Senator's Supporters Push, Tackle Protester

wftv ^ | 10/31/06

[steve-b]

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- A protester who shouted questions at Virginia Sen. George Allen was pushed to the floor during Allen's campaign appearance Tuesday at a Charlottesville hotel.

Allen held a campaign event there Tuesday morning with North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

CNN showed video of the confrontation. The video showed the protester trying to get Allen's attention and asking the Republican incumbent about his first wife.

"Why did you spit at your first wife, George?" the man asked.

Allen declined to answer the question.

On the video, three men, all wearing blue Allen lapel stickers, immediately grabbed the man, dragged him backward and slung him to the carpet outside a hotel meeting room. The video showed one man tackle him. The men are presumed to be staffers, according to Charlottesville TV station WVIR....

[trumandogz]

This will put Allen over the top!

[Houmatt]

Good! That is exactly how we should be treating those bastrads.

[Palladin]

The 'Rats are getting desperate! And cutting their own throats in the process.

[trumandogz]

Did you notice how the media did not publish the protester's name. Based on that fact I can only assume that the protester is a Democratic Operative affiliated with the Webb Campaign.


The Allen Campaign Staff was Set-Up and the people of Virginia will see right through their smear.

[perry3614]

This was stupid. Can we behave no better than the Dems?

[Our man in washington]

His name is Mike Stark. He runs the website www.callingallwingnuts.com and is a regular contributor to Daily Kos. He said on his website a while ago that he was trying to "Roger and Me" George Allen.

I think he's just a rabble-rouser.

[Our man in washington]

A little more about Mike Stark, admittedly from a leftist:

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/10/12/174124/21

[bert]

he was thrown to the ground to determine for certain he was not macaca.

[SUSSA]

From AP:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A heckler who confronted Sen. George Allen at a campaign appearance Tuesday was put in a chokehold and slammed to the floor by three of the Republican's supporters in an incident captured on video.

Mike Stark, a liberal blogger and first-year University of Virginia law student, approached Allen at an event in Charlottesville, loudly asking, "Why did you spit at your first wife, George?" according to witnesses.

Three men, all wearing blue Allen lapel stickers, immediately grabbed Stark, dragged him backward and slung him to the carpet outside a hotel meeting room, according to video captured by WVIR-TV in Charlottesville.

Stark said later in a telephone interview with The Associated Press: "I am a constituent. I am allowed to ask my U.S. senator questions."

A new statewide poll conducted for CNN showed Allen's Democratic challenger, former Navy Secretary Jim Webb, with a slight lead in a bitterly contested race that could help determine whether the GOP retains control of the Senate.

In a Monday posting on "Calling All Wingnuts," the blog Stark publishes, he hinted that he would attempt to provoke Allen before the TV cameras.

"Im also trying to 'Roger and Me' George Allen whenever I can," Stark wrote, referring to director Michael Moore's 1989 documentary in which he repeatedly tried to confront former General Motors' chief executive Roger Smith about the company's downsizing.

In August, Stark similarly approached Allen after a speech at a hotel near Staunton, loudly asking if he had ever used a common six-letter epithet against blacks.

That was two weeks after Allen, at a rally, referred to a Webb volunteer of Indian descent as "Macaca," which is considered by some to be a racial slur.

*****

I'll bet you'd be outraged and demanding criminal charges be brought against Democrats who did this to FReepers who asked a Democrat an embarrassing question. Republicans used to be better behaved than this.

[OpusatFR]

In today's climate, it only takes one nutcase to get to a candidate.

Good Job taking this one down.

[Henchster]

In a Monday posting on "Calling All Wingnuts," the blog Stark publishes, he hinted that he would attempt to provoke Allen before the TV cameras.

"Im also trying to 'Roger and Me' George Allen whenever I can," Stark wrote, referring to director Michael Moore's 1989 documentary in which he repeatedly tried to confront former General Motors' chief executive Roger Smith about the company's downsizing.

In August, Stark similarly approached Allen after a speech at a hotel near Staunton, loudly asking if he had ever used a common six-letter epithet against blacks.

If this whackjob moonbat stalked me like that, he'd be fitted for a casket.

Good job by the Allen security guys of quickly removing this potential problem. Bad job for letting him gain access in the first place.

[cartographer]

Attending two public political events is now a capital offense? That's a bit much.

I could see not wanting the guy near my candidate, but that's over the line until he's done something threatening.

[SUSSA]

The proper response to objectionable speech is more speech not a physical assault. I've been on FReeps where we asked Democrats worse questions than that.

We were outraged when FReepers were assaulted in Philly at a Democrat rally. This is no different. In 2008 I expect you will object loudly when a Republican is assaulted for getting into a Democrat rally and asking embarrassing questions.

[mrsmith]

Don't do anything like this on private property.

I can't see the video cery well but it seems like the suporters are not professional bodyguards and were just clumsy.

Given the evidence this fellow left of his intention he'll probably end up paying.

Freep smart!


"People have a right to express themselves and do it in a peaceful manner," Allen said of the incident. "I know some of them out there. At least one I recognize. I know in Charlottesville there are always protesters. That's just part of it."

[BlackbirdSST]

If this whackjob moonbat stalked me like that, he'd be fitted for a casket.

And you likely will attend a few years at the Grey Bar Hotel with all it's amenities. Who's the whackjob moonbat? Blackbird.

[SUSSA]

"People have a right to express themselves and do it in a peaceful manner," Allen said of the incident.

*****

Sen. Allen is right. FReepers are as active as any group out there. We are rightly upset when Democrat supporters act like thugs when we are peacefully going after a Democrat. We should be upset when Republicans act like thugs too.

In fact, we should be more upset because we are supposed to be the party that supports good behavior, and individual rights. It's always been the Left that was scared of debate and used force to stifle opinions they don't like.

Republicans used to be above that type of behavior. Sen. Allen is more than sharp enough to handle this twit without his supporters assaulting the guy. The guy didn't try to physically attack anyone. All he did was ask a question these guys didn't like. If we say it's OK for Republicans to act this way, we have no basis for complaining when Democrats do it to us.

[mrsmith]

You glossed over the part about "private property". So I'm going to repeat it.

Don't do what this fellow did.

Force your way to a Dem's face and shout insulting questions in the public square- like happened in Philadelphia. Anyone has the right to do that peacefully.

[SUSSA]

It was a hotel and a public event. The twit said he would leave if the hotel management asked him to. You can't assault people at a public event just because a corporation owns the building the event is in.

This guy didn't go to Sen Allen's house or office. He went to a public gathering, the kinds of things we FReep all the time.

The fact that the hotel is privately owned has no bearing on the discussion.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

This was stupid. Can we behave no better than the Dems?

I read about this story earlier and the guy was clearly trying to goad Allen into saying something he'd later regret. He deserved to get thrown out, CNN was there with the cameras and everything. Typical liberal nutball.