Washington (CNN) - The reading of the Constitution on the floor of the House of Representatives was going smoothly Thursday morning, that is until someone in the visitors gallery shouted aloud when the subject of presidential eligibility was read.
According to a tweet from Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn), who was sitting in the chamber, an individual yelled out about President Barack Obama, apparently rejecting the notion that the president is a natural born citizen.
"First interruption of the reading from the Gallery. By a birther, screaming about Obama. Unintended consequences....," wrote Himes on his twitter account @jahimes.
All was cordial and decorous in the House chamber as Republicans and Democrats rotated reading passages from the 223-year-old document that laid the foundation for the American government.
But at approximately 11:32 am, New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone walked up to the lectern and began reading Article II Section 1.
"No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of the president," Pallone read.
Then came the outburst.
A replay of the incident clearly indicates an individual shouting "Barack Obama" before the banging of the gavel drowns her out.
A spokeswoman for the United States Capitol Police says that one individual was arrested for disturbing the order of the House.
After the incident, Pallone tweeted his own assessment.
"Sad day when spectator interrupts my reading of the Constitution on House floor b/c of absurd idea that Obama isn't a natural born citizen," he wrote from his @FrankPallone account.
From CNN Politics
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The birthers make me laugh and cry at the same time.
Trashy behavior is often indicative of trashy people.
We truly have some ignorant nutcakes in our country. Wish they could be sent to some island for the insane.
I am also tired of the job killing republican party not standing up to their birther base. It is time that those uniformed idiots get some mental help.
What else did Sarah say?
Village Idiots have taken over America.
Fox news will not be happy until every nut job is heard.
Sad day when we elect a president who can't prove he was born in this country.
This is where this country is heading. This is no more common courtesy anywhere and certainly no decorum in the House. You have members of the House shouting out, "You lie!" to the POTUS and tourists in the gallery shouting out idiotic things. Now we hear that Michelle Bachmann is seriously contemplating a run at the office of POTUS. We have truly entered the crazy years!
nut – lots of them
WoW!
I used think that willful ignorance is the worst. Now, I have a new adjective to add to this, PERSISTENT WILLFUL IGNORANCE.
YOU STARTED THIS REPUBS!
You are now the party of ignorance, fear, hate and greed
Do not these birthers have anything better to do? They will deny any birth certificate of President Obama – even if it were sanctioned as legal by the conservative Supreme Court. They are simply racist, but will not admit as much. If Obama were white (100%) the birthers would be deaders.
McCain was the one born on foreign ground, IDIOT
Moses could come down from the Mount with a stone tablet written by God himself proclaiming President Obama to be a naturalized US citizen and it wouldn't be enough for these nutbags...
Remember when all the crazies and conspiracy theory nuts were hard left Democrats?
Another right wing lemming.
Birthers are impermeable to logic, Constitution and common sense, but apparently we can add good manners to the tab...
The man was just speaking the truth. Never before has someone spent more money keeping documents private than this joke of a person residing in the white house.
This is a "C'Mon Man" moment-The reading of The Constitution is not a bad thing because I am willing to guess that many of those whom we have elected to office may have not read it for themselves except perhaps as a media snipets.
These birthers should be placed on the terrorist list before they endanger peoples lives. Their actions display a undescribleable disability that can prove to be very dangerous if they don't get help or aren't monitored closely.
someone should of taken that gavel and beat her and bonehead over there head with it.
Hey Birthers, can you explain how Obama would be different if he were a US born citizen (which you claim he is not). Please explain how his views and everything he does would be different if he were a real citizen?
Is it really that he is a black man that you can't handle it? Because you can't come out and say you oppose him because he's black so you have to find something else?
And tell me please, is it that he's not a warmongering buffoon letting insurance companies cherrypick the healthiest people to insure while completely ignoring the great risks to our financial system and letting his rich friends get even richer, that you oppose him so much?
To all birthers, please get some teeth and also get an education. This man legitimately won the election by popular vote. Not like the country ruining imbecile that preceded him. Obama didn't need a Republican Supreme Court to hand him the election.
Go to hell Birthers.
I will bet money on it that individual is one of these Tea Baggers and Republican Nut case.
There are certainly some members of Congress who don't believe that President Obama was born in this country. This ignorance and bigotry is not simply in the gallery.
I will bet money on it that the individual is one of these Tea Baggers and Republican Nut case.
Birthers are fools blinded by racial or partisan hate. How sad.
The whole reading of the Constitution stunt is nothing but a show for the GOP base. It's to distract them from the fact that the GOP has absolutely no plan to create jobs or cut the deficit. Tax cuts for the top 2% adds tens of billions of dollars to the deficit. Repealing health care adds tens of billions to the deficit (according to the CBO). Cutting congressional budgets by 5% reduced the deficit by 35 million. It's a tiny fraction (far far less than 1%) of the deficit or even the amount added to the deficit due to the tax cuts for the wealthy.
How long are we going to have to wait for the GOP to stop with the gimmicks and actually do some leading?