This unsavory, violent story has been developing for a few days now.
This behavior is simply unacceptable and illegal. Several names surface here–Lauren Valle of Moveon.org was the victim. Tim Profitt, Bourbon County campaign coordinator (for Paul) has admitted to being the head stomper. Mike Pezzano of Frankfort, Kentucky was allegedly the man who threw Valle to the ground.
I had intended on just posted a 1 minute clip of what happened. It seems that those clips have been removed by youtube.com. That usually happens when a complaint has been filed.
Profitt issued the following statement:
“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.
The Paul campaign has issued a series of statements, the latest being:
“The Paul for Senate campaign is extremely disappointed in, and condemns the actions of a supporter last night outside the KET debate. Whatever the perceived provocation, any level of aggression or violence is deplorable, and will not be tolerated by our campaign. The Paul campaign has disassociated itself from the volunteer 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.”
Hopefully, this violent incident will serve as a notice to all involved in the political process that thug behavior is totally and unequivocally unacceptable. Mr. Profitt and Mr. Pezzano need to be dealt with by the legal system. Ms. Valle needs to do what she needs to do. There are times when throwing an individual posing a threat to a candidate might be acceptable–this is NOT one of those times. There would never be a time when stomping someone’s head or back of the neck would be acceptable.
The Gadsden Flag, “Don’t Tread on Me,” which used to be one of my favorite historical flags, has suddenly taken on a new and much more literal meaning. It doesn’t matter which ‘side’ any of the players were on or who was supporting whom. Its an example of bad behavior–behavior that we, as Americans, disdain.
She was clearly rushing the candidate like one of those loonies that throw buckets of red paint on runway models. I’m saying “she” but can’t really tell. Looks a little like Meatloaf. Not only do I support this, but I’d also like to see more ultra-radical activism from the right to match the loon-ball lefties. How about dudes (or folks like “Lauren” here) dressed up like Lenin rushing Pelosi to give an award to Pelosi for advancing Socialism in the once proud USA. Olbermann, a UPS truck-driver, the lefties must be very (VERY) excited by this video….right Mr. Davis? FAP,FAP,FAP!!!!
Meatloaf has longer hair.
Slowpoke, you obviously didn’t watch the video. She wasn’t rushing him. And even if she had rushed him, there were enough people there to restrain her. That doesn’t require stomping on someone’s head and neck.
So you are calling for more violence to address those you oppose politically? I think you are just big a$$ing and don’t really mean that. That is TT. TT= testosterone talk.
I am not a big fan of moveon.org. I believe they are often over the top. But I don’t believe they should be physically assaulted just because they exist.
Meatloaf has been keeping his hair shorter lately (why do I know that?) 🙂 I love the way they talk about “contrasting ideas”, forgetting what this person was actually attempting to do…..a publicity stunt. What value was this moveon.org activist bringing to the political debate by rushing Rand Paul “in character”(her own words) to present a phony award? Let’s be honest, she’s a Cindy Sheehan wannabe who didn’t get away with her stunt. Awwww, poor, poor girl (I suppose). Early in the video you can see her coming up behind the guy in the white shirt, and she’s clearly rushing the candidate when they take her down. Now I’ll admit the one guy didn’t have to stomp her. Now curb-stomping (the Oakland Special) is a very different thing that the left is using to overly-dramaticize this (go figure). And hey, if right-wing activists rush your average left-wing politician, then by all means, go to town on him/her. Oh, what about the black guy that the SEIU thugs beat up early this year? Oh, he doesn’t count.
Any person that would defend this action has not done enough fact finding. Apparently, this woman is well known to be a moveon activist. In fact, Paul’s campaign knows her well. This action was not done as “defensive” move, it was done out of unrestrained anger. I hope he goes to jail. He could have seriously injured her, and for what, POLITICS! What the hell is wrong with people.
Slow, that other case was not nearly as well documented. I didn’t have enough material. I didn’t condone that either.
I don’t think she rushed him. She said what she did and there were witnesses. Those men knew her. She had been around for 2 weeks. What Profitt did was pure viciousness. He needs some jail time and then some anger management.
I expect he could face serious consequences. She was on the ground when he started stomping.
I think the kick to the head was excessive. I can understand restraining her as she was a possible threat to Dr. Paul but once she was down there wasn’t a need to put additional force on her.
I fear that this will escalate up (not in more assaults or physical attacks) but in a legal sense. The crowd will probably have her charged for breaking their line and laying her hands on them. So, the law will be involved and the govt will have to be involved because adults can’t be adults – tell each other they’re sorry for what happened and then go on their way.
I agree Marinm. IF she had been a threat, restraining her would have been acceptable, it was the stomp on the head that was totally unacceptable.
In the video she says that they know her and who she is. Do you really think they thought she was going to harm him?
This went well beyond restraining. I found the video very uncomfortable to watch.
The man using his foot has been charged with 4th degree assault, a misdemeanor, after he came forward.
@Cargo, thanks for the update. Do you think that is fair, from what you saw on the video? too little? too much?
I guess my question is why do people carry politics to the level of physical violence? Ultimately that hurt the guy’s candidate. And I don’t think Rand Paul is guilty in any way, regardless of the picture some people try to paint. I am certainly no fan of his but I don’t think he should be blamed.
I like the bolded IF. 😉 She could’ve been wearing a suicude vest for all they knew. But, I think we can all agree that adults need to act like adults on both sides. Civility is a two way street.
Cargo, nice status update.
She was not being uncivil though Marinm. She was expressing her first amendment right, you know that constitution thingie I keep hearing alot about, by simply carrying a sign. THAT is not dangerous from my experience.
No doubt Elena. But, a constitutional right stops with a foot to a face OR her touching them to mow through them to get to her target – Dr. Paul.
I don’t disagree with you that she has EVERY right to say her piece but much like I can’t lay my hands on you you cannot do the same to me. That’s civility. 😉
Rushing a candidate is not expressing your first amendment right, and it’s a good way to learn about the second amendment.
Actually it appears the man’s foot slipped onto her face.
Slow, I don’t think the my foot slipped into her face arguement will work in court. If that was the case we’d have much less paternity cases!! 🙂
You won’t even hear about this case after the election when it’s thrown out. I think she might have recourse via a civil tort but I think the combat was mutual and if it went to a jury I think you’d be hardpressed to get 12 people to agree that she wasn’t in part contributing to the outcome. What he did was wrong – no arguement – but I think they were both wrong and need to save the taxpayers some money and settle it by being adults and learning two words.
I’m sorry.
Where can you see you “rushing” the candidate. Furthermore, this bully is NOT a police officer. He stomped on her head when she was down on the ground! Good LORD, even Pat Buchanan agrees this guy went WAY overboard. He should be charged with assault. Stop trying to make excuses, there are none.
HAHAHA! OOPS!!
Where do you see (in all your “fact-finding”) that this was done out of unrestrained anger? Let’s take the Democrat “foriegn-funding” route on this: can you prove she wasn’t rushing the candidate? The foot-slipping onto her face wasn’t a defense, actually it was a joke……and it was really really funny!
Faux News has another video where she is shown trying to show Rand Paul her sign. I am not sure that she ‘rushed’ him. He was in the car. Some woman says she stuffed the sign in the window. It doesn’t appear like that to me but I have no dog in this fight.
I just don’t like the idea that we can throw others down and stomp on them if we have ideological differences. I have had it happen to me twice, three times if you count getting kicked in the kidneys. There is no way I could have been accused of rushing anyone in either of the ‘to the ground’ attacks.
Every time I watch the old video with the stomper, the angrier I become at him. That was so deliberate. Much of the ‘to the ground’ stuff in her case was overkill. Now I have seen the newer video, the grounding was intentional and without merit. They didn’t like her politics.
Actually, I don’t like her politics. However, that in no way gives me the right to rough her up or stomp her face. Those kinds of actions need to stay in the persons head. That looks very bad about the kind of people who support Rand Paul. “Redneck thugs” pops into my mind if those men are representative of his supporters.
I feel confident that Rand Paul is horribly embarrassed. Until this happened, Moveon.org could be considered the fools. Now….that has all changed.
FWIW
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/27/democrat-arrested-eric-cantor_n_774811.html
WASHINGTON — A Democrat was arrested by local police at a public meet-and-greet event for Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Monday, with three men pulling him out of the building and pushing him to the ground for allegedly causing a disturbance in the coffee shop.
Actually, this is beginning to look like a pattern. I would like to know what the man did inside the building. The owner has every right to tell people with signs to leave.
Protesters should have remained out front. However….I don’t like what was done to that man by the Billy-Bob cops. That was overkill. They looked like Redneck thugs with badges–well except for the black guy in the darker uniform. He looked like he wished he weren’t there with the other 2.
This is a good reason why the average person really doesn’t get involved in politics. Hell I am too old to get knocked to the ground and bounced around for some political jerk. This is totally insane.
And it is good to see that Louisa is still…well…Louisa. I haven’t been there in a long time.
I might just have to spill my political memoirs here if this keeps up.
Marin, re: the laying on of hands
I agree with you…however, in crowds like what we saw on video…it gets harder and harder to tell whose hands belong to whom. The moral of that story is to stay out of crowds. People can get serious injuries and people who lack control and decency can take advantage of the situaltion and commit some serious wup a$$ without getting caught. Today’s cell phone usuage makes going without detection a little dicier.
So most of what I heard today says everything was OK except the extra stomp (or slip of the foot, it’s so hard to tell). Fourth degree misdemeanor, and we’ll see what happens in the civil courts. You just know she’ll have a line of lib-tard layers seven miles deep begging for this case! I’m curious to see what happens with it.
Slow, I actually don’t think everything was ok up to that point but….I also don’t think we know exactly what happened.
I think there is plenty of blame for out of control behavior on all sides. They knew who she was. She shouldnt have been thrown on the ground like that. They were pissed and behaving like vigilantees. Rand Paul and probably a lot of other politicians ought to hire out lots of security for stuff like this.
I would like to say its Kentucky, Bourbon County, but similar things happen in Virginia. Sigh.
Squeaky Fromm was not roughed up that much and she had attempted to shoot the President of the United States.
http://www.sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Lynette-Squeaky-Fromme-arrested-after-pointing-gun-at-Pres.-Ford-090575-in-Sacramento-by-AP.jpg
Moon I don’t see the two incidents as similar at all. 1.) Man is on private property creating a disturbance 2.) Owner asks man to leave and man refuses 3.) Police escort man outside and instruct him to place his hands behind his back 4.) Man fails to follow instructions from law enforcement and gets restrained.
The guy wanted a YouTube moment. He got one.
That’s a pretty far cry from stomping on a defenseless girl.
The similarity is 2 people getting roughed up as a result of political discord. (not Sweaky)
I couldn’t tell what happened in Louisa. I thought the man got Rodney Kinged actually. I wish I had seen what percipitated the action.
The pattern is people getting beaten up over politics.
But you are right. other than what I stated, the situations are different
After the “General Patraeus Betray Us” ad by moveon.org, I have always considered it and it’s members to be un-American. I do not condone the violence, but having a known moveon.org activist at my candidate’s rally would make my blood boil. I am not sure that I could treat her with the same courtesy that I treat everyone else.
@Kelly, then you shouldn’t go to a rally if you feel like you might lose self control. I feel probably as intensely about Operation Rescue and whatever organization Randall Terry has affixed himself to as you do about Moveon.org. If I can’t stay in control, I should not attend events where he or OR might show up.
It doesn’t matter what we think of moveon.org. I don’t have much good to say about them either but I don’t believe members should be knocked to the ground and stomped on. I reserve the right to allow that to happen to Terry, in my head though.
That young woman is basically a kid, in my mind. Randall Terry is a little long in the tooth to be behaving as he behaves. So are most of Code Pink who I think are fairly distasteful.
If she was smart, she’d wear a Gadsen flag t-shirt with “ME” capitalized and bolded from now on……
@Cargo
Absolutely. Too funny.
Oh, our Mr. Valle here (aka: the professional victim) has an impressive arrest record. Protests and arrests in New York, Louisiana, and China. Too bad the Chinese didn’t teach her about freedom of speech.