At a stump speech for Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut, President Obama was interrupted by activists who have followed him from stop to stop on the campaign trail demanding that the U.S. keep its promise to fund international AIDS initiatives. "Fund global AIDS! Fund global AIDS" they chanted as the president spoke about increasing economic inequality and joblessness under Republicans' watch. As the shouting increased in volume, Obama turned to that section of the crowd, said "Excuse me, excuse me young people," and scolded the protesters directly:

Let me just say this — these folks have been — you’ve been appearing at every rally we’ve been doing. And we’re funding global AIDS. And the other side is not. So I don't know why you think this is a useful strategy to take. I think it would make a lot more sense for you guys to go to the folks who aren’t interested in funding global AIDS and chant at that rally, because we’re trying to focus on figuring out how to finance the things that you want financed, all right?

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