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Discussion with Rev. Pat Mahoney
Aired August 27, 2003 - 09:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN ANCHOR: We're with right now with Reverend Pat Mahoney, one of the leaders here. Tell me, reverend, the latest right now we're hearing is that it is in the process of being moved?
REV. PAT MAHONEY: Graham George, the building manager, met with me at 7:30 p.m., and he said the process of moving the monument is beginning.
CABELL: A.M.?
MAHONEY: Yes, 7:30 a.m., sorry. He said it would be moved into a backroom in the court, and he promised me it would not be covered. And he said he would bring me in there after to look to make sure it wasn't covered.
For us, our message is the same, come to Montgomery. We have a 3:00 p.m. hearing in U.S. district court in mobile. We feel cautiously optimistic about that. We view this as an intimidation factor to that judge. They didn't have to move this monument and deal with it until Friday. We begged the attorney general, Bill Pryor, who has no regard for the First Amendment of religious liberty, wait, wait until we have this court hearing and then decide, because think of their shame and horror if the judge orders the monument to be move back here. But at the very least, wait.
So this is not about fines, or sanctions or being in contempt. This is about trying to get this monument out of here as soon as possible in their mind, and trying to intimidate this federal judge.
CABELL: A victory of sorts that i's staying inside the building, though?
MAHONEY: It's a small victory. Our commitment was, this monument will remain in the building. And it's definitely still in the building. We're not going anywhere. We are here. We are calling more and more people to come down. We have announced a continuation of our rallies. We plan, should the doors open, to go in there with Ten Commandment T-shirts and stand in the place where the monument is eight hours a day, rotating people to have a Ten Commandment presence, to begin a political effort. There are three associate justices spots that will be open in next election. I mean, we're at a starting line here and we're telling people to come down to Montgomery. If the media truck, satellite trucks go, doesn't matter, a strong sense need to be here.
CABELL: In a practical sense, what more can you do here, in a practical sense? Is there any more civil disobedience planned? Any arrests that we might expect?
MAHONEY: We have still a lot of plans, which I won't go into. But as you can see, we're try crying out to God, but our position has been we are people of faith. The final chapter has not been written on this, and we're still moving forward, so there's stilt a lot we can do.
CABELL: When would you expect the monument to be moved? Sometime later this morning?
MAHONEY: Yes. I think it will take them several hours, which what we expect. By the way, this wasn't unexpected. So we just thank God that it, at the very least, is still there, but it's almost more cowardly for them. They're almost saying, if this monument is so horrible, if it's so unconstitutional, why leave it in the building? Because they know. And so we're going forward. We are not despondent. We're pressing on and moving forward.
CABELL: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 27, 2003 - 09:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN ANCHOR: We're with right now with Reverend Pat Mahoney, one of the leaders here. Tell me, reverend, the latest right now we're hearing is that it is in the process of being moved?
REV. PAT MAHONEY: Graham George, the building manager, met with me at 7:30 p.m., and he said the process of moving the monument is beginning.
CABELL: A.M.?
MAHONEY: Yes, 7:30 a.m., sorry. He said it would be moved into a backroom in the court, and he promised me it would not be covered. And he said he would bring me in there after to look to make sure it wasn't covered.
For us, our message is the same, come to Montgomery. We have a 3:00 p.m. hearing in U.S. district court in mobile. We feel cautiously optimistic about that. We view this as an intimidation factor to that judge. They didn't have to move this monument and deal with it until Friday. We begged the attorney general, Bill Pryor, who has no regard for the First Amendment of religious liberty, wait, wait until we have this court hearing and then decide, because think of their shame and horror if the judge orders the monument to be move back here. But at the very least, wait.
So this is not about fines, or sanctions or being in contempt. This is about trying to get this monument out of here as soon as possible in their mind, and trying to intimidate this federal judge.
CABELL: A victory of sorts that i's staying inside the building, though?
MAHONEY: It's a small victory. Our commitment was, this monument will remain in the building. And it's definitely still in the building. We're not going anywhere. We are here. We are calling more and more people to come down. We have announced a continuation of our rallies. We plan, should the doors open, to go in there with Ten Commandment T-shirts and stand in the place where the monument is eight hours a day, rotating people to have a Ten Commandment presence, to begin a political effort. There are three associate justices spots that will be open in next election. I mean, we're at a starting line here and we're telling people to come down to Montgomery. If the media truck, satellite trucks go, doesn't matter, a strong sense need to be here.
CABELL: In a practical sense, what more can you do here, in a practical sense? Is there any more civil disobedience planned? Any arrests that we might expect?
MAHONEY: We have still a lot of plans, which I won't go into. But as you can see, we're try crying out to God, but our position has been we are people of faith. The final chapter has not been written on this, and we're still moving forward, so there's stilt a lot we can do.
CABELL: When would you expect the monument to be moved? Sometime later this morning?
MAHONEY: Yes. I think it will take them several hours, which what we expect. By the way, this wasn't unexpected. So we just thank God that it, at the very least, is still there, but it's almost more cowardly for them. They're almost saying, if this monument is so horrible, if it's so unconstitutional, why leave it in the building? Because they know. And so we're going forward. We are not despondent. We're pressing on and moving forward.
CABELL: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
