As the candidates arrived, a group of Paul supporters pulled a female MoveOn member to the ground and held her there as another Paul supporter stomped on the back of her head and neck.
According to the Louisville Courier Journal, “Lauren Valle of MoveOn.org approached Paul and tried to give him an “employee of the month award” from Republicorp…a fake business MoveOn created to symbolize what it says is the merger of the GOP and business interests controlling political speech.”
The individual who stomped on Lauren Valle’s head has been positively identified as Tim Proffitt, the now former Bourbon County Coordinator for the campaign of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul.
Here’s some video of the attack:
To its credit, the Paul campaign was quick to denounce Proffitt’s actions, but as of yet there has been no apology to Lauren Valle on the part of the Paul campaign.
The campaign, denounced it, BUT rand paul called it jockeying for position…
Also to dismiss one of the talking points, she was not near rand paul, and she did not “lunge” at rand paul
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/rand-paul-dismisses-head-stomping-jockeying/
Like all of the “tea party” stories that are out there, the more you dig into it, the more batshit crazy it gets. this one though, I had to read twice because I did not think the first time i read it was real.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/27/rand-paul-supporter-tim-profitt_n_774614.html
Tim Profitt, the Rand Paul supporter behind the white sneaker that notoriously stomped on a MoveOn activist’s head in Kentucky, sought to play down the importance of the incident Tuesday, and went so far as to ask the victim for an apology.
“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Profitt told WKYT. “I would like for her to apologize to me to be honest with you.”
Its not really his fault as he explains: He then blamed the forceful downward motion of his foot on the head of Valle as a function of chronic back pain, a claim he has made before:
“I put my foot on her, and I did push her down at the very end, and I told her to stay down. I actually put my foot on her to — I couldn’t bend over because I have issues with my back,” Profitt said.
The interview cut off before he could talk about the hate coming from the left and the lack of personal responsibility of the democrats…
Most Tea Party supporters wouldn’t do this but I think everyone should be concerned about the far right comments that are common on news stories etc. People saying members of the ACLU should be tortured to death, that “terrorists” don’t deserve due process (who exactly do you trust to label them as terrorists before they are made to disappear?), that if a vote result doesn’t go how you like you should murder and kill to get the people in power that you want.
It’d disturbing. People need to remember that most of the most terrible and brutal regimes that have existed still thought they were doing the right thing. Look at the loony countries where “honor killings” and the like are legal.
This kind of thing is disgusting, no matter the political party/faction involved. If I see a comment supporting anything like this, I speak out no matter who is saying it. The vast majority of the time it’s someone right wing who runs their mouth supporting murder/intimidation/violence, but I’ve seen it from more left leaning people too and it’s just as disgusting no matter who says it.
I agree with everything you said. Most people wouldn’t react like this, and I bet many tea party supporters are actually horrified with this happening.
It is just as you said – disgusting regardless who says it.
Yeah, agreed.