So, this didn’t go so well.
Yesterday former Baltimore Mayor and Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley met with Freddie Gray protesters, with reports from the scene saying he was heckled during the visit over his past support of tough-on-crime policies:
https://twitter.com/wesleylowery/status/593177256924749824
Martin O'Malley heckled in #Baltimore for tough-on-crime policies as city's mayor. http://t.co/KsDPfDPrEZ pic.twitter.com/oTCVGt1daq
— Jory Heckman (@jmheckman) April 29, 2015
Martin O'Malley at scene of last night's looting. Some shook his hand. Some heckled. #freddiegray #Baltimore pic.twitter.com/t0LlcgQ1bj
— Matthew Barakat (@MattBarakat) April 28, 2015
Oh. In this crowd, Martin O'Malley was trying to gain support. Folks in the back saying "Fuck Outta Here White Boy " pic.twitter.com/DQBGJwzYIq
— CLJB (@CLJB) April 28, 2015
Christ have Fuck, Martin O'Malley is here campaigning in front of a torched CVS #BaltimoreRiots #FreddieGray
— Legba Carrefour (@legbacarrefour) April 28, 2015
Former Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley heckled by residents: http://t.co/UguBFbXlde pic.twitter.com/DsZzzFTywW
— The Hill (@thehill) April 29, 2015
Ouch.
O’Malley, a potential challenger to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, was touting his tough-on-crime credentials as recently as April 10 at a speech in Iowa.
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“(In 1999), Baltimore had become the most violent, the most addicted and the most abandoned city in america. The biggest enemy that we faced was not the drug dealers or crack cocaine. It was a lack of belief. … We started setting goals with deadlines and instead of simply setting goals with inputs, as government always does, we started measuring outputs. … When the people of Baltimore saw their government was working again, they rallied too. Together, we put into action that powerful belief, that in our city, there is no such thing as a spare American. That we’re all in this together. And over the next 10 years, Baltimore went on to achieve the biggest reduction in Part 1 crime in any major city in America.”
What a crazy election 2016 might turn into if a candidate’s success at reducing crime makes his less electable.
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