Democratic Party worker gets roughed up while trying to film repub rally in MO

[proud2BlibKansan]

A blue-suited thug Tuesday roughed up a Democratic Party tracker who was following Republican Kenny Hulshof as he campaigned for governor.
Ken Franklin, executive director of the Missouri Democratic Party, faxed a letter of complaint to Hulshof campaign manager John Hancock and demanded an apology.

“I understand the intense nature of political campaigns,” Franklin wrote. “But there is no call for such acts. I hope you will agree and take the appropriate action.”

A video of the incident shows an unidentified person confronting Democratic Party worker Vinay Vaz as he attempted to film speakers at a Republican rally in a public park in West Plains. The man, whom Democrats said appeared to be a Hulshof staffer, repeatedly shoves Vaz and stands in his way to prevent him from viewing the speakers.

Vaz has videotaped Hulshof at many of his public events. At a rally last month in Kansas City, North, Hulshof bantered with Vaz and told a reporter that he was a good guy.

The Democratic Party put out a statement saying that neither the instigator of the incident nor any of the individuals present had been identified.

http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/15214#comment-39944 (video at link)

[Fuzz]

1. Fucking ridiculous

[brentspeak]

2. Link doesn't contain video (n/t)

[brentspeak]

3. I found video links of the incident on YouTube:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=FPT09SmKUUA

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=dlmi-cuHQ7g

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Thanks for the second video

Makes the guy look even more thuggish. And did you hear the voice in the background talking about abortion and bombing buildings? WTF?

[Junkdrawer]

4. If it's a Hulshof staffer, he'll be identified quickly....

If it's a hired goon, it will take longer...

[NeedleCast]

6. Well, now the blue suited Freakshow is on camera

and probably guilty of assault. I'd turn the video over to the authorities.

[rvablue]

7. Isn't Vaz the same young guy who captured the Macaca moment? n/t

[Junkdrawer]

12. No, but he's famous in Missouri politics (so I think Mr. Blue Suit is a hired goon)...

...

Hiring political operatives, or “trackers,” to catch controversial moments on film has become a part of some local campaigns.

...

Democratic Party spokesman Jack Cardetti said the party initially hired a “tracker,” cameraman and researcher Vinay Vaz, to follow Blunt and monitor his speeches about stem cell research.

“We found out very quickly that how he talks about the issue of stem cell research in conservative parts of the state versus how he talks about stem cell research in front of your more business Republican groups was extremely different,” Cardetti said. “So we picked up very early on because of our tracker that Gov. Blunt likes to talk out of both sides of his mouth on the stem cell issue. That is certainly information that is useful to people.”

Vaz has received $5,205.21 since July 31, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

...

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2007/10/08/youtube-becomes-political-force-state-races/

[arcadian]

8. Assault & battery

n/t

[blueknight]

10. them motherfuckers pick their targets!

i wish that fucking prick tried that with me, i'd shove that camera up his ass then smack the hell out of him

[VP505]

16. My thought exactly only

I would have bitch slapped his lips off his face first.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Bingo!

[LibinMo]

9. Anti-Obama sign put up south of West Plains last week is racist

There are some nasty Repukes in that part of the state.


West Plains -- If not for the front-page play the West Plains newspaper gave a resident's outraged letter, a billboard attacking a turbaned "Barack 'Hussein' Obama" might have remained strictly a local matter.

True, the billboard is highly visible from U.S. 63 -- a major north-south route through Missouri and Arkansas -- and Becky Estes probably spoke for many in this southern Missouri town when she wrote in her letter to the West Plains Daily Quill, "What must travelers think of us?"

But the travelers who spread the word far and wide about the sign and its caricature of the Democratic presidential nominee were not those cruising the nation's highways, but writers and readers of sites on the boundary-free World Wide Web.

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008810160374

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Wow, I didn't realize this was the same place as that sign

[Critters2]

11. That fascist sure has some pretty green eyes.

Should be easy to identify. Send it viral. Someone'll recognize the thug.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Will do

[yellowcanine]

15. Pubbies don't like to be videotaped - remember that is what triggered the Macaca moment.