Some of our more Republican readers weren’t too happy about the post I did illustrating how Rick Crawford would be just another vote for the anti-democratic and increasingly violent Republican mob. One of our Republican readers had this to say:
ARdem, where were you during the health care townhalls when tea partiers were assulted by SEIU union thugs? Didnt seem to feel the need to post about that huh? You act like your high and mighty for calling out those conservatives who you think are evil, yet you turn a blind eye to same faults that those whom you support exhibit.
The reader also supplied a link ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFeUhSlHiUQ ) to a video of the alleged union violence against the innocent teabaggers:
Pretty damning right? Guess he showed me…
Except for one little thing…
Go watch the YouTube video. (Or, the “shocking video,” as Power Line hypes it.) The first thing you notice when the camera starts rolling is a union member already sprawled out on the ground with somebody standing over him. No explanation of how he got there (pushed, shoved, punched?) and Ham couldn’t care less. Then yes, Gladney is pulled to the ground by somebody wearing a union shirt. (At the :06 mark.) But instead of Gladney being beaten and punched, as his attorney describes, and instead of union “thugs” standing over him and threatening him, Gladney bounces right back on his feet in approximately two seconds and the scuffle ends.
That was the savage “beating” the conservative blogosphere can’t stop talking about?
The only real mystery from the incident is why Tea Party member Gladney, who’s seen up-close after the brief encounter walking around and talking to people and who appears to be injury-free, then decided to go to the hospital to treat injuries to his “knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face.” All that from a two-second fall to the pavement?
Also unclear is why he contacted a newspaper reporter, or why his attorney wrote up lavish accounts and sent them to conservative bloggers, or why Gladney and his attorney appeared on Fox News.
FYI, according to his attorney, Gladney plans on filing a civil lawsuit against the union.
UPDATED: The Hill erroneously reported that Gladney had been “hospitalized” after being ”attacked.” As you can see from the video, Gladney was not “hospitalized.” (i.e. Rushed away by ambulance.) Instead, as the Post-Dispatch correctly reported, Gladney “said he sought hospital treatment.”
If you watch the frame by frame, you see right away that it was a union supporter who was down on the ground before the fight started. (Though really, you can see it in the tea party video our conservative friend supplied us with.) Who was that union man on the ground? According to the SEIU, the man’s name is Reverend Elston McCowan. Apparently, he was hit first, and then the fight started, one which the right wing blew massively out of proportion. And how could they resist? It had everything they could have possibly wanted to sell to their base-union “thugs”…Obama supporters in a fight…a black guy…All it needed was a little embellishment, and of course they had to lie since the teabagger was the one that started the fight. (Oh, and I should point out that the teabagger that actually started the fight milked it for all it was worth afterwards, getting up with ease in the video but appearing in a wheelchair shortly after.)
So, beating up a minister…pretending you were hurt and blaming the victim for the violence…lying about the incident to everyone that will listen…Yeah, these are not good people. That violence we saw the early teabaggers perpetuating in the health care debate has continued unabated since then. This is just one more bit of damning evidence-they are an out of control, violent, mob of wannabe Brown Shirts and the Republicans like Rick Crawford, Tim Griffin, Eric Cantor, John Boehner, etc. will do nothing but pander to that crowd at the expense of everyone else. I thank our conservative reader for helping me make that point.
(Is the phrase “Myth Busted” copyrighted?)
ArDem! You such a wonderful methane diffuser! Great Work!
I used to work for those union folks…yep, this little old lady member of the AARP would be called a thug! If standing up for workers rights and dispelling right wing lies against those of us that support affordable health care for all Americans are thugs…I will choose to be called that any day. At least I know I will sleep at night knowing I did my legal best to help others be able to live.