Ed Schultz: Tea Party Violence is a Threat to Democracy

Run time: 09:51 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muvYNVQCRxQ   Posted on YouTube: October 27, 2010 By YouTube Member: golefttv Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: October 27, 2010 By DU Member: GoLeft TV Views on DU: 1112

 
Ed Schultz is pissed off - But can you blame him? A Rand Paul teabag supporter stomped on the head of a MoveOn.org volunteer at a rally recently, and the media is silent. The cops on the scene were silent. Will you stay silent about this? Pass this along to everyone you know.

Let's List the violent attacks by the Right Wingers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9389907

We've seen this hostility todemicracy in history before, but are at least aware when we sere it and able to prevent it by calling it out

Ed is actually strong in his principles, and a voice we need to hear every chance we get. It sounds heartless, but I've found myself wondering about Matthews' concentration levels.

MSNBC has such a great crew. Unfortunately, Time-Warner in my area makes you pay extra to get MSNBC. Fox of course is always available at the cheap rate. MSNBC needs to be more aggressive about getting equal treatment with Fox. People would prefer MSNBC if they got to know its great newscasters.

Rachel Maddow's show from Alaska was just wonderful. She was honest about her bias but really gave each candidate a chance to talk for themselves. Loved it. You could easily differentiate between what was Rachel Maddow and what was the candidate.

Rachel was especially kind to Murkowski. That was impressive.

Ed Schultz deserves a really good time slot.

Dylan Ratigan and Cenk are also just amazing on MSNBC. And then Keith Olbermann is a pioneer and can't be bested.

Honestly, I can't say enough good about MSNBC.

I think someone should keep an eye on him.



http://www.youtube.com/user/savemyplaylist

It was mid-October and Michael Dukakis was scheduled for a visit to begin at 5:00 p.m. A co-worker and I had decided a few days before to take the afternoon off work and go to the rally. I brought a camera and a telephoto lens. We were the first to arrive and noticing the press stand decided we would "reserve" two spots. It was a warm fall day and we were excited to have secured prime viewing positions.

The crowd began to grow in numbers anticipation filled the air. Then an announcement was made that Dukakis would be late but no one cared. The crowd continued to build and soon the streets were full and the rain came but that didn't seem to matter and the crowd grew in numbers. The press stand soon filled with photographers from all over the region and one of the local press photogs struck up a conversation with me and the co-worker.

We found out that he was new to the area having just moved from Alaska and he wanted to know where the local nightlife could be enjoyed. We made a few suggestions of local bistros and the music on offer. While we were talking the police had cleared the streets and installed temporary rope barricades to keep the crowd off the streets and on the sidewalks. There was a handful of mounted officers and the crowd was very orderly.

Before long I could hear loud voices but couldn't understand what was being said. As the voices grew louder I turned to see what was going on. About 200 feet from where we were there was a group of five or six casually dressed college aged young men carrying hand lettered signs supporting George H. W. Bush and ridiculing Dukakis. This small group of thugs pushed and shoved their way through the crowd until they reached a couple standing precipitously on the curb. Using their signs to clear a path these thugs pushed the couple into the street and that caught the attention of the police. An officer came over to the couple and from their behavior and action seemed to order the couple back onto the sidewalk. The yelling and jostling by the thugs continued and I tugged on the sleeve of photographer and said, there's your picture as I gestured to the commotion across the street. He asked if we would watch his gear as he descended the press stand.

The photographer made it across the street in time to fire off a few frames of the thugs pushing the same couple back into the street. The police officer returned to apparently order the couple off the street once again as he completely ignored the group of thugs who had caused the incident. A few people in the crowd gathered around the mounted officer trying to explain what had happened. The small group around the officer caught the attention of the president of the Sailors Union of the Pacific and he approached the group, found out what had happened and invited the couple to join him and the other local Labor leaders next to the speakers platform where Dukakis would be delivering his speech.

By this time the rain had turned into a torrential downpour but the orderly crowd wasn't going to leave until they heard Dukakis. Dukakis was 2 or 3 hours late and his speech was given in the glare of studio floodlights. I don't know what happened to the gang of republican thugs. They apparently moved on unhindered by the police for their obvious assault.

The attack on the young woman at the Paul event is nothing new, it's the republican modus operandi.

realized something really shocking which is, I believe what also upset Ed Schultz so much.

In the first few seconds of the tape, Rand Paul is stepping out of his car. In the forefront of your screen, you see the back of a large man with a blue tee-shirt and Rand Paul's name on it. He is facing Rand Paul. The police officer is to the left on the opposite side of Rand Paul but also just a few feet away.

Rand Paul gets out. The young woman is approximately, I would guess, even with the rear end or back door of the car, and the man in the blue tee-shirt, the same man permitted to be so close to Rand Paul, turns toward her.

During the time that the camera was focused on Rand Paul getting out of the car, someone had snuck up behind the woman and tackled her, football style, to the ground.

Then the same huge guy with the Rand Paul tee-shirt-- dark blue tee-shirt with Rand Paul lettering -- turns and stomps his foot deliberately on this relatively small woman's back -- while she is lying prone and quiet on the ground.

The young woman never resists. The very large man then deliberately moves his foot from the woman's back to her neck and to the back of her head -- a very vulnerable part of the body in which that portion of the brain is housed that controls the essential motor reflexes. The large man towers over her proudly with his foot on her like a lion claiming his prey for all to see. She is like a small deer cowering in fear.

THIS WAS A PUBLIC EVENT, AND THEY WERE ALL IN A PUBLIC SPACE. SHE WAS EXERCISING HER FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.

THIS ALL HAPPENED WITHIN SECONDS OF RAND PAUL'S EMERGENCE FROM HIS CAR -- WITHIN RAND PAUL'S HEARING RANGE. AND HAD HE SIMPLY GLANCED BACK FOR A SECOND, HE WOULD HAVE SEEN EXACTLY WHAT WAS GOING ON.

Sure there was a lot of confusion and noise -- much of which was caused by these two thugs who were attacking a relatively small, unarmed woman with a sign.

I have two comments about Mr. Proffit. First, in those moments, he allowed himself to act as an animal, not as a human being. He had no more compassion or pity for or human humor about the completely subdued, helpless woman than would an animal. He was totally full of his basest need to feel powerful.

Second, the tea-bagger and libertarian movements are full of these types. In fact, this scene pretty much defines the libertarian value system: let the mightiest crush the weakest without limits.

In terms of their penchant for violence, the Tea-Bagger libertarians are similar to the Brown Shirts of the NAZI era and the Red Guard of the Maoist era. There, I'm not just comparing them to NAZIs on the extreme right, but also to Maoists on the extreme left. That should offend no one. What they have in common with the brown shirts and the Red Guard is their penchant for violence. Violence is their simplistic answer to the patience that bringing real change requires.

The American civil rights and other movements of the left have, with very few exceptions, embraced non-violence as a method of action. The leaders of the Tea-Baggers movement, to the extent they wish to participate in political discourse in a free society, need to do the same.

The message of this young woman is compelling: Each of us is only as free as we allow others to be.