Activist stomped outside Paul-Conway debate (Suspected terrorist tries to approach Rand Paul)

washington post ^ | 10/26/2010 | Washington Post

[tobyhill]

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that a female MoveOn.org supporter was attacked by backers of Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul on Monday when she attempted to approach Paul outside his final debate with Democrat Jack Conway in Lexington.

At one point, violence broke out when Lauren Valle of MoveOn.org approached Paul and tried to give him an "employee of the month award" from Republicorp. Republicorp is a fake business MoveOn created to symbolize what it says is the merger of the GOP and business interests controlling political speech. Television video shows Valle, of Washington, D.C., being pushed to the ground and at least one foot stepping down on her head.

[SeeSac]

Did you even see the video? Once she was on the ground and completely under control some asshole very intentionally stepped on her head.

Actually, he intentionally stepped on her shoulder. His foot slid off the shoulder causing her head to strike the ground.

[af_vet_rr]

Don’t be so quick to assume it was Rand Paul people.

I agree. It feels way too much like a setup, and it's ridiculous that the people cheering this on aren't giving a moment's thought to how bad this makes Rand Paul and the right look. The media has been harping on how the right is dangerous for a while now, and this drops in their lap right before the elections.

[af_vet_rr]

The first question I had was how do we know this was a Paul supporter vs a complete set up to make Paul look bad?

We don't, and it's too damn convenient to overlook this. Remember the Ron Paul supporter, Ashley Todd, that faked an attack on herself? You can bet that people on the left watched that and took notes.

[af_vet_rr]

The first question I had was how do we know this was a Paul supporter vs a complete set up to make Paul look bad?

I questioned whether it was a setup by the left to make Republicans and Tea Party members look bad. I stand corrected, the man who had his foot on her head/neck was one of Rand Paul's county election coordinators according to Fox News and he has apologized.

I'm not going to apologize to any liberals for wondering if it was a setup by the left to make conservatives look bad.

[stormer]

I’m with you...

[Melas]

Sickening isn’t it?

[af_vet_rr]

The police didn't charge anyone because there was no apparent injuries and it's clear she instigated the incident.

Now that the Lexington police have at least one name, they have issued a criminal summons. It was just on the news.

The MSM is really pushing the Tea Party thing as well.

[tobyhill]

All he has to tell the judge that he felt a threat to Rand Paul by a woman in disguise then demand a jury trial. No prosecutor will want to drag out a case of he said, she said for a class C misdemeanor.

[af_vet_rr]

All he has to tell the judge that he felt a threat to Rand Paul by a woman in disguise then demand a jury trial. No prosecutor will want to drag out a case of he said, she said for a class C misdemeanor.

Assuming he gets away with a misdemeanor, his reputation is still finished. He'll probably get fired, or if he has a business, he'll probably suffer. Google "Tim Profitt' and the first page turns up video of him with his foot on some girl's neck or head.

Tim Profitt will not be remembered as an intellectual giant. He did this in full view of cameras. He knew they were there. He did do one thing that was smart - he tried to run off and blend in with the crowd and got away with it as the police weren't able to find him at that point. One smart action does not make for a smart man however. At this point, a smart man would have realized that regardless of whether he thought he was in the right or not, somebody was physically accosted in a public place in front of a camera and that he should be looking into getting a lawyer. Even if he took off and didn't wait to see if the cops looked for him, he still mixed it up with somebody in front of a camera and a whole lot of witnesses.

A smart man would have lawyered up at this point. It's 2010. You mixed it up with somebody in front of a camera and a crowd of people. You had your foot on a girl's neck and it may have slipped onto her face in your mind.

Fast forward a little bit - he still hasn't lawyered up, but it might be salvageable.

This is the point at which he becomes a complete and total dumbass.

He goes to the media. You can't do a dumber thing in this day and age than to go to the media. A lawyer would have told him to shut up, avoid the media, and let him do the talking.

Then he makes things worse for himself. He tells the media his buddy talked to the cops about the girl. The moment he reveals his buddy talked to the cops about the girl before everything happened, two crucial things become clear. Number one, this is no longer a heat of the moment thing. He can longer claim that it was random or she came out of nowhere. He's just revealed to the world that they knew she was there and had been there.

Number two, and this is the most important part, is that he has revealed to the world that his buddy got law enforcement involved, and those police officers didn't feel she was a threat.

In addition to losing the ability to claim this was a random or heat of the moment scuffle, there are going to be police officers who go up in front of that judge and then later a jury, and they are going to testify about what they saw and that they didn't feel she was a threat. Then that video is going to be played, and that video combined with the testimony of those police officers means that Mr. Profitt is going to be in trouble.

He dug himself a nice little hole and gave away what could have been a major part of his defense. If his buddy said something to those cops along the lines of "we don't want her around here, get rid of her", then he's in serious trouble.

[Melas]

Fail. The police didn’t charge anyone because they were investigating the incident, ie, trying to ascertain the identities of those involved. Now that they have a name, the Rand Paul campaign has fired the offender, decried his actions and a criminal summons has been issued from the bench.

[Melas]

Oh he’s totally screwed. To make it worse, the FOX-41 reporterette witnessed the whole thing, and her account is public as well. Even a mediocre prosecutor would be giddy at the thought of taking this one to trial.

One thing that no on has mentioned though, the real hero in all of this: Lisa Graas, the Tea Party member who identified this creep. Hat’s off to Lisa. Good job girl.

[tobyhill]

He’s still not charged.

[who knows what evil?]

She was in disguise and attempting to approach Rand Paul to hand him some sort of object.

Wonder if Gerald Ford would condemn this incident?

[who knows what evil?]

Would you “feel” that way if the award had been a .380 or a small 9mm semi auto?

...or she had a bomb under her clothing? She approached a candidate for the U.S. Senate in disguise, and I'm supposed to 'feel bad' because someone stepped on her?

I remember Reagan and Ford...not an ounce of sympathy here.

[NoLibZone]

+1

It doesn’t matter one bit if the woman was from move-on or SEIU.

This was wrong.

[LibLieSlayer]

Exactly.

LLS

[who knows what evil?]

It doesn’t matter one bit if the woman was from move-on or SEIU.

...or a terrorist with her hand on a trigger..."That woman approaching Rand Paul...she's with SEIU, it's cool..."