Answering questions before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, secretary of state hopeful Sen. John Kerry masterfully handled a woman heckler. Just as Kerry wrapped up his introduction testimony the woman shouted objections to the high numbers of U.S. soldiers being killed in the Middle East.
Kerry has served on the Foreign Relations Committee for 28 years and chaired the panel the last four years, until President Obama tapped him for the cabinet seat left vacant by a resigning Sec. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Security quickly escorted the unidentified woman out of the room after the shouting persisted.
“You are killing thousands of people”, the woman yelled, “and the Middle East is not a threat to us! When is it going to be enough? I’m tired of my friends and their family dying!”
Pausing his presentation, Kerry addressed the outburst as he sat in the witness chair inside the Hart office building on Capitol Hill.
“When I first came to Washington and testified,” Kerry said, “I was obviously testifying as part of a group who came here to have their voices heard — and that is above all what this place is about.”
He continued by saying he respected the woman’s opinion.
“People measure what we do,” Kerry said. “In a way, that’s a good exclamation point to my testimony.”
The senior senator’s confirmation is expected to pass with certainty.
video courtesy of ABC News
