President Obama flew to California this afternoon for two fundraisers, one with about 1,400 donors at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, and one at the Museum of Natural History, where the ticket price is $35,200 per couple. There was a disturbance at the first event, according to a pool report at the scene from Kara Rowland of the Washington Times. The play-by-play after the jump:
POTUS took the stage at 6:13 p.m. local time. Audio again is not the greatest. He calls out names of several California government officials, each of whom draw applause.
At 6:17, several protesters among the crowd interrupted POTUS’ speech, expressing anger over the slow progress on repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay service members. The crowd tried to hush them. “What about don’t ask, don’t tell?” one protester shouted.
POTUS yelled back “we are going to do that.”
POTUS kept talking, increasing his volume to speak over the protesters. The crowd then erupted into chants of “Yes, we can.”
He later said, “we are going to repeal don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Your pooler has learned the protesters are from GetEQUAL, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender group that also orchestrated protests outside the fundraiser. The group was also behind a protest last month at the White House, where activists Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. James Pietrangelo handcuffed themselves to a gate.
“IT’s time for equality for all Americans!” another protester yelled at 6:22. Obama said, “can I just say again Barbara and I are supportive of repealing Don’t ask dont tell.” But protester keeps yelling. Bringing Obama’s remarks to a halt. The crowd responds again by “shouting yes we can!” over the protesters.
“Be quiet!” someone yells.
No one said being President was easy.
