Rand Paul Supporters Stomp Liberal Activist

[Akumz Razor]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101026/ap_ ... te_scuffle

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A volunteer with Rand Paul's Republican U.S. Senate campaign apologized Tuesday for stepping on the head of a liberal activist who tried to confront the tea party candidate with a fake award.

Paul supporter Tim Profitt said video of the scuffle made it appear worse than it was and he chided police for not stepping in. Lauren Valle, the 23-year-old activist with the group MoveOn.org, said her face was swollen and her neck and shoulder were sore after she was wrestled to the ground by Paul supporters Monday night when she tried to give the candidate an "employee of the month" award.

Valle was roughed up before the debate between Paul and Democrat Jack Conway. The race is one of the most closely watched and hotly contested in the midterm elections.

"I'm sorry that it came to that, and I apologize if it appeared overly forceful, but I was concerned about Rand's safety," Profitt told The Associated Press.

Video recorded by WDRB shows Valle's blonde wig being pulled off before she's pinned to the ground. Profitt then pushes his foot down on her head.

"I think that this is an extreme example of the kinds of sentiments that people are feeling in many races across the country," Valle said. "I think that tension is incredibly high."

Paul's campaign dropped Profitt as campaign coordinator in Bourbon County in central Kentucky and banned him from future events.

Profitt said he was interviewed by a Lexington police detective Tuesday, but that he had not been charged.

"A friend of mine went up to three policeman before Rand got there, and told them about the girl who was standing there with that wig on and that she was getting ready to do something," Profitt said. "The policemen looked at him and said that's not our job."

Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton said Profitt's actions were unacceptable and would not be tolerated.

"The Paul campaign has disassociated itself with the individual who took part in this incident, and once again urges all activists — on both sides — to remember that their political passions should never manifest themselves in physical altercations of any kind."

Paul's campaign called the altercation "incredibly unfortunate" and expressed relief that the woman was not injured.

Conway said he was shocked to see the video footage.

"We can disagree on issues, and I don't know what preceded the incident, but physical violence by a man against a woman must never be tolerated," Conway said in a statement. "It is my hope that steps have been taken to ensure this kind of thuggish behavior never happens again in this campaign."

Posted without comment as I'm on lunch break & rushing back to work.

[Crossroads Inc.]

"I'm sorry that it came to that, and I apologize if it appeared overly forceful, but I was concerned about Rand's safety,"

If IF??? This is what gets to met about little sh*ts like this. They will NEVER admit they did somethign wrong, you see it ALL the time on the right when someone "apoligizes"

"I am sorry IF I offended... I apoligize IF I said somethign wrong. I'm sorry IF I accidently bludgend you with my foot..."

Stuff like this should not stand at all, and I am almost shocked that this f*cker was actually fired from his job. This also gets to me:

"A friend of mine went up to three policeman before Rand got there, and told them about the girl who was standing there with that wig on and that she was getting ready to do something," Profitt said. "The policemen looked at him and said that's not our job."

Which is correct, it is not thier job, so evidently this fcker takes it on himself to punish someone who.... Was goign to give Rand Paul an "employee of the month". Truely she was a menace who deserved to have her face stamped on!

[Tanasinn]

Profitt said he was interviewed by a Lexington police detective Tuesday, but that he had not been charged.

That surprises the hell out of me, considering he committed a blatant act battery in front of witnesses, police, and cameras.

[Jaepheth]

"We can disagree on issues, and I don't know what preceded the incident, but physical violence by a man against a woman must never be tolerated," Conway said in a statement.

I agree with this. when will charges be pressed?

"It is my hope that steps have been taken to ensure this kind of thuggish behavior never happens again in this campaign."

You know what steps can help discourage this kind of behavior? Pressing charges.

Seriously, why hasn't that guy been arrested and been charged with assault and battery?

[SirNitram]

Life becomes more like 1982 with these nutbars.

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever."

[adam_grif]

Oh Jesus, for the past few months I've been thinking that every time you guys were saying "Rand Paul" you were actually talking about Ron Paul, calling him Rand as some kind of insulting connection to Ayn Rand. But there is actually a Teaparty member called Rand Paul! Mind blown.

Life becomes more like 1982 with these nutbars.

You mean 1984.

[Flagg]

He's Ron Pauls son, and even crazier than his old man.

[Phantasee]

He is Ron Paul's son. Rand is short for Randal afaik.

[Simon_Jester]

You know what steps can help discourage this kind of behavior? Pressing charges.

Seriously, why hasn't that guy been arrested and been charged with assault and battery?

How long has it been since the assault? This story hit the news some time today; I don't know how fast the Kentucky bureaucracy normally works.

Though in that case... I'd think the officers on the scene should have arrested the guy; didn't Profitt say something about there being police present? That's what worries me.

[General Zod]

That didn't take long

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The volunteer with Rand Paul's Republican U.S. Senate campaign who stepped on the head of a liberal activist and pinned her face to the concrete said the scuffle was not as bad as it looked on video and blamed police for not intervening.

"I'm sorry that it came to that, and I apologize if it appeared overly forceful, but I was concerned about Rand's safety," Tim Profitt told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

A judge will decide whether Profitt should face criminal charges.

Lauren Valle, the 23-year-old activist with the group MoveOn.org, said her face was swollen and her neck and shoulder were sore after she was wrestled to the ground by Paul supporters Monday night before a debate between the tea party favorite and Democrat Jack Conway.

Valle was roughed up as she tried to give Paul a fake "employee of the month" award. She told police she was assaulted while trying to take a picture with Paul.

The race is one of the most closely watched and hotly contested in the midterm elections.

Valle described the attack as "premeditated" during an interview Tuesday night on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. She said that she plans to followthrough on the legal process. "I think that it is very important that people be held responsible for this kind of behavior."

Summons
Paul's campaign dropped Profitt as campaign coordinator in Bourbon County in central Kentucky and banned him from future events.

Lexington Division of Police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said Tuesday that officers will deliver a summons to Profitt to appear in court. A judge will determine whether to proceed with an assault case.

Profitt said the fight never would have occurred if police officers had intervened earlier.

"A friend of mine went up to three policeman before Rand got there, and told them about the girl who was standing there with that wig on and that she was getting ready to do something," Profitt said. "The policemen looked at him and said that's not our job."

Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton said Profitt's actions were unacceptable and would not be tolerated.

Lauren Valle, seen in red, is held on the ground by supporters of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul.

"The Paul campaign has disassociated itself with the individual who took part in this incident, and once again urges all activists — on both sides — to remember that their political passions should never manifest themselves in physical altercations of any kind."

Paul's campaign called the altercation "incredibly unfortunate" and expressed relief that the woman was not injured.

Conway said he was shocked to see the video footage.

"We can disagree on issues, and I don't know what preceded the incident, but physical violence by a man against a woman must never be tolerated," Conway said in a statement. "It is my hope that steps have been taken to ensure this kind of thuggish behavior never happens again in this campaign."

[Elfdart]

Profitt said he was interviewed by a Lexington police detective Tuesday, but that he had not been charged.

That surprises the hell out of me, considering he committed a blatant act battery in front of witnesses, police, and cameras.

This kind of thuggery is actually fairly common for right-wingers. Joe Miller's armed thugs just manhandled and cuffed a reporter, and last summer you had a Teabagger brandishing a rifle outside the hall where Obama was speaking, as well as other hooligan acts. Throwing young women to the ground and kicking/stomping them is nothing new either.

You'll notice that seldom if ever are these hoodlums charged at all -let alone arrested at the scene of the crime. On the other hand, wearing a T-shirt with the number of Americans killed in Iraq prompted the police to immediately handcuff Cindy Sheehan and take her to jail.

[Elfdart]

Bob Cesca has more:

Anyone who's ever spent extended time with very young children will know what I'm talking about here. Whenever a particularly spazzy kid who's perhaps a little too hepped up on sugary snacks can't articulate what he or she wants, they tend to act out. Sometimes violently. Spitting, biting, screeching, hitting.

I think you know where I'm going with this.

Despite the fact that they're probably going to win a considerable number of congressional seats on Tuesday, the far right appears to be unsatisfied with a significant electoral victory and is supplementing its would-be success by physically accosting anyone who isn't sporting an array of teabags erotically dangled from the brim of a tri-cornered hat.

Last week, hired goons working for Sarah Palin's hand-selected action figure candidate Joe Miller (With Life-Like Hair and Beard!) manhandled, handcuffed and detained a reporter. No serious violence committed here, except perhaps a precursor to violence against the First Amendment should Joe Miller actually win. It's always a good sign when a potential U.S. Senator retains hired goons in order to arrest members of the press. But, then again, Miller thinks communist East Germany was simply the tops, so it seems to be all part of a larger set piece for him.

Of course, this was only a precursor to a supremely violent week in wingnuttia.

Outside the debate between Rand Paul and Paul Conway, a MoveOn.org activist, Lauren Valle, was attacked, shoved to the ground and stomped on. Rand Paul supporters, along with an actual Rand Paul campaign staffer, displayed their insecure masculinity and newly "restored honor" by beating up a woman in plain view of cameras and other citizens who appeared to do nothing to stop the assailants. By the way, no one's talking about the other redneck in the green hat and plaid shirt who wrestled Valle to the ground, or the black-tee-shirted person who appears to step on Valle's mid-section. We can only assume they won't turn themselves in despite the Tea Party's widely publicized commitment to personal responsibility.

Further highlighting Tea Party honor and personal responsibility today, the chief woman-fighter at the scene, Tim Profitt, demanded that Valle apologize to him. I can only assume Profitt is suffering from the post-traumatic stress that resulted from Valle's head thwacking him on the sole of his defenseless shoe. Poor baby. (Appropriately posted on Twitter today: "BP to seek apology from Gulf of Mexico.")

Meanwhile, scores of far-right AM radio talkers, far-right bloggers and far-right blog commenters swung into action in a unified effort to blame the victim on this attack.

Erectile-dysfunction sufferer Rush Limbaugh, for example, implied that the attack was justified given the fact that Tea Party crazies are refusing to "grab the ankles" and "play nice." So if I'm correctly following Limbaugh's reasoning, one way to avoid (metaphorical?) anal rape is to wrestle a woman to the curb, American History X style, and step on her face. Nice. No wonder he's been married four times. He obviously has tremendous respect for women.

And yesterday in Virginia, a member of a rural Democratic committee, John Taylor, was ejected from an open-to-the-public Eric Cantor event in Louisa County. Reports indicate Taylor did absolutely nothing to precipitate his ejection from the coffee shop where the event was being held. After leaving, Taylor was violently accosted by police on the sidewalk in a ridiculously over-the-top display of excessive use of force.



This is evidently how the Republicans intend to handle dissent should they gain any sort of congressional majority. When they're not avoiding press scrutiny or party opposition, they're arresting dissenters. And when they're unable to rationally debate the issues, they lash out with violence.

It's a special brand of cowardice that's symptomatic of their utterly inexplicable and contradictory positions.

They insist the Democrats increased the deficit when, in fact, the Democrats and the Obama administration cut the deficit by $122 billion following the Bush-authorized 2009 budget. Allow me to repeat: President Obama cut the deficit by $122 billion. It's the largest one-year reduction in the federal budget deficit ever. Ever!

They're screeching about joblessness under the Obama administration even though the Democrats and the White House helped to create more private-sector jobs than the entire two terms of the Bush administration.

They've turned the stimulus into an obscenity even though it created at least 1.4 million new jobs.

They're pitching a fit about taxes while oblivious to the fact that, included in the stimulus, the Obama administration passed the largest middle class tax cut in American history.

And they're pissing in their big-boy pants over the bailouts, which were requested and signed by the Bush administration and have ultimately earned an eight-percent profit.

Hell, the word-salad chef herself -- the queen of the Tea Party -- Sarah Palin (along with her idiot sidekick Christine O'Donnell) still don't understand the purpose and intent of the First Amendment. Palin, for her part, believes the First Amendment allows Juan Williams to say whatever the hell he wants to say with impunity. Naturally, this is a doofish misinterpretation of the First Amendment, which was written to protect the people and the press from the government -- not to protect TV and radio personalities from their employers or from political activists.

Seriously, it has to be mind-bendingly frustrating to have to defend some of this nonsensical hooey. Couple all of it with the umbrella contradiction that the original Boston Tea Party was a protest against a tax cut in favor of the British East India Company, allowing the corporation to import tea to the colonies tax-free and therefore undercut the prices charged by independent importers. I always hesitate to mention this because I don't want to be held responsible for the subsequent far-right noggin meltdowns. Yes, the original Tea Party was in opposition to a corporate tax cut. Chew on that one, Tea Partiers.

So in the absence of rational and factual arguments, what are they left with? Inchoate violence and flailing rage directed at anyone who chooses to observe the nation's problems through the prism of objective reality and facts. We live in a counter-factual era no matter what arguments are made, and no matter how many sources we have on hand to make the case for reality, the far-right is more content to throw fists and fits. It just so happens that Stephen Colbert is right: "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."

The whole country is going to get a boot to the head November 2.

[Shroom Man 777]

Good. I suggest everyone votes for the Tea Party in your elections, man. America must become worse, even worserer than it was during the Bush days. Only by destroying your country from within can you remake yourselves into something greater!

Though seriously, it's going to be fun being an outsider watching America destroy itself. Good luck, guys.

[Knife]

Good. I suggest everyone votes for the Tea Party in your elections, man. America must become worse, even worserer than it was during the Bush days. Only by destroying your country from within can you remake yourselves into something greater!

Though seriously, it's going to be fun being an outsider watching America destroy itself. Good luck, guys.

Yeah, it's going to be a hoot watching, if they win, social security nets evaporate as they defund them. It'll be fun watching grandma eat cat food, and poor people dying because they don't have health insurance. Good thinking man, you sit back and have your fun.

I realize you like to be satirical but fucking A man.

[Shroom Man 777]

Okay, yeah, it's not really fun, though maybe in a morbid way it kinda is. Still, it's quite amazing how your country has ended up like this. I mean, damn. It sucks.

(Though to be fair I maintain this lousy cynical attitude towards my own country, so yeah. )

[Big Phil]

Don't blame the Tea Party for this... at least note entirely. Blame the insipid and cowardly Democratic party for handing control of the government back to the Republicans thanks to two years of pathetic retreating and surrendering on critical issues.

[bobalot]

Don't blame the Tea Party for this... at least note entirely. Blame the insipid and cowardly Democratic party for handing control of the government back to the Republicans thanks to two years of pathetic retreating and surrendering on critical issues.

How about the American people? A significant proportion of them are so fucking stupid they believe stupid shit like universal healthcare would result in "death panels".

I'm sick of hearing this "Wah, our politicians are so corrupt and bad! Both sides suck!" as if the the retardedness of the general population doesn't have a direct bearing on this.