Jon Henke posts photos of Mike Stark squeezing his way through a crowd and then apparently turning around to check on the guy he just pushed past. We’re to believe that this justifies three men assaulting the guy a couple of minutes later? These are pictures of the “punches” that were said to have been thrown by Stark? God help George Allen if he ever got decent tickets to a rock concert — he’d be putting people in headlocks left and right. If Stark’s so violent, why didn’t he fight back once attacked? The story just doesn’t add up.
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It adds up to anyone with more than a room temperature IQ. Stark went in with a plan — to get in Allen’s face any way he could, and hopefully provoke a well-deserved beat down.
We realize that you desperately want Stark to be the good guy here, and for Allen & everyone associated with him to be in the wrong. Believe whatever you want. However, reasonable people cannot disagree that Stark acted like a complete jerk, and deserved to be forcibly restrained.
Looks to me like he’s pushing past Dan Allen, the famous Doofus of Tracker Torture fame. This behavior, while boorish, doesn’t appear to be an assault but mere brushing past someone in his way. Happens every day on the street and it’s not prosecuted. It doesn’t look good, which is why I’m no fan of Mr. Stark. I don’t approve of the ambush in-your-face crap endorsed by the Michael Moore crowd. It only serves to polarize people. That being said, however, there is absolutely no excuse for the WWF Smackdown Allen’s thugs put on his guy. Hard as it may to sympathize with him, it’s not about sympathy but the law, and the law says you cannot react physically to provocative language, no matter how offensive. You cannot grab someone who does not present a threat and violently throw him to the floor.
someone stood in Stark;s way to impeded him – from the pictures there is no evidence that they asked him not to follow the senator, and it was in a public venue. That the gentleman moved to block Stark’s forward motion means he initiated the contact, and it is not that Stark is pushing per se – watch the entire sequence, he keeps moving forward and does push the man to the side because the man deliberately obstructed his forward motion.
If there were a problem with Stark going forward, there was nothing to stop the man from fully blocking the door, which he did not do. It is as if they weren’t sure what they should do.
In any case,
1) once in the hallway when Stark was grabbed and was being removed from Allen, he made no attempt to push back. He had already been put into a headlock (itself a problem) when he shouted the question about spitting
2) the reaction at that point, when Stark was already under control, represents a clear and totally unnecessary escalation by the Allen people, and provides pretty strong evidence of assault – forceably taking Stark to the ground and landing on top of him while banging his head was unnecessary to control Stark and represents a deliberate application of force with the potential and possibly the clear intent to physically harm him.
We’ll see, but I would say that both gentlemen who applied heavy force – headlocks and body slamming – are clearly subject to criminal charges.
As to the claims of the Allen camp that Stark assaulted one of their staffers – I presume that is supposed to be a reference to the incident at the doorway to the hall. But if that was a problem, there was ample time to have reacted, even if by shouting (not done) before the subsequent events visible on the widely distributed video of the scene. Further, at least the man who body slams hims could not have known of the previous incident since his back was turned, but who as soon as he sees Stark begins pushing him back.
Please note – I am not a fan of Mike Stark. I also note he has NO connection with the Webb campaign – he is not even in the rather large database of volunteers. That said, the actions by the Allen people were more than merely disproportional, in the two cases cited they appear to me to be clearly criminal.
Is Sup Jim Patrick lying in his eye witness account? I don’t think so.
http://allens-a-team.com/2006/10/31/allens-stalker-inspired-by-michael-moore/#comment-1689
Yes, it appears that Doofus is trying to interpose his vast bulk between Stark and the doorway and that Stark keeps right on moving. His hand on Doofus’s arm appears to be pulling it up and out of the way, which makes it a close call as to battery, but still it’s borderline. The law doesn’t really approve of people grabbing other people to move them out of the way.
Glad you are no fan of Stark’s either. In the closing days of the campaign, for some people he’s managed to make the election about him and has given ammunition to the Allen camp which they would not have otherwise had, all to pull a stunt which did nothing to advance Jim Webb’s prospects. Glad he’s not one of our volunteers. At the rate he’s going he might as well sign up for the Allen campaign.
One should NOT forget that Allen has made himself INACCESSIBLE to his constituents…and now during this campaign to the press.
The Lapdog Corporate press takes this sort of thing laying down.
I’m not a “fan” of Mike Stark but I hope MORE press and MORE constituent push Allen to answer the pertinent question being put to him.
If Allen is such an open book why are his divorce records and his arrest record not being made available. Allen could clear up the questions (Did he spit on his wife? Did he assault her? Was there domestic violence?….Was Allen charged with a hate crime?) to rest.
The press should be doing their job and pressing Allen on these questions every chance they get.
Buzz…Buzz…Buzz…
Jesus. The same people who claim to be kept awake at night by the library provisions of the Patriot Act now want to force candidates to open up their divorce court proceedings to the general public.
If Clinton wants to keep his medical records private and if Kerry chooses not to disclose all his military records, I say bully for them. I thought the left was pro-privacy. I guess only when it suits them.
Speaking to the Bailey letter .. . I am sure others would love to speak in circles with the “Judge”
Isn’t George Bailey a very active Republican? I have some friends who ran with the Allen posse in the old days . . . I think I remember them talking about Bailey. I might be wrong, I will call them and find out.
He claims he remembers Allen because he was such an outstanding law student . . . anyone buy that (besides the “Judge”)?
P.S.
I love this:
“to get in Allen’s face any way he could, and hopefully provoke a well-deserved beat down.”
Oh, I get it, I love these personal responsibility Republicans, “someone else made me do it!”
Watch out Vigilante Republicans administering beat downs!
So, do we get to beat down the Republican hecklers now? Weeeeeee.
I have no idea. I don’t know Mr. Patrick. But if his eyewitness account differs from the photos than I suppose he’d have to be. OTOH, if his account agrees then apparently not.
Me, I’ll wait for the police to sort it out. I figure if they decide there’s enough evidence to bring charges, that makes the odds pretty good who was at fault here. If they decide there’s not, that means that Stark bears at least half of the fault.
I wrote at least a half dozen letters to Sen. Allen in the first few years of his term. I’d always send a similar letter to Sen. Warner. A polite, informed response always came from Sen. Warner’s office. I didn’t once hear a peep from Sen. Allen’s office. So I have to wonder: if I can’t get answers from my senator by traditional means of constituent communication, and I’m not allowed to ask him questions in person, how might I do so?
I don’t know Bailey’s politics, but retired public servants who have never been accused of any impropriety are usually accorded the presumption that they’re telling the truth.
BTW, I believe Bailey said he remembered Allen because he was a student leader or something like that, and not b/c of any law review articles he wrote (to put it gently). I imagine it involved him playing football and having a famous father – but that’s just a guess.
Cmon – even the shots on AllenHQ show that Allen supporters (Dan Allen?) are trying to block Stark’s way. The two photos show that Stark is practically pushed into a drink tray. His movements, while making contact, are clearly an attempt to wiggle free of this blockade, not an attempt to punch, push, or otherwise attack those blocking him.
I can’t condone Stark’s behavior, and I certainly wouldn’t take that approach myself, but it’s clear that he did nothing to legally justify the assault by Allen supporters. Yes, Stark pissed them off and was obnoxious in his efforts, but that’s not against the law. These Allen supporters need to suck it up and ignore the guy if they don’t like him – this is a campaign for U.S Senate, not high school student council.
The fat guy in the doorway has been at Allen events that I have attended (pretty certain, there a number of Allen handlers that are bloated, and they all do this thing). It is a trademark passive-aggressive blocking. It is a baiting maneuver. The guy steps infront of a target person and attempts to provoke a bumping incident. In this case Stark steps around the guy, but the Allen guy grabs his shirt back. Stark lifts his arm to free his shirt and extends an open hand to keep fat guy off.
Go to an Allen event, refuse to wear his campaign sticker (they approach every attendee prior to Allen’s appearance) and then try to get close to George Allen – you will be bumped by an Allen handler. I would testify to similar behavior (and provide evidence).
Haha, those photos are great! No, Stark doesn’t loook deranged at all (not to mention sweaty, or disheveled). He’s such a well-intentioned Allen supporter (note the sticker), he’s actually checking on the well-being of the poor guy he unintentionally manhandled!
What a circus.
The video http://hotair.com/archives/2006/10/31/video-allens-staffers-toss-kos-kid-to-the-floor/ shows more of Stark’s intentions. This guy is agressively looking to get in a Senator’s face, and hurl character attacks at him.
How come the Webb supporters are saying they don’t support this guy? Isn’t he a hero for doing what the supposed “lap dog” press is not? Isn’t he a Patriot? He is doing the “dirty work” that normal civilized people would never think of…
Senator Allen really deserves this doesn’t he? He’s Evil, supports our President, and has yet to disparage our troops overseas like Democrat/ic heros such as Rep. Murtha, or Senator Durbin….
If this were a President walking out of that door before Stark, rather than George Allen, Secret Service would be all over Stark, in a far more aggressive way than the three gentleman handled him later. Stark’s actions were overly aggressive and threatening. If they attacked Stark simply to hurt him, then yes Waldo, you are correct. But if this was a defensive maneuver, than these new images further prove and justify their actions.
Sir Spanks-a-lot,
Where do I start?
Hurling words at one’s Senator is not grounds for assault. He was not attacking. Mr Stark didn’t ask a question until he was being mishandled by Allen’s goons.
You ask a lot of questions that you already have an answer for, otherwise you wouldn’t ask them in the manner you did.
If you mean ‘saving lives’ and ‘healing our military’ when you say disparaging the troops, then you have a funny idea of what constitutes disparagement. The reason veterans like Jack Murtha and Dick Durbin are speaking out is they can’t stand to see veterans and troops treated in this way. Even some Republic/ans have agreed. Are they disparaging too?
CR UVa:Words should never be a reason for assault. And this wasn’t the President. The treatment that was given Mr. Stark is embarrasing in a free society, and embarrasing for Virginians once again. What were they defending against when they threw him to the floor? A question he didn’t want to hear? There is nothing to justify their actions; no photos or video prove that.
That being said, I agree with Waldo. The police will sort this out, and if there were illegal acts committed, whoever did them should be prosecuted. If Mr Stark wants to, they may be pursued in civil action as well.
Because he was rude.