He's still trying to spin the story. Here's his latest post:
bigtree (84,469 posts)
If you spent a minute questioning the motives of Rep. Jamaal Bowman in setting off the fire alarm
...you should read the Capitol Police statement who confirmed his version of events today.
<Followed by Capitol Police description of events which confirm he pulled the alarm>
Clearly the Representative was trying to get out of the door, trying it first, and making the mistaken decision to pull the alarm, believing as he said that it was part of the process for opening the door.
He acted with impatience, and not a lot of good reasoning, but there's nothing nefarious here. Certainly not an effort as McCarthy has charged, to halt any voting in the building completely separate from the Capitol.
No real harm, no foul.
Followed by this tweet which provided the press release from the Capitol Police:
https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1708922381467627560
So, bigtree has gone from it didn't happen, to it was an accident, to it was a stupid action by someone who thought he was too important to wait for the door to unlock.
bigtree (84,469 posts)
4. it doesn't rise to the level of the garbage we saw yesterday
...I'd like to think people here have enough respect for our stalwart Democratic legislators to give them a benefit of the doubt.
To afford them the understanding that we all make stupid mistakes, sometimes, without intending harm. In this case, there was a temporary evacuation, much like in grade school. There is no harm here.
There is nothing nefarious here, either, which was the actual point in the accusations, not revealing the Dem legislator as a goof.
What I saw yesterday from far too many people was a complete surrender to the media and McCarthy's gaslighting.
And then it finally dawned on me....bigtree is one of the few black DU members. He's going for the "I Dindu Nuffin" defense.
bigtree (84,469 posts)
6. that particular door is open on weekdays
...the actual sign on the door says it can be opened after the alarm sounds and 30 seconds passes, not that exiting is prohibited.
It's practically encouraging exits, aside from the 'emergency' part.
Says nothing about evacuations, etc.
Obviously he knows better now, but he's not the only congressman to stretch the rules of that building to accomodate him. If I understood him correctly, he was concerned about missing the vote to keep the government open.
Yep, nothing encourages using a door like multiple signs that say "Emergency Exit Only".
SickOfTheOnePct (6,628 posts)
16. It is clear
You can’t get much more clear than a sign saying it’s an emergency exit only.
Nothing nefarious, but still a dumb thing to do. He acknowledges he was wrong, why can’t you?
bigtree (84,469 posts)
24. wrong how? It was a mistake
...I don't do the thing you're doing here.
I don't excoriate people for harmless mistakes. It's irrelevant to any concern about the vote, which was the accusation which sparked this accusatory nonsense about whether he had 'pulled' the alarm.
I see how the concern has shifted to this scolding about the fire alarm. Good luck with all of that.
He's a grown man, has apologized several times, and has voluntarily made himself accountable to the Capitol police. He doesn't need lecturing, and people here don't need lecturing about his actions.
Umm...it wasn't until the Capitol Police came forward with video showing him doing it that he acknowledged he did it. And it could have impacted voting if pulling the alarm delayed any House members from getting over to Congress.
bigtree (84,469 posts)
14. but he tried the door first
...and no doubt was vexed by the signs.
People yesterday were insisting he simply pulled the alarm. This corroborates his account that he was just trying to exit, not stop the vote.
But, yeah he pulled the alarm, mistakenly thinking, as he has said, that it was part of the process for opening the door.
No one is really going to care after this feeding frenzy dies down that he mistakenly pulled the fire alarm.
It isn't going to affect his position as congressman or obscure any of the work he's doing to advance progressive legislation. THAT'S all anyone should be obsessing on about Bowman after today.
If anyone is still harping on him for pulling that alarm tomorrow, they are in the most inane political territory imaginable, and obviously are just interested in politically opposing this Democratic representative and should be regarded as so.
He's a grown man, has apologized several times, and has voluntarily made himself accountable to the Capitol police. He doesn't need lecturing, and people here don't need lecturing about his actions.
This canard is OVER.
He was vexed by the signs? My three year old grandson knows not to touch fire alarms, and he can count to three and he knows how doors work. Maybe he could teach Bowman how to get that pesky door open.
bigtree (84,469 posts)
23. you provided the quote to me and I quickly acknowledged it.
...interesting, though, that you're still pushing it on this thread of mine.
It's irrelevant to the congressman. Irrelevant to me that I missed that quote. It was just as meaningless a point that he had pulled the alarm as it is now.
The essence of the accusations were that he had pulled th alarm irrespective of the door. That is now been proven false. It makes the point about pulling the alarm moot and irrelevant to the inference that he had done something nefarious -which is ALL any Democrat should be concerned about today.
He's a grown man, has apologized several times, and has voluntarily made himself accountable to the Capitol police. He doesn't need lecturing, and people here don't need lecturing about his actions.
This canard is OVER.
I only saw people discussing how irresponsible it was to pull a fire alarm when there wasn't actually a fire. Not what happened prior to him pulling the alarm. His excuses about not knowing what would happen if he pulled the alarm just made him look even stupider. And repeatedly saying it's OVER doesn't change history.
bigtree (84,469 posts)
29. well here we are again, with you questioning his motives
Last edited Mon Oct 2, 2023, 06:12 PM - Edit history (1)
...what other reason are you inferring he pulled the alarm for, if not confused about the signage?
Why are you still pressing this point on my thread?
He said clearly that he was trying to open the door. What about that needed questioning? Pulled, activated, what does it matter? I'm not surprised Democrats here scrambled to deflect that.
The sign say the door can be opened, not 'don't open this door.' It has a complicated process on the signage which isn't difficult to imagine confused him.
What I don't understand is why his accusers, and the folks pressing the now obviously irrelevant point about 'pulling' the alarm, have relied on all sorts of projection and speculation to press their concern, but can't countenance anyone defending Bowman making their own conjecture.
You don't press pulling the fire alarm in the middle of accusations about trying to stop the vote without holding onto the possibility it had some truth to it.
What galls is that this Democratic congressman immediately gave his explanation, and people bent over backward to try and prove him wrong, when the simple explanation that he gave about the door should have sufficed.
Leaning in on the fact that he pulled the alarm looked like it was meant to suggest it didn't have anything to do with the door, basically calling the man a liar and agreeing with McCarthy.
Amazing that your view was immured from all of that.
The word you are looking for is not "lying" but "obfuscating". Piling bullshit up to make him look better is not working.
milestogo (16,247 posts)
25. Have you ever spent time trying to get out of a building where
Every single exit you tried had an emergency alarm?
Well clearly there must be some that don't, but you don't know where they are. You can't find anyone to ask who knows. I've done this. I think it was in a hospital. Good security, terrible signage.
Did you consider going out the way you came in? Moron.
bigtree (84,469 posts)
28. I've gone out of alarmed doors, lost and impatient
...yes.
Full disclosure.
Of course you have. Rules don't apply to black people because that would be racist.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218322693
