Journalist detained at Allen rally

Mike Stark went to another George Allen event, this time as a correspondent for Cenk Uygur's Young Turks radio show. His assignment: To ask the senator how his self-proclaimed zeal for "knocking soft teeth down whiny throats" was playing out on the campaign trail.

Stark tried to ask his question after Allen's speech, but supporters shouted him down. Undeterred, he tried to outflank the Senator. Then, the completely predictable happened:

I however, saw an opening. There was no obstruction between me and the door through which the Senator had to pass in order to get to the tarmac. I made haste to establish position so that I could ask my question before the Senator left. I had just about arrived when I saw a blur out of my peripheral vision. A kid that had stood in front of me during Allen’s speech (whispering things back and forth to whom I thought was his mom) just barely clipped my arm and took a dive.

The cop who just happened to be standing right there immediately handcuffed Mike Stark. The whole incident was captured on video, and should be coming soon to YouTube.

Comments

[The Phantom]

This guy is an imbecile and is now clearly a stalker and, especially after the last episode, should have been smart enough to stay home.

I would hope that he is prosecuted.

[Eric Jaffa]

This reminds me of the bogus charges against protestors at the Republican Convention in New York, when the cops grabbed someone holding a sign from behind, and then charged him with attempted assault on the grounds that his elbow moved in the direction of the cop as he was being grabbed.

[Eric Jaffa]

The Phantom -

Journalists are supposed to cover Senate candidates at their public appearances and ask them questions.

Mike Stark was doing his job.

Thomas Jefferson said that given a choice between government and no free press or a free press and no government, he'd take the latter.

[The Phantom]

Noone has a problem with this buffoon writing what he likes. The problem is with his persistent stalking.

Who did Jefferson stalk? I've read Jefferson, and I've read this clown, and believe me there is a difference.

[Constantine]

This guy is an imbecile and is now clearly a stalker

Dude, as far as I can tell, Jeff Gannon was at almost all of Scott McClellan's press briefings. Was Gannon "stalking" McClellan? Do you realize how silly you sound? Oh, reporters asking questions of politicians on the campaign trail! The horror!

[The Phantom]

Please provide photos of Gannon pushing security people aside to get at the target?

[Kitt]

Phantom:

There was no comparison of Mike Stark's writing to Thomas Jefferson's. Did ya notice that?

[Eric Jaffa]

Brushing against people is normal while walking through a crowded place.

A nameless, deceptive person taking a dive doesn't change that.

[parse]

Constantine, the comparision with Gannon implies that both he and Stark are partisans using their claims of practicing journalism to gain proximity to a politician in order to advance a personal agenda. Is that what you meant to suggest?

[NoMoreBlatherDotCom]

The slideshow here of the earlier incident makes him look to me like a physical threat.

Instead of peacefully handing out flyers, peacefully holding up signs, or peacefully shouting out real questions about policy, many on the left have descended into rushing stages, pulling fire alarms, and pushing people in order to ask sub-tabloid questions. AAR isn't just financially bankrupptt.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Of course Stark is a partisan. He's also a journalist. That's the great thing about the First Amendment--you can be as partisan as you want, and nobody can take away your "journalism license," because there's no such thing. It's up to your audience to decide whether they want to listen to you.

[cfrost]

Please provide photos of Gannon pushing security people aside to get at the target?

Still wondering who Gannon’s “target” in the White House was, if you catch my drift. - Photos? Now that would be interesting.

[Kitt]

The slideshow here of the earlier incident makes him look to me like a physical threat.

To you? It doesn't to me. In the first couple of clips, it looks like two men jockeying for some reason, to get in the doorway & then it becomes obvious that one man is attempting to impede the progress of the other.

And, when you make these kinds of accusations: "many on the left have descended into rushing stages, pulling fire alarms, and pushing people in order to ask sub-tabloid questions....", provide the proof.

[anon]

Video is now up here - the "push" is at the very end.

[cfrost]

...in order to ask sub-tabloid questions...

If you lead a sub-tabloid life, people will ask you sub-tabloid questions.

[The Phantom]

Would recommend that Allen seek an Order of Protection against this stalker.

Stark belongs in prison or in an insane asylum. Cannot for the life of me understand why you make this guy a cause celebre. And please, spare us the insincere words about First Amendment and about the rights of "journalists"

This guy, to the extent that he thinks things through, is the enemy of journalism and of free speech. If there were many more like him, politicians of all stripe, right and left, would require enhanced security and would conduct press conferences by invitation only.

You don't want it to reach the stage where journalists require a license, but those who defend the right of an unhinged stalker to gain proximity to a US Senator are essentially making the case for the need for licensing.

I don't believe that licensing is necessary and I think that this guy, who is clearly no journalist, belongs in either a prison cell or a rubber room.

[cfrost]

Phantom, you could be right. Stark might in fact be an unhinged and dangerous Arthur Bremer type, you never know. You stated the proper course of action in the first sentence of your 04:44 Am post: get a restraining order. Don’t have your Bubba pals handle it. If Allen doesn’t have the sense to at least try get a judge to lend some legal muscle instead of relying on bouncers, one might conclude that he might not have the finesse a governorship requires. Putting up with heckling and cranks is part of the territory when you venture out on the hustings. Seeing how the candidate handles it is part of what determines a voter’s decision. That’s how it works.

[cfrost]

"governorship" Make that "senatorship". Clearly, I don't qualify for any public office beyond dog catcher.

[soullite]

The pjhantaom is clearly a soulless hack, why bother responding to anything this whack job writes.

This reporter should sue the county and the sherrifs department. Make it a condition of the settlement that this cop is banned from further service in that county, in any capacity.

[Cass]

It seems dangerous for a defender of George Allen &co. to throw around the word "unhinged".

[blogenfreude]

Lost in all of this is the issue of Allen's treatment of his first wife - if I were a Virginia voter, I'd like to know about that. Reminds me of the 60 Minutes story on the Dear Leader's 'service' in the National Guard - the underlying story disappeared when the wingnuts started screaming, although Rather recently said the allegations were true.

[the phantom]

There are many definitions of soulless hack.

One would be one who defends this stalking and antiintellectual behavior.

This transcends immediate issue politics.

It is antidemocratic behavior that poisins all wells or soon will

Hey, its your karma

Phantom
Sevenoaks,Kent

[Bruce/Crablaw]

Journalist follow controversial public figures and ask them unpleasant questions in public environments. It is no more "stalking" than 60 minutes or Dan Rather. It may not be "polite" or to our taste but public figures don't get to decide which reporters get government permission to cover them.

Allen is a thug and so is a subset of his operative team. I am active in a campaign right now and I don't believe I have the right to try to throw an unpleasant reporter getting up in my candidate's face into a fucking plate glass window. Do I have that right, an ass-kicking privilege for people I don't particularly like? Gee, that's need, the list is a long one....

[Cass]

Allen himself has been accused of assault many times in his past, to the point where it would be very surprising if the same patterns didn't play out in his own household. The phrase "knocking soft teeth whiny throats" is not legally an assault itself, but it certainly raises eyebrows, from someone with a well-attested history of emotional and physical brutality.

One thing I'm sure DOESN'T qualify as assault, in any sense, is a member of the public or press asking a candidate for office a potentially embarassing question.

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

If Allen doesn’t have the sense to at least try get a judge to lend some legal muscle instead of relying on bouncers, one might conclude that he might not have the finesse a [senatorship] requires. Putting up with heckling and cranks is part of the territory when you venture out on the hustings. Seeing how the candidate handles it is part of what determines a voter’s decision. That’s how it works.

This makes sense to me.