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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Debate in the Rightwing Blogosphere: Pro- or Anti-Head-Stomping?

What fun! Here's Wisconsin Republican senatorial candidate Ron Johnson receiving an award for his tireless work on behalf America's most downtrodden minority -- gazillionaires.



I'll admit to laughing when they finally realize they've been punked and drag the guy away. I don't like Ron Johnson -- at all -- but I'll give him and his staff credit for being good sports about the whole thing. They're all smiles as they realize they've been had.

This is more than can be said for Rand Paul supporters outside the Kentucky senatorial debate last night:



Those "don't tread on me" flags teabaggers are so fond of have just become ironic.



Not surprisingly, Jim Hoft at the truly awful Gateway Pundit blog approves of this assault, calling the MoveOn member -- Lauren Valle -- an "unhinged leftist" stalking Paul. See, those noble teabaggers stomping on her head are just reacting as she "lunges at a Republican leader." Of course, the news report of the incident says nothing of the sort, but that's your liberal media for you. "Look for the state-run media to make her into some kind of saint by the end of the day," he warns.

Reactions in the comment thread are surprisingly mixed, with one comment saying, "I apologize for how she was treated by this Rand Paul supporter" and another writing, "It is about time that people starting putting the hate-America first left to the ground where they belong." Yet another says the left is going to put people in gas chambers. Some of these people are completely insane.

Over at The Other McCain, Robert Stacy McCain plays the whole thing for laughs. In a post titled, "Do the Kentucky Head-Stomp!" McCain calls this "the dance sensation that's sweeping the nation" and wonders if the whole thing is for real.

I'm hesitant to jump to conclusions about what actually happened in this kind of made-for-TV publicity stunt. Who were these "Rand Paul supporters" who roughed up MoveOn.org activist Lauren Valle? Why did police question Valle, and not the guys who roughed her up? At any rate, I remember when Alex Jones sicced a mob on Michelle Malkin during a protest at the 2008 Democrat convention in Denver. Malkin did nothing at all to provoke that attack.


It's all very mysterious. But McCain boldly states, "I'm definitely anti-head-stomping." There's a controversial position for you.

What's striking here is that the rightwing blogosphere doesn't seem to know how to react to this. Do they cheer it, as Jim Hoft does, or do they create a conspiracy theory to explain it away, as McCain does? One thing we can count on is that they won't take responsibility for it. Painting the left as Nazis, communists, terrorists, and traitors has finally paid off.

-Wisco


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