Take Heed of Where Republican Desperation is Leading

[Rose Siding]

We knew it would be bad. Last week they mocked and pilloried someone suffering from a disease for embarrassing them. Then Bush's old speech writer detailed his vehement hatred for Americans who disagreed with him. Just yesterday the president told "his citizens" Democratic goals with those of the terrorists.

But they crossed another line today.

Today, Republicans assaulted a United States Marine in broad daylight, with cameras rolling. Why? For daring to question power. The coots in the cult who took him down are so lucky that Stark, unlike them, respects the laws of our nation.

Now I'm left wondering, What won't they do? What happens when there are no reporters around? Suppose the one who dissents had not been trained by a premiere American fighting force? What if the questioner were an African American? Or someone whose bones were brittle with age? What if it were me?

It is our right as Americans to be heard by those elected to represent us. We must let ourselves be heard. The press is distorting this vile incident as involving a "protester", or simply a "heckler". Stark was neither. He didn't break up an event. He wasn't impeding anyone's way or exhibiting any disruptive behavior. He was asking a question that they didn't like. And for his trouble, he was answered with violence. He wasn't "led out", as one station was reporting!

CNN ended an early report with Allen's response that "things like that happen". How can they possibly, possibly, not see this for what it is? Here's the Post's lede (and they're wrong -it wasn't "at" the rally, it was after. The candidate was in transit to answer questions from the press):

A Democratic activist who verbally confronted U.S. Sen. George Allen (R) at a campaign rally in Charlottesville today was shoved, put into a chokehold and thrown against a window by three men wearing Allen stickers, according to a widely disseminated video of the incident.

I've heard of hecklers being removed from Democratic rallies before. It's always an uncomfortable situation -no Democrat wants to be seen as impeding on free speech- and most worthy candidates deal well with those occasional challenges, but if they go on and on and disrupt an entire event, it can be warranted. -And don't the Republicans howl when that happens? But this, this was not that.


Stark's letter is here It reads, in part:

I demand that Senator Allen fire the staffers who beat up a constituent attempting to use his constitutional right to petition his government. I also want to know why Senator Allen would want his staffers to assault someone asking questions about matters of public record in the heat of a political campaign. Why are his divorce records sealed? Why was he arrested in the 1970s? And why did his campaign batter me when I asked him about these questions.

...(H)e and his thugs chose violence. I spent four years in the Marine Corps. I'll be damned if I'll let my country be taken from me by thugs that are afraid of taking responsibility for themselves.

It just isn't the America I know and love. Somebody needs to take a stand against those that would bully and intimidate their fellow citizens. That stand begins right here, right now.

W. Michael Stark

Here's what happened, as Mike Stark related it to Gary Sargent-

"I went in there, sat through an event...while he was gladhandling, I approached him, got within four feet."

"My question was, `Senator Allen, Democrats are making this election about accountability. You can shut them up by telling us what was in your police records from the seventies.' He kind of muttered to himself, kind of, `I'm not gonna go there.' Immediately his campaign staff started pushing me around, shoving me around, trying to form a human wall between me and him. I continued to pace him out into the lobby. My next question was, `Is it true that you spit on your wife?'"

"Then somebody said, `Now you're getting personal,' and wrestled me to the ground.'"

At this point Stark's phone went dead. So Stark says he was pushed and shoved for asking one question, even though he apparently didn't invade Allen's space. Then he was wrestled to the ground for asking a second one.

So what's next? Some very powerful Republicans are up against the wall. Their hatred knows no bounds, no law. They hate us for, um, for our freedom.

We must make a terrible, terrible noise against this.

Here's DU's Media List. Please use it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_oet&address=358x1903

[C_U_L8R]

1. we will not take heed to republican thugs

ever

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Stark is wrong here.

Allen shouldn't fire these guys.

He should just buy them brown shirts.

[drm604]

3. K&R

:kick:

[Jack Rabbit]

4. Good job, Rose

Of course we knew it would be bad. The Republicans can't run on their record, can they? They would have to get personal. The only problem is they were too busy defending their own persons for that.

There were a whole bunch of October surprises, but none of them were what Karl Rove had in mind. There was Allen putting his foot in his mouth (repeatedly), Foley getting out of Dodge and just about taking the GOP House leadership with him, Limbaugh mocking PD victims, Lynne Cheney's stellar performance with Blitzer (and Lynne, honey, take my friendly advice and stop nipping on the Jack D before you go on television) and Bush going on the road to bad reviews.

Nothing will save the Republicans now. And then Bush and just pass into history and legend. Just like Attila the Hun.

[Rose Siding]

8. Allen's attacking again on his web site. Stark's a "stalker" who's "disturbed"

http://allens-a-team.com/2006/10/31/allens-stalker-inspired-by-michael-moore/

[happydreams]

5. This should be blasted like his Macacca moment. nt

[roamer65]

6. The Rethug party is heading the way of the Whig party...

OBLIVION.

[texpatriot2004]

7. K & R nm

[Rose Siding]

9. There are some interesting comments on Allen's site about this-

http://allens-a-team.com/2006/10/31/allens-stalker-inspired-by-michael-moore/

I don’t see anything in that link that makes him look disturbed. I find protesting generally distasteful, ineffective and lame but there’s nothing here that makes the guy look distrubed.

You’ve got some nerve calling the left “angry and unhinged” in this case. Have you watched the video? 3 of Allen’s people tackled the guy and beat him up for asking a question about Allen’s sealed divorce records. If that isn’t ‘angry and unhinged’ I don’t know what is.

Allen displayed cowardice, period. A man was attacked right in front of him. Thrown to the ground and beat up in a fight that was 3 against 1. For what? Asking a question. A real man would have stepped in and defended him. A real man would have called off the attackers, rolling up his sleeves if necessary. But no, Allen just stood there and then walked away like a coward. He’s a candidate who proved today that he has no backbone, no moral clarity, no instinct for justice. No traditional American values.

What an embarrassment to the United States Senate.
_____________________________

I figure there’s two possibilities here.

The first is that the UVa School of Law — Sen. Allen’s alma mater — just this year accepted a “angry and unhinged,” “obviously disturbed,” “dangerous” “stalker” as a freshman into their elite program, one of the top law schools in the nation.

The second is that your description of Mike Stark is wildly inaccurate and self-serving.

I know which option I’ve decided on.
______________________

.....it sure looks like the thuggery was coming from your side.