UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

WATCH: Protester interrupts Kerry confirmation hearing

A protester interrupted Secretary of State nominee John Kerry's confirmation hearing, but the Senator showed deft diplomacy in responding to her outburst.
|
 
A protester interrupts Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), President Obama's nominee to be the next Secretary of State, during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C. on January 24, 2013. If confirmed Kerry will be replacing current Secretary Hillary Clinton. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
A protester interrupts Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), President Obama's nominee to be the next Secretary of State, during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C. on January 24, 2013. If confirmed Kerry will be replacing current Secretary Hillary Clinton. UPI/Kevin Dietsch 
License photo
Published: Jan. 24, 2013 at 11:10 AM
By GABRIELLE LEVY, UPI.com

The soon-to-be chief diplomat got a chance to test his skills when an anti-war protester interrupted the opening testimony at his confirmation hearing as Secretary of State.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when a woman began shouting at the back of the room.

"When will it be enough?" she shouted as police escorted her from the room. "I'm tired of my friends in the Middle East dying."

Kerry, whose first appearance before the Foreign Relations Committee was as the spokesman for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and whose anti-war views sunk his presidential aspirations in 2004, handled the interruption with finesse and grace.

“When I first came to Washington and testified I obviously was testifying as part a group of people who came here to have their voices heard, and that is, above all, what this place is about,” he said.

"I respect, I think, the woman who was voicing her concerns about that part of the world. People measure what we do. In a way, that's a good exclamation point to my testimony."

Recommended Stories
© 2013 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
1 of 16
Flags-In Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery
View Caption
Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Roskos with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, "The Old Guard," participates in the annual Flags-In ceremony, May 23, 2013, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Soldiers place American flags in front of more than 260,000 gravestones in the cemetery in honor of Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
fark
Actual headline: "Police give patrol cars to civilians, hilarity immediately ensues"
Deaf Chinese orphan adopted by American audiologist scheduled to get new type of cochlear implant....
Zookeeper goes in to feed tiger. Succeeds
NJ Transit shuts down train line based on a sighting of a man armed with "a long barrel assault...
On this week's episode of Some People are Capable of Amazing Feats: 17-year-old homeless girl becomes...
Photoshop this intrepid photographer