Excerpt: Tickets to see Palin, announced at $185 on Jan. 16, eight days after Tucson, were slashed to half-price in early February. Then the speech was canceled altogether, with the organizers blaming “safety concerns resulting from an onslaught of negative feedback.” But when Denver Post sought out the Glendale police chief, he reported there had been no threats or other causes for alarm. The real “negative feedback” may have been anemic ticket sales, particularly if they were to cover Palin’s standard $100,000 fee. [Emphasis added.]
Then there's this from a 2/18/2011 AP story.
[Republican State Senator Scott] Fitzgerald said he spoke with [Democratic State Senator Mark] Miller by phone late Thursday night and asked him to bring his caucus back to Madison for a vote on Friday morning, but Miller refused. Meanwhile, the protests are growing so large that Capitol workers and lawmakers’ staff cannot safely move through the halls, he said.
The situation has become "a powder keg," he said. [Emphasis added.]
Joel DeSpain, spokesperson for the Madison Police Department, has a different perspective. Here's a summary of what he had to say to the Wisconsin State Journal yesterday about Saturday's huge turnout.
There were no arrests..... Nor were there any injuries, he said. DeSpain, who for part of the afternoon watched the swirling crowd from a Capitol Square rooftop, said he was impressed that such an enormous, emotional political gathering could play out so peacefully.
It's a general assessment that the Madison Police Department has made throughout the week. I suspect most of the folks at Fox News haven't bothered to contact Joel.
And we should offer our praise to the Madison Police Department in return!
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