History Smistory!

Note: The following is an exerpt from an article in Ft. Worth's Star Telegram from way last February 21st, before the Texas primary. It's old news. Or is it? I don't recall hearing about it in any national network news service or wire. (Maybe I just missed it?)

I suppose reactions by readers of this may be mixed; from shock by some to appreciation of Secret Service orders by others. But I think it important to remember that perhaps the reason this didn't really make much of a news story, if any, may be because of where it took place, i.e., in the state of Texas, in the city of Dallas, where there has never occurred a threat of real danger to any elected official because the public in Dallas is so "friendly."

DALLAS -- Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on.

"Sure," said Lawrence, when asked if he was concerned by the great number of people who had gotten into the building without being checked. But, he added, the turnout of more than 17,000 people seemed to be a "friendly crowd." (Emphasis my own.)