Posted on 11/22/2017 8:00:08 PM PST by Kaslin
The wife of Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) described in an article published Wednesday the excruciating pain her husband is enduring after he was injured in an attack, and she squarely blamed it on their neighbor, Rene Boucher, without naming him.
"Since the attack, my husband Rand Paul hasn't taken a single breath without pain," Kelley Paul wrote in a piece published on CNN's website. She described how the attack on Nov. 3 left her husband with six broken ribs, three displaced, pleural effusion, and now pneumonia.
Boucher has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault. His attorney, Matthew Baker, told CNN earlier this month that his client regrets the incident, adding, "If he had to do it over again, I can assure you it would have been handled much more diplomatically."
According to Kelley Paul's account, and contrary to many claims in the media, Boucher's alleged actions had no connection to an existing dispute over lawn maintenance, nor did they constitute an "altercation" in which Paul himself participated.
"The only ‘dispute' existed solely in the attacker's troubled mind, until, on a beautiful autumn day, he ran down the hill on our property and slammed his body into Rand's lower back as he stood facing away, wearing noise canceling headphones to protect his ears from the lawnmower," she wrote.
"This was not a ‘scuffle,' a ‘fight,' or an ‘altercation,' as many in the media falsely describe it," she added. "It was a deliberate, blindside attack."
Kelley Paul sharply criticized reports that have implicated her husband in the attack, and said the couple has had no contact with Boucher for 10 years.
"It is incredibly hurtful that some news outlets have victimized Rand a second time as he struggles to recover, delighting in hateful headlines like ‘Not a Perfect Neighbor,' and concocting theories about an ‘ongoing dispute,' based on nothing more than speculation from an attention-seeking person with no knowledge of anything to do with us," she wrote.
The New York Times published an article quoting the neighborhood's developer, who implied that Paul's libertarian-leaning views made him a difficult neighbor, a charge that many neighbors have fiercely denied. The Times article and others like it gave the impression that Paul contributed to a "fight" between him and Boucher.
GQ cited the Times story in a piece entitled, "Rand Paul Sounds Like the Worst Guy to Have as a Neighbor." Author Jack Moore wrote that the Times showed that "Paul is a bit of an asshole about his yard."
In her article, Kelley Paul shared details of the pain her husband is enduring even as he tries to continue performing his senatorial duties in Washington, D.C.
"There have been several nights where I had my hand on my phone ready to call 911 when his breathing became so labored it was terrifying," she wrote. "Despite this, he refused to give in to the pain and was determined to fly back to Washington last week to do his job. As we walked through the airport returning from D.C., he was shivering with a 102.5 fever, and the next morning his internist diagnosed pneumonia in his damaged lung."
Kelley Paul described the media's coverage of the story as "gleeful" and "ridiculing," and she said it has made the experience worse for her and her husband.
Many journalists have joked about Paul's injuries and ascribed responsibility for the attack to his libertarian views. On Monday, MSNBC's Kasie Hunt said the attack on Paul is "one of my favorite stories" and joked about his lawn maintenance showing "the libertarian in him."
Boucher is a registered Democrat. A mutual friend of both men told the Washington Post that Boucher is a "socialist." Boucher's lawyer has consistently denied any political motivation for the incident; if there was one, the attack would be considered a federal offense.
I hope it doesn’t happen but those sound like life-threatening injuries if he doesn’t receive proper care. Then that loon would be on the hook for murder.
The media sucks. I hate them.
‘misdemeanor’ assault...wtf???
he nearly killed him.....wow...had this been a convservative giving the beatdown to a lib.....
this would be 24/7 coverage...
I thought from the beginning that the media reaction was politically motivated. not surprising.
May Rand Paul heal quickly and his violent attacker suffer much from his actions.
Yeah; those charges against Rene Boucher need to be upgraded to attempted murder with these injuries and complication.
God Forbid Rand Paul dies from this. That would make it murder and we would lose one of the few good ones in the Senate. I don’t always agree with him but my gut tells me he isn’t corrupt and he votes the way he does because he’s trying to do the right thing as he sees it and not because he was told to by some corrupt senate boss.
six broken ribs, three displaced, pleural effusion, and now pneumonia.
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OMG! I don’t know how old he is, but pneumonia is very bad for people of a certain age. Not sure what pleural effusion is, but doesn’t sound good. And broken and displaced ribs...right next to the lungs? Not good at all. I am not a doctor, but he sounds like is in bad shape.
And this merited a misdemeanor charge?? Sounds more like a serious felony to me.
Hey, Ms. Hunt of MSNBC...hope your loved ones never undergo something like this. I don’t think you would find it a laughing matter.
I wish for Kasie Hunt what she wishes on Rand Paul..hopefully karma will get these media bastards one day or another
Yeah well, Trump continues to allow them into his home.
Mattie Ross: I will not bandy words with a drunkard.
LaBoeuf: That’s real smart. You’ve done nothing when you’ve bested a fool.
Boucher’s lawyer has consistently denied any political motivation for the incident; if there was one, the attack would be considered a federal offense.
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Not familiar with the law here, but wouldn’t an attack on any duly elected official already be considered a federal offense? No matter what the motive? After all, the attacker could say whatever he or she wanted; pretty hard to get inside a person’s brain to see what they were thinking.
The liberal schmuck will have his @ss sued off and that house he has had trouble selling? That will be Rand’s along with several million. Payback will be a beotch.
I know someone aged 63 who recently died from pneumonia. It came on fast and ended fast and the person had been relatively healthy as far as we know. Lung and breathing problems are serious issues for people of a certain age.
“Not sure what pleural effusion is, but doesn’t sound good”
It’s when fluid builds inside the lining around your lungs. It’s a very bad thing to have, as is pneumonia. Especially when it’s so painful to cough, or other things one might do to try to keep his lungs clear.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Senator Paul dies from all this.
Well put.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sumner
Coming up next....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
My haircut lady died from pneumonia a few months back and she was only 53. One day she was fine; next day she was sick; next day she was dead.
His multiple injuries are painful and devastating...and with the setting-in of pneumonia (a big killer of injured folks), his recovery is still touchy and debilitating.
My prayers are with him and his family this Thanksgiving eve.
Leni
” Boucher’s lawyer has consistently denied any political motivation for the incident; if there was one, the attack would be considered a federal offense.”
So let me understand this? If you attack a government official, like say President Trump, in order for it to be a Federal Criminal Act, you have to prove a political motive? I don’t think so. Rand Paul is going to own this guy if he chooses to do so.
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