Hecklers get out of control
by Noelle Straub
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
BALTIMORE - The Democrats could barely get a word in edgewise during last night's debate - not because of their rivals but because of their hecklers.
The 90-minute debate, televised live nationally by Fox News, was interrupted five times as backers of perennial fringe candidate Lyndon LaRouche began screaming.
It was a strategic assault - and one that security officials obviously couldn't contain - that had the hecklers yelling one by one throughout the debate until they were escorted out each time by police.
``Another supporter of Lyndon LaRouche makes his exit,'' moderator Brit Hume said after the fourth heckler stopped the debate.
The interruptions - while impossible to hear clearly over the television - brought out the scold in the Rev. Al Sharpton, who rebuked them for acting up at the evening hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus and Fox News.
``You have not done it at any other debate,'' he said. ``You wait 'til our night to start acting up. You are going to respect us on this stage.''
When Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) followed him with ``Amen,'' Sharpton joked, ``I take that as an endorsement.'' Lieberman rejoined, ``It is a spiritual endorsement,'' but Sharpton added, ``But it may manifest itself politically.''
Lieberman also said Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) once told him no one has been elected since 1962 without having LaRouche protesters heckle them. But after the fourth heckler, Lieberman lost patience and demanded, ``Come on.''
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