To some, tonight’s presidential debate could be summed up by this tweet from film critic Bildge Ebiri:

OBAMA: ”I passed a law allowing women to get equal pay.”

ROMNEY: “I hired women once.”

STEIN: “I’m in jail.” 

The Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and her running mate, Cheri Honkala, were arrested this afternoon after persistently attempting to enter the location of the third presidential debate at Hofstra University. No, they were not sign-wielding, chant-shouting activists — they were just two women who reasoned that, since they are appearing as candidates on 85% of state ballots next month, they should be able to participate in the debate process.

Courtesy of Mary Altaffer/AP Photo

However, the policeman at the scene reasoned that Stein and Honkala were disobedient protesters who should be arrested after ignoring instructions to remove themselves and stop blocking traffic.

Here is the video of the scene, recorded by The Long Island Report.

So, is this a complicated matter of unfairness in the American democracy, or is this a simple matter of civil disobedience and repercussion?

Stein called the debate a “mockery of democracy” because of the Commission on Presidential Debates’ unwillingness to let all the candidates speak.

She said during a quasi-press conference before her arrest, 

“If you have done the work to get on the ballot, if you are on the ballot and could actually win the electoral college by being on the ballot in enough states, then you deserve to be in the election and you deserve to be heard. The American people deserve to hear choices which are not bought and paid for by multinational corporations and Wall Street. This is why we are not hearing the critical issues in this debate.”

 The CPD  has a rule declaring that candidates “must have at least 15 percent support in public opinion based on the average of five national polls in order to participate.”

But this threshold is now making it virtually impossible for a third party candidate to join in the Presidential debates. Perhaps the standards of admition should be lowered to allow good people like Stein and Hokala on stage.

What do you think about these “debate crashers?”  Is the minimum public opinion poll percentage too high? Or, was the arrest of Stein and Honkala completely justified because of their deliberate disobedience with police officials?