Posted on 10/22/2002 4:09:24 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
On Monday NewsMax.com detailed the story of Clinton campaign insider Patrick Halley, who revealed that "goon squads" were recruited to suppress protests at events for New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. Now, one Clinton "goon squad" victim has come forward to tell his story.
The incident took place at New York City's Israeli Day parade at the height of Mrs. Clinton's 2000 campaign for the Senate, where, by all accounts, the-then first lady was roundly booed by the crowd as she stoically marched from block to block.
A member of the conservative Web site FreeRepublic.com, dressed for the occasion as the Devil, joined the crowd to add his voice to the protest. He recounted the episode Tuesday:
"To suppress opposing views in the crowd the Clinton campaign had people on both sides of the street walking the route with Hillary - but behind the barriers. They were carrying professionally printed pro-Clinton signs."
"Before she passed," he recalled, "they shoved me back and got in front of me, holding their signs in front of mine. However, my signs had a 3 foot handle and I raised them up."
At that point, recounts the FreeRepublic protester, "I was poked in the eye by a finger inserted to the eyehole in my mask."
In his recently released book "On the Road with Hillary," Mr. Halley details his eight year stint as Mrs. Clinton's advance man, where one of his most important jobs was stifling protests like those staged by FreeRepublic, using even physical intimidation when he deemed it necessary.
"Less genteel souls," Halley explained, sometimes referred to his protest-busters as "goon squads" - although he preferred the term "etiquette squads."
"I was proud of the fact that not one of them had ever been arrested," he boasts in the book.
Every now and then, Halley said, even he would have to throw a punch or two.
During a trip to Moscow while Mrs. Clinton was first lady, the advance man recalled:
"A photographer blocked my way and, trying to get a picture of Hillary in her limo, pushed me. I hit him square in the face so hard I thought I'd broken my hand. His nose exploded in an eruption of blood and I was able to shove him out of the way and jump into the lead car."
When it came to his protest busters, Halley says he "never advocated physical confrontation and always insisted that the etiquette squad stay within the boundaries of the law."
But in the next breath he confessed, "Sadly, but inevitably, things sometimes got a little frisky, but my recruits knew how to handle themselves.... I had heard rumors that they had been very adamant about defending themselves when set upon by protesters."
Lesson 2, carry pepper spray and have it at your disposal in case you are attacked with an eye gouge.
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