Navy Vet Says She Was Kicked Out Of Romney Rally Because She Was Silently Protesting (VIDEO)

[ProSense]

Navy Vet Says She Was Kicked Out Of Romney Rally Because She Was Silently Protesting (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro

There are ways to deal with protesters gracefully at a campaign event, and then there’s kicking a Navy veteran out of your rally because she’s wearing a t-shirt you don’t like.

Melissa Harmon tells TPM she was given the latter treatment by Mitt Romney staffers at an event in Columbia, SC Tuesday. Harmon, who was discharged honorably from the Navy under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell before the policy changed, showed up at the rally to protest Romney’s suggestion that VA benefits should be at least partially privatized.

Harmon, like a lot of veterans, is worried about the idea. But she said the Romney campaign thought her form of protest — a handwritten T-shirt — was too hot to handle and so she was kicked out of the Columbia event. There’s video to back up her story, but it’s somewhat vague.

The Romney campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Harmon’s story.

Here’s how she says it went down. Harmon, a member of the OccupyColumbia movement that’s been staging a running protest outside the South Carolina state House for more than month, went to the Romney rally along with several other Occupiers who are military veterans in the hopes of protesting the VA privatization scheme. They wore their homemade t-shirts questioning the plan underneath bulkier outer shirts.

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[brooklynite]

1. Wass this in a public or private setting?

[great white snark]

2. Thank you Melissa Harmon.

Privatizing Social Security gets all the coverage but planning to privatize our benefits is just as newsworthy. Thank you Melissa.
:patriot: