[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Why is everyone assuming he had to shout back?

Because the Fight Club wing of FR believes that he should've done that or resorted to actual fist-fighting. Other than ignoring O'Malley and walking away, which Ken did, those were the only two options on responding to O'Malley.

[dfwgator]

But don’t have any illusions that playing nice gets us anywhere in the long run.

[Cinnamontea]

I still think the best option would have been to stand his ground, ignore O'Malley, and then call the cops. Running away is pointless.

[Bookshelf]

In Washingon you pay no attention to has-beens:
The 2016 presidential campaign of Martin O’Malley, the 61st Governor of Maryland, was formally launched on May 30, 2015. On February 1, 2016, he suspended his campaign after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses.