Rand Paul Dismisses His Supporters’ Assault On MoveOn Activist As ‘Jockeying Back And Forth’

[one_voice]

Last night before a debate, supporters of Kentucky GOP Senate nominee Rand Paul tackled a MoveOn.Org member to the ground and “stomped on her head” within feet of the candidate. Activist Lauren Valle suffered a concussion and spent the night in the hospital, and is now “leaning toward pressing charges” on the unidentified attacker wearing Rand Paul gear.

Predictably, Paul took to Fox News to defend himself this morning. The friendly news outlet significantly downgraded the severity of the head stomping, saying the woman’s “shoulder stepped on.” For his part, Paul — whose treatment of a woman during his college years has become a campaign issue — dismissed the incident as mere “jockeying back and forth,” as if the woman had also attacked the men who tackled her:

HOST: Political banter inside and now we have a brawl outside. As a female protester getting roughed up during demonstrations in the parking lot while Rand Paul and Jack Conway were debating on the inside in Kentucky. Her shoulder Stepped on after being stepped on after being heckled by two men there. <...>

PAUL: And there was a bit of a crowd control problem. I don’t want anybody though to be involved in things that aren’t civil. I think this should always be about the issues. And it is an unusual situation to have so many people so passionate on both sides jockeying back and forth. And it wasn’t something that I liked or anybody liked about that situation. So I hope in the future it is going to be better.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/26/paul-dismisses-stomping/

[geardaddy]

1. Of course he does.

What a twunt.

[Hannah Bell]

2. i'd guess that it was his security that initiated that take-down.

[tridim]

3. It's the classic "Both sides do it" defense

Problem is, 95% of the time it's the jack-booted Repukes doing it, not us.

[emulatorloo]

4. "on both sides" - yeah. Rand, so many liberals have been stomping on people's heads lately

<SARCASM>

[Angry Dragon]

5. Nothing to see ........... Move on

rand paul is a snake and should be put in a drainage ditch somewhere so he can
get down and dirty with his followers...... just a thought

[Erose999]

6. We need to push this video viral, along with the names and affiliations of the attackers when they

are confirmed.

[Lasher]

7. Dumbass Paul is playing this wrong.

He just might resultingly lose the election over it.

[The Magistrate]

8. Good To Know, Ma'am, He Thinks Women Who Do Not Like Him Should Be Stomped

[Enrique]

9. like the Hells Angels at Altamont

jostling the hippies with pool cues.

[Lance_Boyle]

10. Is ThinkProgress playing fast and loose with the facts?

"A spokeswoman for MoveOn said Valle went to a hospital on Monday night to be checked and has a concussion. She was not admitted."

http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2010/10/25/moveonorg-activist-involved-in-incident-at-paul-conway-debate/

How/why does one "spend the night in the hospital" if one is not admitted to the hospital? Do they mean she just waited all night in the ER?

[dgibby]

13. She probably remained in the ER

for observation for head injury/concussion. That's sop in most hospitals, at least the one's I worked in.

[global1]

11. People Have More Sympathy For Tony Romo Than This Woman Who Had......

her shoulder stomped. He was wearing protective gear and knew full well this can happen to him. She was wearing a wig and was blindsided. Some country we live in huh? Some days I'm just not proud to be an American.

[matt819]

12. Because in a libertarian's world, there are no fucking rules

It's every man for himself.