Just in case you weren’t clear on the stakes on Tuesday, here’s video of a bunch of Rand Paul supporters assaulting a lone woman. Naturally, all the enablers of extremism will be shocked - shocked! - to learn that violent rhetoric leads to violent actions.
Yes, they’re cowards and bullies.
Don’t get mad. Get even.
Update So far, this is getting some blog attention, but no conventional national media other than The Atlantic. No doubt the apostles of civility who made a national scandal of the fact that some of the people who viciously libeled Paul Wellstone while he was alive got booed when they showed up at his memorial service will be heard from now. And if you believe that, I’ll tell you another one.
These people are awful, and yet Mark is just as bad, on his own terms. “Enemies.” “Get even.” The language of liberal fascism at home here, as it so often is.
Meanwhile, at the same time this was happening, a Conway supporter, presumably aware of Mark’s violent cheerleading, was in fact violently assaulting a Paul supporter.
Sorry, what specific violent rhetoric from Rand Paul are you referring to?
Oh, and sorry to bring this back to Prop 19, but by supporting the status quo, Mark, you are implicitly approving of ACTUAL jackbooted thugs raining violence down on hundreds of thousands of peaceful people.
Right, Thomas, because denouncing evil is the same thing as committing it. And calling these people “enemies” is the same as kicking someone in the head.
Sounds like we continue to see sour grapes from what is sure to be sore losers next Tuesday. I can’t wait to see all the violence and rioting that we’ll see from the lunatics and hippies on the left after next Tuesday. Remember the voter intimidation at polling places in Philly during the ’08 election which went completely ignored by the DOJ (I still have that picture in my head of that dude standing outside the polling place with a baseball bat)? Expect worse. These people are far from peace-loving and they won’t learn a lesson.
P.S, no more than 5 minutes after seeing this post I saw this story being covered on the big bad Fox News. They’ve just replayed the video about three times. So much for the implication that there’s a conspiracy to hide this story.
Christian and Warren forgot to point out that the tackler and the kicker are probably MoveOn.org plants, possibly, perhaps. And that more evidence is needed. And that it looks like it was only her shoulder that was stepped on. And that, while they do not condone such behavior, the assault is the likely result of the leftist agenda being shoved down peoples’ throats. And that the assault is the only response the leftists will hear. And that this is probably what Obama wants so he can launch his education camps full of SEIU thugs imposing Marxist theology on the salt-of-the-Earth types. And that “shut up, that’s why!”
Although, hat tip to Christian for pointing out that vilifying other people as enemies never leads to violence. Also, let’s not forget Warren who correctly points out that the two who assaulted this woman are not professional jackbooted thugs, unlike the ACTUAL jackbooted thugs that will result from something something something. Good onya both.
You also “forgot” to mention that the “victim” was a MoveOn.org activist who, in disguise, attempted to disrupt the Paul event.
So who posted the link that brought all of the wingnut trolls over?
These are our resident wingnut trolls. The place wouldn’t be the same without ‘em.
I’m a libertard (or is it glibertarian), not a wingnut.
You also “forgot” to mention that the “victim” was a MoveOn.org activist who, in disguise, attempted to disrupt the Paul event.
I like your scare quote habits. I’ll let Mark worry about being accused of eliding facts.
Do you actually believe that this woman is not a vicitim of assult and battery? Yes or no.
Can you explain why her association with MoveOn is apparently relevant to her assult?
She was wearing a wig. It is political theater. Again, why is wearing a wig relevant?
Again, political theater. “Disrupt” is a heavy word for what is as American as apple pie political behavior. Again, how is that relevant to being attacked by a pack of thugs?
Our lovely tea partiers do love thier political violence.
Perspecticus, “vilifying other people as enemies never leads to violence”? How do you feel about Mark’s post (“Know your enemy”)?
Christian, you can compare Rand Paul’s rhetoric and Mark’s, and see who is using the language of violence and domination. I’d be hesitant to draw the equivalency that Mark does, especially given how poorly he comes out when we adopt that standard. In fact, I don’t think kicking someone in the head is the same as violent rhetoric. I do think that kicking someone in the head isn’t appreciably different from stomping on the foot of someone wearing a surgical boot, opening an incision. That’s what Conway’s supporters were doing when this was happening. Mark won’t have anything to say about that-he won’t condemn it because he doesn’t see anything wrong with it.
Here is what a sane person would say:
“I don’t want the votes of people who kick and shove folks they disagree with.”
Warren D. - re-read the post - Mark didn’t say it was Rand’s rhetoric.
“Naturally, all the enablers of extremism will be shocked – shocked! – to learn that violent rhetoric leads to violent actions.”
More of the general atmosphere of second amendment remedies, calling Obama a fascist / communist, etc.
Knowing your enemy does not mean physically attacking them.
Is this the same Rand Paul who supports tax cuts for child molesters?
Redwave, sorry to wake you up from your opium dream, but there was no “Rand Paul event”: the stomping took place outside the debate venue. In any case, your belief that it’s OK to assault people “disrupting events” is why I consider people like you enemies, rather than just political opponents. You are enemies of the free way of life.
Jamie and Mark, you miss the point. I am not justifying the fact that the lady’s head was stepped on, only pointing out her role in instigating the happening. No candidate’s people (in either party) are going to allow him to be approached by an apparently hostile stranger. Once the fracas begins, it should not be surprising that someone gets hurt. If she wants to carry a sign or wear a button, or just listen quietly to what her candidate’s opponent is saying, all well and good. When she approaches the candidate with an “offering,” in this day and age, she has crossed the line. Approach the POTUS that way and you get shot by the Secret Service.
It’s a free country, you do not have to look at things objectively, particularly on your blog, but I try to. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for obnoxious and self indulgent protestors from either side. Politics should be fun, and it is, when both sides have some respect for the fact that intelligent minds can and do disagree. Not seeing much of that here, though. Just, sayin’
Libertarians are supposed to be opposed to the initiation of force, but I suppose that’s one of the values they have to give up to be accepted into the Republican Party.
Are these shrinking violets who are so afraid of a cardboard sign that they have to manhandle a woman to the ground the same people who were bringing rifles and other firearms to health care reform townhall meetings?
Ah yes, your Tea Party Libertarian Conservative doing what comes naturally…assaulting a woman! This is pretty much what all libertarian conservatives are like too by the way.
If, tomorrow, a member of the Tea party movement tried exactly the same thing with Obama, I’m quite certain they’d be taken down, hard. And Mark would be celebrating every bruise they got.
Look, you just don’t rush a candidate like that. Nobody knows whether you’re there to hug them, or assassinate them. I don’t care if you’re carrying a fake award, or a cream pie. Who the heck knows what you’ll do once you’re up close? (Heck, the right adulterant, and you can kill with the cream pie, even.) All they know is that you’re deliberately bypassing security. To get close to somebody who’s probably getting death threats.
Yeah, it makes for a bad visual. Try it some time with a Democratic candidate, Mark. Just make sure your health insurance is up to date, first.
Brett, Mark wants everyone to have health insurance, so the fact that he favors some kinds of violence and opposes others, based purely on the partisan affiliation of those involved, doesn’t make him a bad person. I mentioned that he wants everyone to have healthcare, right? Including those beaten by the SEIU. That’s the big-hearted kind of guy he is.