this comment was met with cheers. The Obama supporters also had there signs written on pieces of notebook paper, and were mostly cheering for attention, not because they themselves were voting. This story was good, this moment would probably be better on Youtube though. As the event was ending I thanked Chelsea for visiting the part of San Antonio that had no elitists, the part where the regular blue collar people were. Her response was, "I wouldn't be anywhere else". To note the reason for me thanking her on that was because yesterday Ted Kennedy went to a Elitist school in the area with less than 10% of its student population from the city. For that I thanked Chelsea for visiting a Community College, it was rough, it had arguments, but it was met with thanks.