Lawmaker’s wife told to leave during Bush speech

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The wife of a senior House of
Representatives Republican was told to leave the House chamber
during President George W. Bush’s State of the Union speech for
for wearing a shirt bearing words of support for U.S. troops.

“Shame, shame,” Rep. Bill Young of Florida said on the
House floor on Wednesday, condemning the treatment of his wife
Beverly by the U.S. Capitol Police.

“She was ordered to leave the gallery, because she was
doing … what the president said we should all do,” Young
said. “She had on this shirt. A very conservative shirt, long
sleeves, high neck, but it says support our troops.”

Also on Tuesday night anti-Iraq war activist Cindy Sheehan
was arrested in one of the House galleries before the speech
after she refused to cover up an anti-war slogan on her shirt.

Young, who chairs the House Appropriations defense
subcommittee, said his wife “supports our troops on every day,
every hour,” visiting wounded soldiers at military hospitals
and helping their families.

Young said a guard at the House chamber called her “a
demonstrator and a protester.”

Her shirt said “Support the Troops Defending Our Freedom.”

A U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman said the matter was still
under investigation, and declined to comment further.