Desi mom ejected from Bush rally

A desi mother from Philadelphia was picking up tickets for her family at a Bush rally when she was ejected because her ride from work had a Kerry bumper sticker. Simi Nischal was picking up tickets for her husband Narinder, their son and daughter:

“The lady came in and said, ‘Who’s Simi?’ ” Nischal tearfully recalled Wednesday night, adding that she identified herself and was then refused tickets to the rally and escorted from the building.

Shortly after that, a man wearing a Bush-Cheney T-shirt confronted Nischal in the parking lot and told her to leave. “He was so rude, he made me feel like a criminal,” Nischal said. “I said, ‘That’s not fair, you are losing a supporter.’ [And he said], ‘We don’t care about your support.’ “

Nischal said onlookers cheered and laughed at her as she left the property. But that wasn’t the end of the insult, she said. She said another co-worker took her back to the gristmill to try to clear up the confusion, but she was again refused tickets…

Nischal said her daughter has been learning about the political process at school and has been a Bush supporter. She even picked up papers for her daughter to volunteer for the Bush campaign right before she was kicked out of the gristmill, she said.

19 thoughts on “Desi mom ejected from Bush rally

  1. why am i not surprised? guilty until proven…well you’re brown, you must be suspect.

    the bush campaign sucks ron jeremy-level …. if anything, they should’ve taken the opportunity to attempt to change her vote, after all, this is PENNSYLVANIA.

    i’m outraged. bastards. i longingly await the day when i can rejoin the REAL Grand Old Party; the one that lets all of us in… >:(

  2. I’m an honest injun, Anna’s a fire injun, Manish is an Indian giver, Abhi is an Indian taker, and Vinod is … well, just Tripple-V.

  3. So many stories of ejections from Bush rallies. This isn’t a partisan issue; it’s just WRONG to only allow in people who sign a “loyalty oath” and to deny people entrance to events because they have john kerry bumper stickers.

    There’s an interesting piece from the Washington Post this past week on bush’s policies of prohibiting people from his events and scooping up protests around them.

    I don’t think what happened at this Bush event has to do with Simi Nischal being brown. It’s typical activity for the Bush campaign to not allow folks into their events, solely by the bumper stickers on their cars. What’s also scary about this event that Ms. Nischal was kicked out of is the mob-like activity that ensued, with folks cheering and laughing as she left the property. Steve Billmon takes his own angle on this.

  4. anjali, i was sloppy with my comments; i didn’t mean to imply that it was b/c she was brown…whenever i write or think “innocent until proven guilty”, i am reminded of the patriot act, the trampling of certain civil liberties, etc. so i was thinking of a larger context for my ire with regards to this administration. sorry. should’ve been clearer. next time i’ll drink my Star-Rupees pumpkin chai-thing first. 😉

  5. This is pretty outrageous, but not as outrageous as the things being done to prevent black people from voting (in this instance by republicans).

    And then i heard Ralph Nader on CSPAN yesterday complaining about all the less-than-noble anti-democratic things the Democrats were doing to keep him off the ballot in many states.

    It all makes me wonder if elections in Bihar are not that abnormal after all.

  6. Yeah well, Nader used some of the most fraudulent petitions ever to try to get on the ballot in PA. And you know who collected those signatures? The same group that was doing voter registration in Nevada and Oregon, and ripping up the forms that were filled out by Democrats …

  7. Any impropriety in the election by the Democrats is can be traced to some low level, over-enthusiastic party worker or some small-time junkie motivated by his next fix. This is not the same thing as what the Republicans are engaged in — an insidious plot by the top party officials to fix the elections involving disenfranchising hundreds of thousands voters. You can’t even compare the two — which is what the Republicians are doing to confuse people.

    It’s the same with everything else — the Iraq prison scandal, the abuse of the patriot act, the intolerance for other points of view, the fake piety, the lies about the WMD’s and everything else, etc. There’s a pattern to it. These are people who only crave power and wealth and are willing to do anything to get and keep it.

    Vote tomorrow and vote for your best interests not theirs.

  8. “Any impropriety in the election by the Democrats is can be traced to some low level, over-enthusiastic party worker or some small-time junkie motivated by his next fix. This is not the same thing as what the Republicans are engaged in — an insidious plot by the top party officials to fix the elections involving disenfranchising hundreds of thousands voters. You can’t even compare the two — which is what the Republicians are doing to confuse people.”

    Oh, puh-leaze! Wasn’t it Gore’s lawyers who were trying to use conflicting standards to interpret a ballot in Florida? In Democratic-controlled counties, having approved a Democratic designed butterfly ballot – they reported the greatest number of improper ballots. That’s not disenfranchisement – that’s what happens when you have poorly educated voters not double-check their ballots. That these poorly educated voters are the product of Democrat-protected public schools is another story. In Democratic Philadelphia, the voter rolls are increasing, while the city continues to lose people to the suburbs. In California and Arizona, Democrats are working overtime to get non-citizens registered, and if someone has the temerity to ask for proof of citizenship, they are branded as a racist.

    Democrats are hardly paragons of virtue. They just whine about it incessantly.

  9. Although it’s election day, it’s still interesting know that the liberal commie media pinko bias at ABC has bee working overtime and do native americans really need to vote?

  10. KXB

    WasnÂ’t it GoreÂ’s lawyers who were trying to use conflicting standards to interpret a ballot in Florida?

    But Bush’s lawyer’s were trying to stop the recount altogether, so your point is moot.

    That’s not disenfranchisement – that’s what happens when you have poorly educated voters not double-check their ballots. That these poorly educated voters are the product of Democrat-protected public schools is another story.

    Wow, I don’t know what to call that statement..class war? 🙂 Is your allegation that the ability to check the ballot directly corrolates to education that democrats make worse via public schools or better via public schools? I’m a product of public schooling, so should I go register with idiots-r-us?

    In California and Arizona, Democrats are working overtime to get non-citizens registered, and if someone has the temerity to ask for proof of citizenship, they are branded as a racist.

    You don’t actually refute T’s point at all; Maybe you didn’t see but in 2000 but the people shouting down the voting recount, who were from out of state, were eventually tracked back to Tom Delay. Link your California story, and I’ll provide link’s to over 20 worse incident’s that like T said link back to the RNC heads.

    Democrats are hardly paragons of virtue. They just whine about it incessantly.

    Oh yes your right, Democrats aren’t paragon’s of virtue, but compared to current crap, they are no longer whining about it, but retaliating by making sure EVERYONE get’s to vote.

  11. In Democratic Philadelphia, the voter rolls are increasing, while the city continues to lose people to the suburbs.

    um, is it possible that all of philly wasn’t registered before?

    maybe even though the city is losing inhabitants, certain people who are still there who weren’t registered previously now ARE for this race. couldn’t that explain how names were added to voter rolls despite suburban flight?
    just an annoying independent asking. 🙂

  12. it happens everywhere. our vice president of SMU democrats was turned away from yesterday’s rally with GWB at Moody:

    “I waited in line for three and a half hours,” said Chris Purcell, “but some girl said I was a Kerry supporter and they took my ticket and ripped it up.”