Another Example of Jackbooted Right Wing Thugs and Their Freedom Loving Leftist Victims

Only, Y'know, Not:

Three-year-old Sophia Parlock cries while seated on the shoulders of her father, Phil Parlock, after having their Bush-Cheney sign torn up by Kerry-Edwards supporters on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004, at the Tri-State Airport in Huntington, W.Va. Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites) made a brief stop at the airport as he concluded his two-day bus tour to locations in West Virginia and Ohio. (AP Photo/Randy Snyder)

Thanks for the Memory to Curtis at a_sdf.

Update:
As Aaron at Free Will points out, the jerk on their right, the one who seems to be holding remnants of the sign, is wearing a Union shirt -- apparently the IUPAT, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. I think it reflects well on their trade, don't you?

UPDATE 1:
Thanks for the Memory to reader Kat in Missouri over at the Rottie.

IUPAT Issues Apology.

Does this mean your thug will be turning himself in to the authorities?

As I've discussed before, this isn't the first time the left has acted like this. I doubt it will be the last.

UPDATE 2:
Amazing how quickly I was proven right.

Thanks for the Memory to Mr. Minority.

UPDATE 3:
Emily at It Comes in Pints? has a different conservative reaction to this, as do several readers over at the Rottie. And upon further reflection, I have to concede their point. The gentleman whose sign was torn up is a known conservative agitator, and this is the third presidential election in a row in which he's been involved in an incident like this. And it WAS irresponsible of him to take his 3-year old into the middle of a hostile crowd. And the Union thug is an aberration. Most people, even rabid supporters of one cause or the other, would not intentionally cause a child harm or trauma.

But just because he's not the norm does not mean he's necessarily the only one of his kind out there. Just look at the incidents I catalog in this post from August, or this post from Michelle Malkin today (some overlap occurs), or the link above in update 2. These "isolated incidents" start to snowball after a while.

I guess what irks me most of all is the hypocrisy of the Left, the blatant, unabashed willingness to accuse the Right of the very things they themselves do. Look at all these incidents. I've had one of my own -- admittedly not violent, but it was definitely the action of someone willing to take unethical action in order to deprive me of my freedom of expression -- and yet the daily rhetoric from the Left is about conservative being Nazis, about the threat to personal freedoms, especially freedom of expression. They do this without any sense of self-irony whatsoever, without shame, without batting an eye.

"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."

Another Purple Heart

This Time for Shooting Himself in the Foot.

Thanks for the Memory to Tim Blair via Free Will.

John Kerry talked to Pro-Kerry pundit Don Imus today, and even Imus wasn't impressed:

"I was just back in my office banging my head on the jukebox," Mr. Imus said. "This is my candidate, and ... I don't know what he's talking about."

And the best quote, as pointed out by both my sources, was this exchange:

KERRY: I mean, what you ought to be doing and what everybody in America ought to be doing today is not asking me; they ought to be asking the president, What is your plan? What's your plan, Mr. President, to stop these kids from being killed? What's your plan, Mr. President, to get the other countries in there? What's your plan to have 90 percent of the casualties and 90 percent of the cost being carried by America?


IMUS: We're asking you because you want to be president.

Finally a Democrat who gets what we Republicans have been saying all along.

Welcome to Wittenburg

Thanks for the Memory to It Comes in Pints?

The Memogate controversy has garnered attention in Belfast -- and they are paying attention to the fact that it was bloggers who made it happen.

I highly recommend reading the essay. I found the Catholic Church/Printing Press analogy appropriate, but I would go one step further: Blogs have been the MSM's printing press for some time.

This was our 95 Theses.

Signs of the Apocalypse

Thanks for the Memory to Sheila via It Comes in Pints?

Apparently plans are in the works to film a new movie version of F Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby. That's cool, I'm all for a renewed interests in the classics.

Now the bad news.

They're casting Paris Hilton and Lance Bass as Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby.

Really.

I may just have to take a wood burning kit to my occipital lobe.

Shut Yo Mouth

A Shout Out for the Memory to Macktastic Rusty Wicked of Yo! MyPetJawa!

Rusty has suggested that we form a Blog Pimp Alliance. The first step is getting a Fly Pimpafied Name.

Well, considering the way we've made Dan Rather our B*&$#, it does seem appropo. So from now on, you may call me Ghetto Fabulous B. Slick

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get down with my bad self.

Greenpeace: Next on the Agenda, converting the Rainbow Warrior Into a Whaler

Thanks for the Memory to Common Sense & Wonder
via It Comes in Pints?

Greenpeace is facing criminal charges for violation of Alaskan state environmental laws.

I think the article speaks for itself. Any further comment would spoil its perfection.

Unanswered Questions

I watched the 60 Minutes II interview with Killian's secretary last night, and was amazed at how quickly Dan Rather managed to glaze over the fact that the memos are not authentic. He's still living in the past, thinking he can just slickly move past that, and not get called on it. Hasn't learned much from the last week.

He goes on to argue that regardless of the authenticity of the documents, there are bigger questions that remain unanswered. I agree -- more on that in a moment.

He then claimed that in all the furor over the documents themselves, that his critics and the White House have failed to address the other evidence, or the issues that they raise.

Sorry, Mr. Rather, you're wrong. These allegations have been made for the past 5 years. They've been addressed again and again and again. The more recent allegations, and all of the arguments made in your story, have been equally addressed in the last week by numerous blogs. I am not going to go to the trouble of repeating their efforts, but I'd recommend you start with Ace of Spades or Rathergate (I thought you'd like that one).

But let's consider some other questions this story raised, Mr. Rather.

Why were you and are you still insistent on the authenticity of documents that were so easily debunked so quickly?

If they are forgeries, why are you protecting a source you now know to be unreliable? What are you hiding?

Why have you not interviewed the son and widow of Killian, both of whom deny the veracity of the memos' contents? And why did you ignore Killian's son's advice to talk to several other TANG sources who could provide contrary views?

Why have you failed to address the fact that your main witness, Burkett, is a hardline Democrat with an axe to grind whose own child says this is politically motivated? Correction -- that's Barnes. Burkett has enough baggage, no need for me to go pulling a CBS. Thanks to reader Merc for the correction.

There ARE plenty of unanswered questions, Mr. Rather, but I believe it is YOU who needs to answer them. Otherwise you continue to look like nothing more than a strident mouthpiece for the Democratic Party.

The Empress Has No Clothes

Thanks for the Memory to PoliPundit via Ace of Spades HQ.

This seems appropriate, considering she's named after Marie Anoinette's mother. Teesa Heinz Kerry, visiting relief efforts for hurricane victims, said, "Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while, at least the kids,"

I will repeat that, because, to borrow from Lewis Black, it bears repeating:

"Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while, at least the kids"

Wow.

According to the AP article, she was concerned the effort was too focused on sending clothes instead of essentials like water and electric generators.

Well, yes, Teraysuh, if that's all any of the relief centers were packing, I'd be concerned too. Of course, I'd ask first how the food and water situation was being handled, and I'd find a more sensitive way to express this concern. You know, one that was a little less reminiscent of "Let zem eat cake."

Furthermore, you might be surprised to learn that clothing is still quite essential, not just "wonderful." Protection from the elements and all that.

Imagine the outrage from Democrats if a Republican said something like that. Look at the way they excoriate the President for his malapropisms. Imagine if it had not been Teresa, but Laura Bush. Except I just can't imagine our First Lady making such an insensitive quip.

Keep talking, Dahling. You're helping our cause.