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Wayne Besen
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(Huckabee and the waitress he allegedly had fired) "What happened to free speech in America?" Asked Micah Qualls.
A couple of days ago, Senator John McCain made a stop in Little Rock , Arkansas. He was greeted on the tarmac at the airport by Governor Mike Huckabee (a possible Vice Presidential candidate) and other Republican supporters. Micah Qualls, a waitress that worked at this airport, remembered that she had a "Hillary for President" sign in her car, and spent her break time holding her sign outside the fence where the Republican presidential nominee was landing his airplane.
According to Qualls, Governor Huckabee noticed that she was an employee of the airport, and raised questions with her boss about professionalism, and expressed embarrassment over the incident as the host of Mr. McCain.
Qualls says she was fired as a result of her expressing her First Amendment rights
"I have been at my job for 7 years, and I was fired today because of the 'embarrassment.' I have no disciplinary actions in my employee file, and am loved by all of the customers. I am shocked about this decision. It is unfortunate that Mr. Huckabee and the other Republicans felt threatened by my little sign. It cost me my job."
The blog Arkansas.com got a call from Huckabee and he denied the incident occurred. The governor, and prominent religious right figure, said he had not even seen Qualls and also denied that he'd made a complaint that led to her dismissal. Huckabee claimed that Qualls' suggestion that he had her fired is"absolutely unbelievable"
In a Friday evening conversation I had with Qualls, she alleges that Huckabee is "not telling the truth" - and that a local television station videotaping McCain's landing at the airport has video placing her in relatively close proximity to Huckabee and McCain. This would show, she says, that it would have been difficult - if not impossible - for the governor not to have noticed her.
** Update: Little Rock station KTHV has aired a story on the incident. This is the station that may have video placing Micah in close proximity to Huckabee and McCain. Such video would contradict Huckabee. We urge KTHV to publicly release this video ASAP.
13 Comments:
Micha is an honest and incredibly forthright person. She is a Christian and unlike the former Pastor she has no reason to lie. She is well like and very well known in the community.
The story is the truth and Mike Huckabee admitted to his close friend on the phone with 2 witness' that he was upset with Ms. Qualls for having a Clinton sign. He found it "tasteless" and was infuriated by her sign. He spoke with her boss on the Tarmac and later on the phone and got her fired. He used his political power to get rid of someone he felt "threatened" by.. a young woman with a sign. How incredibly ridiculous and unbelievable!
The local news station channel 11 interviewed Ms. Qualls before she was fired. Now they know the whole story and so will the rest of the world in a few days. They have it on video tape. So it's all documented and so is this entire story. It's all on audio and there will be more video . There are witness' who over heard Mr. Huckabee complaining about Ms. Qualls on the tarmac to her boss. I'd be curious to see if her boss lies for Huckabee...what will they do deny firing her? That will be odd when she applies for unemployment.
Huckabee apparently recognized her from the restaurant. He talked to her boss on the tarmac and then called her supervisor very upset and insisted she be fired. Micah's boss was guided to his decision to fire her by a rather insecure bully aka Mike Huckabee. She was on her break and was not disruptive, she was simply holding the sign. Mr. Huckabee called the writer of the Arkansa blog in response to his article "A lonely dissent" and denied even seeing her there.
Mr. Mike Huckabee you are a liar and unfit for any office. You are truth challenged! If you will lie about this what else will you lie about? This was a very unwise move and decision on your part and you will be held accountable! God is watching you and so are we. We know the truth and so do you. If you continue to lie you will bury and embarrass yourself and may also affect McCain, he would be a fool to have you as a running mate. I would bet he ends up distancing himself from you after all of this comes out. The crap is about to hit the fan and you know it. Which is why you are in spin mode...We are hoping you will wise up and cease the spin and get honest and real.
We do not need more Politic's as usual. You have shown us who you really are ...how you are choosing to handle this has exposed a major character flaw . Lying is not an admirable trait and one that most of us are not looking for in a President or Vice President.
What Mr. Huckabee does not know is that one of Micah's best friends was very upset about what had happened to her and was sharing the story with a patron at his work. Well low and behold that patron turned out to be a life long friend of Mike Huckabee's and he proceeded to speed dial Huckabee right there in front of Micah's close friend. Huckabee's wife answered the phone, identified the man calling and passed the phone to Huckabee. He then asked Huckabee, "if the story was true and if he was responsible for getting the young lady fired at the airfield". Mike said "it was true" and that he had been having "a bad day" "some logistical issues" and was not expecting any problems and that he thought what she did was "tasteless", Mike's friend was noticibly upset and told Huckabee what he did was wrong and that she was only excersizing her 1st Amendment rights and that he had gotten a young woman fired. Huckabee told his friend not to get "cocky with him" and the friend replied I'm not getting "cocky" Mike, what you did was wrong. Huckabee went on to say he "may have over reacted and said, " he would send an email to her employer , the friend repeated back to him what he said so Micah's friend heard him clearly. But now Huckabee can't call or email Micah's employer because he called the Arkansa Blog and proceeded to lie about the entire event. Saying he had not even seen her there. I have repeated this for emphasis! It's exactly what happened.
There is video footage from Channel 11 that probably will reveal that he did see her. You also have to ask yourself why this woman with no disciplinary actions was fired after her boss got off the phone with an angry employer who said he had just spoken with Mike Huckabee?
The thing Mike again did not realize is that right after he hung up with his friend, Micah's friend called her immediatly and Huckabee's friend got on the phone and talked with Micah and proceeded to shared the entire conversation with her. So there are 2 witness' and potentially others who over heard this exchange.
Ms. Qualls is a student getting ready to get her teaching credential and Huckabee has caused her to lose her only source of income because she excersized her 1st amendment right's. This should really bother people. If he would do this to her what would he do to to the rest of us. So much for protecting the little guys..most politicians will always protect their own ass.
Huckabee brought all of this on himself. Micah was not looking for trouble or publicity...she didn't even know McCain or Huckabee were going to be there. It was a total surprise and a last minute decision to get the sign from her car. Her co workers dared her to display the sign. She did it of her own free will and not in an obnoxious way. She stood there rather quietly.
What a tangled web we weave when first we practice o deceive.
This story is going to hit the wire and wil go around the world.
You think you were having a bad day before you got Micah fired wait until tomorrow or the next several weeks. I really hope you learn an important lesson from all of this... everything comes to light eventually and The Truth will always win out! You owe Micah an apology and you ought to pay for her tuition and get her a new job while your at it. What goes around comes around! Maybe you need to be fired just to see how it feels. G'night Mike and good luck...your going to need it!
Signed: A person with the whole story who's very interested in seeing what you are going to do next. Press conference anyone?
posted by Anonymous, at
4/26/2008 1:28 PM
check out the Blog "A lonley dissent" to read more about this story
posted by Anonymous, at
4/26/2008 2:15 PM
All those fundos, especially the ministers, are hateful, fascist, hypocritical lying sacks o' shit! I bet if she were holding up a McCain sign, Fuckabee would have invited her to his next republican meth orgy.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/26/2008 2:40 PM
So sort of off topic, but I just read that last comment to my friend because I found it amusing, and I guess I wasn't speaking clearly because instead of laughing at the sarcasm he looked confused, then after a while he asked me why Republicans would have a "math orgy".
Just when I thought I heard it all from the Left Wing smear machine of Arkansas, something like this gets circulated.
posted by Anonymous, at
4/28/2008 4:41 PM
Why would it have had to be Huckabee who turned Qualls in? If she is so well known with the customers, isn't it likely that a customer saw her with the sign and didn't like it and reported her?
The issue is whether an airport employee had the right to run out and hold a sign. Was she supposed to be in the restaurant at her job during the period of time she was standing around with her sign?
posted by Anonymous, at
4/28/2008 5:57 PM
Dear Anonymous: It said she was on her break. What part of the First Amendment do you not understand--that it also applies to the employed??
posted by Anonymous, at
4/28/2008 6:46 PM
Um, Huckabee was on the clock promoting his political viewpoint. His embrace of McCain was not about the people of Arkansas - his day job. He was using tax payer money to advance his political career. Are some of you suggesting that only a privileged elite have a right to a political opinion?
posted by Wayne Besen, at
4/28/2008 6:58 PM
What do you really expect from the GOP? Seriously? After 7 YEARS of bush and his rubber stamp gang have been running this country, and we have the following to show for it:
NO National Immigration Policy NO Social Security Reform NO Infrastructure Reform NO Health Care Reform and....
NO OSAMA BIN LADEN
(remember him? the guy who started all this 'terrorism' crap?)
bush and the gop are arrogant bullies and for Huckabee to complain about this woman would be right out of the gop playbook.
Wake up folks, they're taking every one of your constitutional rights, one at a time....and you just sit there and say NOTHING.
posted by No1ofNote, at
4/29/2008 8:27 AM
This statement is issued on behalf of Micah by her spokesperson James Thweatt. Statement issued on April 30, 2008.
Micah wants to thank all those who have supported her with their comments, as well as the over one hundred emails, the job offers, letters, etc. She is very touched by the outpouring of support from the public and wanted to express her gratitude.
There have been some misquotes, misinterpretation and comments taken out of context and soon we will set the record straight. Micah stands behind the facts of this case and trusts that the public will continue to judge her based on those facts and not emotionally.
Any media requesting interviews should contact me at james.thweatt@gmail.com.
