Men Video-taped Vandelizing Sign

[Carson]

Why can't juvenile crap like this just stop?! Let's get the word out that this kind of action does NOT help.


http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/9876845.htm

Two men who tore down a Bush-Cheney sign and urinated on it were caught on videotape by Summit County Republican officials early Friday morning.

The videotape shows the men sneaking into the yard of a West Market Street home and bending the sign to the ground. The men struggled to rip the sign out of the ground by shaking it and pulling it but couldn't get it off the posts, so they knocked it down. Sounds heard on the tape suggest the men urinated on the sign. They were white males, about 30 to 35 years old, well-dressed and well-groomed. They parked across the street in what police think was a foreign car, a Toyota or Honda.

The homeowner, Steve Kotsatos, who is also assistant to the director of the Summit County Board of Elections, called Akron police dispatchers at 10:38 a.m. Friday and told them about how his campaign sign was vandalized.

He said he caught the vandals on a night-vision camera he had installed the day before.

``A couple of days ago my neighbor's sign was set on fire with a blowtorch so I figured I might be next,'' Kotsatos said. ``This is not only criminal damaging but a safety hazard.''

The large 4-by-8-foot, red, white and blue sign was tipped over in Kotsatos' yard about 1 a.m. Friday.

John Kerry's name was scrawled across Bush's name in black marker on one side of the sign -- the work of previous vandals, Kotsatos said.

He discovered the bent sign at 6:45 a.m.

Police took a report of the incident and retrieved a copy of the videotape to review. No arrests have been made.

(more)

[Must_B_Free]

1. Was Phil Parlock in on this?

[AP]

2. Is this the same guy whose daughter's Bush-Cheney sign was torn up by

his son at the Edwards event.

Maybe Bush will offer to piss on a Kerry-Edwards sign for this guy.

[RoyGBiv]

3. Oh, sure ...

This rates a news story.

The countless incidents of vandalized, stolen, and otherwise messed with Kerry signs ... heard about that lately? No. Heard about the threats of physical violence directed toward Democrats generally? No.

Of course this doesn't help. I'm having a great deal of troubling condemning them for it, though. The frustration level is building to the point that something is about to explode.

[truthpusher]

4. Possibly a prank to make Kerry supporters look like thugs...

[high density]

5. Yeah, and thousands of Kerry/Edwards signs have been stolen.

What's the point? Messing with signs is wrong, but it's happening on both sides.

[Carson]

7. My point is that in no way should this be condoned or soft-pedaled...

...and just because we can say, "Yeah, well, they do it, too" doesn't make the action any less wrong.

[mitchtv]

13. perhaps you could be right, but the question is

why is it news?when it happens to a puke?.What about the countless Dems' cars keyed and vandalized? Did they talk to Ohios Dems who've been vandalized? Get over it.

[rumguy]

20. who's condoning or soft-pedaling it?

I think you're the one with an agenda here, not us....

[Carson]

26. My only agenda with this post is to say

I don't agree with these kinds of actions.

You do realize there are idiots on both sides of this campaign, don't you? And because I point out what *could* be an instance of idiocy on our side doesn't mean I have any other agenda.

I happen to think pointing out crap like this does not weaken, but can strengthen when we say we do not condone such actions.

[Octafish]

6. Seems to be a staged event - a Rovian photo-op.

Even in cases where vandals have struck previously, no one's got the videotape rolling. Besides, well-dress and well-groomed angry young males about 35 sound like typical moronic pukes.

[Ron Green]

8. This looks like pure RW propaganda. Those guys look like Rethugs to me.

[AuntPatsy]

9. Again spare us, who let the dogs out tonight? If you are looking

to be fair and honest, please take the time to include the countless insults that the wacky right cases are quilty of and far outweight your obvious intent at putting in that article on this site......you must watch Faux, fair and balanced...nottttttt....

[Carson]

11. We all know what the Repubs have done and are doing...

...it's posted daily. Don't make me out to be a Faux-watcher just because a couple of idiots decided to make a statement in the wrong way.

I simply don't "get" the attitude that it's all okay because it's what THEY do to us. Mind-boggling.

[mitchtv]

15. Carson dear, Remember 2000, Impeachment etc

there are no rules

[Carson]

19. And the way to get back to the "rules" is actions like this?

Please explain how it helps.

(I'm not trying to be sarcastic. I sincerely want to know.)

[U4ikLefty]

32. Whom are you trying to convince?

I would think your efforts are better spent on going to Free Republic & trying to convince them that vandalizing Kerry/Edwards signs is wrong & shows them in a bad light.

We'll see how long you last with that approach over there. And please don't give me the "well, aren't we better than them" BS...I've heard that tired/flawed song before.

This is petty crap to post when our country is at stake. I would suggest you look hard on that Ohio.com site, to find if they have recently covered a story where a Kerrry/ Edwards sign is vandalized...I await the results of your search & the conclusions you draw from such a search.

[Carson]

34. Actually, the same newspaper printed an article

on August 11, 2004 entitled "DEMOCRATS FIND DAMAGE AT OFFICE"

Source: Amber Ellis, Beacon Journal staff writer

The colors red, white and blue cover the display window of the Barberton Democratic Party headquarters. But an extra dose of red caught John White's eye when he drove toward the office at 544 W. Tuscarawas Ave. on Tuesday morning before work.A red "W" now covers the window space in front of the poster board that reads, "UNITED TO DEFEAT REPUBLICANS." And just to the left is a hand-painted message that simply reads, "BUSH RULES." The vandalism is...

Published on August 11, 2004, Page B5, Akron Beacon Journal (OH)


Unfortunately, since the article is now part of their achives, one has to pay to retrieve the story. The above paragraph is all I could access without paying.

[w13rd0]

21. Sounds like more staged GOP bullshit to me...

...pffft.

[Bluebear]

10. Love the Eisenhower sig line quote!

[Carson]

12. Thanks! n/t

[Bluebear]

16. Did you see his son endorsed Kerry?

Way cool!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

14. Mindless destruction of property is wrong no matter what sign you're on

however, I wonder if these guys were Republican operatives. Why did they choose the home of the guy who is on the board of elections?

[Logansquare]

17. They wuz drivin one a them furrin cars...

and they wore tassled loafers, and they smelled of brie!

[Tsiyu]

18. They'll never arrest anyone because they

did it themselves. How much ya' bet?

[AuntPatsy]

22. Mind boggled? Take some excederin....Where have you been

the last eight years or so? The sickening and pathetic bile of filth that has constantly been spewed against the liberals is beyond the pale, sorry mister, but I think more worthy news is the people arrested for being anti bush and the countless lives that are in danger because of these monsterous egotistical zombies, as well as the hate filled rhetoric that the media is quilty of carrying live that has these filthy beggers actually demanding violence against all things liberal...

Now that my friend is really mind boggling, peeing on a sign doesn't even come close...

[Carson]

23. I agree there are more news-worthy happenings

...however, that does not mean it's not happening. And when it does happen, we should not condone it.

AuntPatsy, do I really have to say, everytime I post, how vile Repubs are? Isn't that a given? Of course they're actions are mind-boggling as well.

I certainly wasn't making an inclusive statement that sign-vandals and those that support them are the only mind-boggling things on the planet.

Lighten up.

And by the way, I'm not a "mister"; I'm a "ma'am".

[AuntPatsy]

27. Lighten up? I wish that I could do such so easily, I really do...

but the low down dirty rotten sickening behaviors from this so called compassionate party is the one at this time that needs your full attention in aiding to defeat them...

It is too close to this election for such diversions which I am very sure you are well aware of.... (ho-hum)

[SheepyMcSheepster]

24. so.. how does the guy know his neighbor's sign was blowtorched?

wouldn't you have to see the blowtorch? weird story.

[gauguin57]

25. My friend's Democratic border-collie mix peed on a Bush-Cheney

sign in her neighborhood. We always encourage him to -- totally in jest -- and he never will. But one day, when we weren't paying attention, he just peed all over some Rethug's lawn sign.

We just about peed our pants! It just looked so funny. Afteward, we both cooed, "You're a gooood Democratic doggie! You're a goooooood Democratic doggie!"

[oasis]

28. Karl Rove's fingerprints are all over this one.

:puke:

[0rganism]

29. Well, let's hope those vandals are identified and appropriately charged.

I wouldn't be half surprised to find out they're republican operatives who worked out the videotaping in advance, but time will tell. Let's catch 'em and prosecute 'em, 'nuff said about that.

[AnIndependentTexan]

30. the audio and video are too good to be a amateur set up

[zulchzulu]

31. I could stage and videotape something like this with my Kerry sign

I smell a rat.

[Mr_Spock]

33. Hmmm, no dead Repukes - no crime - what's the problem?

I don't see anything that isn't damned hilarious. Amazing how a couple of drinks makes all this silly crap look trivial!