Reporter Physically Assaulted at Palin Rally in North Carolina
A reporter for the Greensboro News-Record was physically assaulted by a McCain/Palin supporter at a Sarah Palin rally in North Carolina on Oct. 16. Reporting from the rally at Elon University, reporter Joe Killian described the altercation on his blog as follows:
After the speech was over, I was walking around getting peoples' reactions to it when I wandered into several clusters of sign-waving Obama supporters outside the stadium area. They were surrounded by McCain-Palin folks, and both sides were yelling at each other.I sidled up to one of the Obama supporters and asked why they were there, what they were trying to accomplish.
As he was telling me, a large, bearded man in full McCain-Palin campaign regalia got in his face to yell at him.
"Hey, hey," I said. "I'm trying to interview him. Just a minute, okay?"
The man began to say something about how of course I was interviewing the Obama people when suddenly, from behind us, the sound of a pro-Obama rap song came blaring out of the windows of a dorm building. We all turned our heads to see Obama signs in the windows.
This was met with curses, screams and chants of "U.S.A" by McCain-Palin folks, who crowded under the windows trying to drown it out and yell at the person playing the stereo.
It was a moment of levity in an otherwise very tense situation and so I let out a gentle chuckle and shook my head.
"Oh, you think that's funny?!" the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. "Yeah, that's real funny..." he said.
And then he kicked the back of my leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.
This assault is a direct result of hate-based verbal attacks not only on Barack Obama and the Democrats but also on the "liberal media" at McCain/Palin events. This was no isolated incident, as attested by many recent accounts of the hate festivals these events have become. While no one in the McCain/Palin campaign told the "large bearded man" in this account to physically assault a reporter, the campaign is responsible for the hateful atmosphere at rallies which led to the incident described here.
Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com
This is how the Hitler youth/brownshirts operated. Within days we'll be seeing reports of random assaults on minorities on the streets.
I hope McSlimer supporters look in the mirror and see on their brow the words,
"I'm a Disgrace."
October 17, 2008 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I posted a video clip of some of Palin's supporters being interviewed at a rally in Ohio this week. I don't think any of those folks are going to be second guessing themselves. They are believing these lies. I can't believe how ugly McCain has gotten.
Here is the clip:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/bademus/2008/10/their-base-voices-from-a-palin.php
October 17, 2008 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is very important that we stay firm but calm. We need to follow Senator Obama's example and stay cool but take action.
This assault, the vandalizing of the ACORN offices... the beyond 'outrageous' ground game/robocalls/mailers that McCain is using now may feed this ugly frenzy. People are believing lies and for most of them this is what is making them afraid and full of hate. We have to remember it is because they are believing 'lies'. Lies that have been repeated over and over again until they get talked about like rumor and urban legend and seem to be true.
We can understand that they have been manipulated and are being used. We can understand that if we were believing what they were believing we might feel just like they do.
I think most of us here know that the answer is get out their and fight to win the election. As Senator Obama said when a crowd started booing McCain... we don't need your boos... we need to VOTE. So, as ChronoSpark and many others on TPM are doing I would rather use my energy fighting to win than 'booing' about what they are doing!
Yes, Yes, Yes WE Can!
McCain may have some really nasty people on his side willing to do anything to win but Senator Obama has US!
October 17, 2008 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, Synchronicity, for a rational and beautifully stated posting. Being constantly bombarded with evidence of violence and injustice was beginning to tire me. Your words and ideas refreshed me. I am going to send this article to my 18-year-old son and direct him to read through to your posting. Thanks again.
October 17, 2008 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I largely agree. But one MUST confront the lies, regardless outcome of that effort.
October 17, 2008 9:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that we must confront but let's try to do it in the style of Senator Obama so that we don't end up reflecting back exactly what we are objecting to.
October 17, 2008 9:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been dealing with these thugs for going on 20 years. I've evolved my techniques: I refuse to be tactful -- that gives them means to avoid -- or polite. I simply nail them for what they are, they usually STFU, and then I move on to the next who needs to either learn to learn, or to STFU.
How the mood strikes me at the moment keeps it interesting -- like the skewering of the insistence that the Palin abuse of power was not her responsibility, but instead the responsibility of the "liberal media".
I went through a list of all the elements -- Republican-majority legislature being -- "liberal media" -- etc. And then noted that I can see the movie now:
"The Sarah Palin Story: I was a Zombie for the Mainstream Media".
In short: If I'm going to be dealing with bottom-feeding illiterates, then I'm going to keep it interesting for at least myself.
October 18, 2008 5:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
October 18, 2008 7:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah we need to remain calm - but vigilant -remember the Brook Brothers Riots in 2000.
We also need too remember our Weimar Republic history - There will be no "Night of Broken Crystal " here in our USA-
There are too many of us willing to fully exercise our 2nd Amendments rights for the BROWNSHIRTS to ever win. And all my "cousins " over there at Alex Jones.com - will also be prepared to defend our rights collectively -
yeah lets remain calm - but vigilant ...
October 17, 2008 8:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's also remember that Bush assigned the 1st batallion that saw battle in Iraq to a "domestic deployment" in Georgia a couple of weeks ago. Posse comitatus is gone while GWB is still in the whitehouse. It's really a scary thought.
October 17, 2008 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here we go again with right wing America-hating defended as a "right" by fools to its left:
The Second Amendment has nothing whatever to do with "individual" anything. This is the first draft of that which became the Second. Note especially the last clause, which is the ONLY "individual right" debated concerning the Second:
"The right of the people [PLURAL, as in "WE the people"] to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed, and well regulated [by means of LAW*] militia being the best security of a free country: but no person [INDIVIDUAL] religiously scrupulous of [AGAINST] bearing arms, shall be compelled [INVOLUNTARY] to render military service [not "individual self-defense"] in person."
_____
*See US Con. Art. I. s. 8., c. 15 and 16. Those (1) stipulate the purposes of militia, which include suppression of insurrection, and (2) stipulate that the militia will be under the CIVILIAN power/RULE OF LAW/REGULATION, and that Congress is the originator of that LAW.
_____
That final clause jhaving been VOTED DOWN, ergo, the Second has nothing whatever to do with "individual" anything. Scalia's far-right lunatic fringe judicial activism notwithstanding.
Read your state constitution, in which you'll find, stipulated in its "Militia Clause," that the Commander-in-Chief of the militia is your state's governor. The issue was not militia v. gov't; it was milita v. standing army.
And don't take my word for it: READ the debates of the framers of that which became the Bill of Rights, and the Second Amendment:
Creating the Bill of Rights: The Documentary Record from the First Federal Congress (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Proess, 1991), Edited by Helen E. Veit, Kenneth R. Bowling, and Charlene Bangs Bickford.
Bill of Rights and the States, The: The Colonial and Revolutionary Origins of American Liberties (Madison, WI: Madison House, 1992), Edited by Patrick T. Conley and John P. Kaminski.
The Complete Bill of Rights: The Drafts, Debates, Sources, & Origins (NY: Oxford University Press, 1997), Edited by Neil H. Cogan.
Last but not least: "promising" civil war plays into the far-right lunatic fringe -- which wants EXACTLY that.
October 17, 2008 9:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Re. Second Amendment:
There has NEVER been, regardless form of gov't, a PRIVATE "right" to have one's own armed gang. The militia has ALWAYS been UNDER the rule of law, not IN SPITE OF it. That includes the so-called "volunteer" militia: the REALITY is that the "volunteer" aspect of it ENDED the moment one signed on the line and became ENLISTED.
The Founders/Framers DID NOT tolerate armed gangs running around outside the rule of law shooting AT the rule of law, even if the members of such gang labeled themselves "patriot!".
There is NO "right" to "defend against" the rule of law.
October 17, 2008 9:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Palin ever came to a rally in NY I would love to be there shouting for Obama. Those hateful supporters won't do anything unless they outnumber you.
October 17, 2008 10:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
As a North Carolinian, I am embarrassed and concerned at where this is headed. Fighting as hard as I can for Obama...lord help us!
October 17, 2008 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Republican party are the neo-nazis of this century.
If Obama becomes President, look for them to grow in numbers and become more vocal and violent.
These inbred, KKK wanna-bes will be a dangerous force; we must watch our backs and protect our loved ones and Obama from such visceral hate.
October 18, 2008 2:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hate radio is serving this up daily.
WTKK, otherwise known as WKKK has given New England this genius. Please listen to the full 14:46. I know its time you can't get back, but I hope the US Secret Service hears this hyena calling for:
-A government in exile
-The impeachment of Barack Obama
-Calls Barack Obama a domestic enemy of the Constitution of the United States
http://wtkk.everyzing.com/viewMedia.jsp?e=21117081&col=en-all-pod_wtkk-ep&q=OR+%22Chris+Dodd%22+OR+%22Senator+Dodd%22+OR+%22Christopher+Dodd%22&match=QUERY
October 18, 2008 4:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I checked that out and it turned my stomach. I have a friend who actuallly listens to Severin. I'm still working on him.
October 19, 2008 1:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hate radio poisons the atmosphere.
Someone needs to study the relationship between the destruction of the Republican party and Rove's geniuses on the airwaves.
Hate radio IS media.
At this point WTKK (WKKK) is so rabidly anti-Obama that it allows Arab-Americans to be mistreated by constantly portraying them as negative and dangerous. Black Americans are being called racists daily because they are polled as heavily voting for Obama.
There are children growing up in America who are being frightened, terrorized by the what is put on the airwaves. Black children, Arab children, children with Central and South American origins: these children are being abused daily by hate radio.
I am asking American teachers to work together to stand against hate radio just as we are duty-bound to stand against any bullying of children. The United States is their country and they deserve to be protected from the damage caused by the likes of WTKK and other stations across the country.
October 18, 2008 5:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
JNygara ,
Respectfully I do disagree with you on what the 2nd Amendment does say regarding gun ownership & my intrinsic right to self defense. And yes Bademus is right -posse comitatus has been revoked . NorthCom will have at least one brigade of the USArmy here to be deployed against "domestic unrest." And we also must consider that Blackwater & other mercenary groups have been deployed in CONUS already - consider the NOLA /Katrina debacle.
We do agree the rule of law needs to be defended- such as having a free press -not intimidated by mob violence ,, whether that mob violence is private or state sponsored .
October 18, 2008 6:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have an actual education in actual law. And a special interest in constitutional law, with specific focus on the Second and the laws which eventuated in it. The issue is not gun ownership: it is the fact that societies have REGULATED gun ownership since the advent of guns -- for the sake of stability of laws and gov't, and public safety.
As for your "intrinsic" "right of self-defense": as is EVERY right, that right is inextrixably entwined with a responsibility. That responsibility LIMITS your "right" of self-defense; you don't, as example, have a "right" to defend yourself by simply killing another, then telling the authorities it was self-defense, and their responding, "Oh, okay." Why? Because sometimes murders are lied about as being "self-defense".
In fact, the "right of self-defense" has been limited by law since the advent of (1) societies with more than one citizen, and (2) the law.
As for "Posse Comitatus" being "revoked": laws are not "revoked"; they are, in the scenario you assert, repealed. Now prove it has been repealed by producing the Congressional enactment by means of which that has been done. And if you don't know what I'm getting at, see US Con. Art. I., s. 8., c. 11 through 16.
Last but not least: except as concerns exercising one's rights as a citizen, the rule of law is defended by law enforcement. Private citizens are not law enforcement.
October 18, 2008 6:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'll add one more point about concern with "Posse Comitatus":
throughout the 1990s, the far-right lunatic fringers I confronted constantly jabbered about "Posse Comitatus," and how it was being violated by the US gum'mint, and the UN troops training in different parts of the US, and the black helicopters . . . .
They are the same NUTS who've pushed the Second Amendment lie, which originates with the gun industry's front NRA. The NRA does not make the law; nor does advertising campaigns disguised as re white and blue patriotism make the campaigns legitimate or patriotic.
It's distrubing, at the very least, for people apparently on the left picking up the anti-gum'mint conspirabunk generated by the right and repeating it. The problem isn't the gov't -- We the people are the gov't; the problem is those who stole and bullied their way into office in 2000, with the assist of a corrupt SC, who were about making gov't look bad in order to turn We the people against the gov't. Against ourselves.
October 19, 2008 1:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does someone have to be seriously hurt or killed before the McCain/Palin campaign and the RNC will acknowledge that they are fueling the fire of hate, fear, and racism?
This election is only getting uglier because of McCain. I wonder if this will leave McCain in ruin, politically.
October 18, 2008 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
If things were to break down now, it would be class warfare, not race warfare, so the Republicans better put that genie back in the bottle, or they are going to get stomped.
October 18, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink