When wingnuts attack:
I spotted Scozzafava later as she was walking to the parking lot, and asked her: ” Assemblywoman, do you believe that the health-care bill should exclude coverage for abortion?” She didn’t reply. I asked her twice more. Silence.
After she got into her car, I went to my car and fired up my laptop to report the evening’s events.
Minutes later a police car drove into the parking lot with its lights flashing. Officer Grolman informed me that she was called because “there was a little bit of an uncomfortable situation” and then took down my name, date of birth, and address.
“Maybe we do things a little differently here, but you know, persistence in that area, you scared the candidate a little bit,” Officer Grolman told me.
“[Scozzafava] got startled, that’s all,” Officer Grolman added. “It’s not like you’re in any trouble.”
But is that really what happened? Not according to a Scozzafava aide who wrote Ben Smith:
Agree or not with Dede Scozzafava’s positions, she should still be afforded a basic level of respect. Asking tough questions is one thing, but acting like John McCormack did tonight shows a complete lack of decency. This self-described reporter repeatedly screamed questions while our candidate was doing what she is supposed to be doing: speaking with voters (remember, those who will decide this election?). And then this “reporter” followed the candidate to her car, continuing to carry on in a manner that would make the National Enquirer blush. That’s the truth, but maybe that doesn’t matter to your readers.
These morons spent the whole summer fighting for the right to pack heat at political events, and then are surprised that when you chase a politician screaming at them to their car, they might call the cops. I’m not surprised McCormack, who apparently was hired by the Weekly Standard to make Goldfarb look smart by comparison, wouldn’t understand that. But for the rest of us, we call that self-preservation and common sense.
Crashman06
Why is it that the wingnuts claim to stand for good ‘ole American family values, yet so many of them are completely boorish, impolite, and rude assholes?
Bruuuuce
Too bad sense isn’t common. (Quadruply so, or more, for wingnuts, who exhibit essentially none.)
Also too bad Scozzafava didn’t warn the wingnut first, in the presence of witnesses (preferably with video rolling), that she felt harassed and would call the cops. He wouldn’t have quit, and she would have been able to tell him he’d been warned. Again, on camera.
GReynoldsCT00
@Crashman06:
And observe the teachings of the bible, don’t forget — well they do, when it suits their needs. Ratfuckers.
Roger Moore
@Crashman06:
Maybe it’s because it’s very American to be boorish, impolite, rude assholes? Just a possibility.
MattF
Anger shows that McCormack really, really, really means what he says. And that the rest of us are just… well, you know.
ricky
Two critical quwstions remain:
Does Scozzafava believe the health care legislation should exclude coverage for abortion?
Why wouldn’t they have called the fire department instead of the police after McCormack set his computer on fire?
New Yorker
Oh, what I would have given to see that encounter end with a “don’t tase me bro!” moment.
inkadu
Parking lot interviews are for people who are always dodging press attention. Who doesn’t love a good 60 Minutes ambush of face-covering CEOs? But since Scoffaza just left a public discussion with voters, this dick has absolutely no justification.
Not to mention being agressively pro-life puts you in the “linked to terrorism” category.
4tehlulz
>That’s the truth, but
maybethat doesn’t matter to your readers.It’s Politico, so fixed.
ricky
In retrospect I should have read McCormack’s post before commenting. Turkey and stuffing were served at the Elks Lodge before this confrontation erupted. Scozzafava said some things about Congress. All in all McCormack reported the salient facts before detailing this latest shocking event in the sorry history of the oppression of the conservative press in America.
kay
“if her signing of the Americans for Tax Reform Pledge…”
I stopped reading after that. If she signed on with the Grover Norquist drones, she made her own bed, and essentially ceded all future legislative discretion to a PAC.
I will offer her police protection for this interim period while she’s trying to escape the Norquist cult, however, as long as she makes substantive progress towards becoming a grown-up legislator.
ChrisS
These morons spent the whole summer fighting for the right to pack heat at political events,
Or, you know, shoot abortion providers in churches.
Kind of a touchy subject with the same people who think that the second amendment is to be used a threat.
beltane
NY-23 has become quite a fascinating race. I don’t live in the district, but I live in the same media market and it seems that Scozzofava has all but disappeared. The TV and radio ads are a slugfest between Owens and Hoffman. It’s kind of sad, because there was once a time when Dede Scozzofava would have been a very typical, run of the mill New York Republican.
Phoenix Woman
JC FTW.
asiangrrlMN
Wait a minute (I did not click on the first link). She’s a Republican congressperson? Good lord. They really are eating their own, aren’t they? I don’t blame her one bit for calling the cops, but I agree with Bruce. Next time, she should say loudly and clearly, “If you don’t stop harassing me, I am going to call the police” as a preemptive.
Bubblegum Tate
Does this still count as Obama’s LIEbrul Fascism crushing the voices of real Murikans under the heel of a jackboot even though the candidate in question is a Republican?
Rick Massimo
McCormack’s lucky he wasn’t taken into custody without charge and waterboarded. I hear that’s the solution to every perceived danger.
Oh – SOME people get the benefit of the doubt? I just can’t imagine how that distinction gets made.
Paul L.
Surprised John does not have a post defending Charles Rangel for being asked “Rude” questions about his tax problems.
Rangel: MSNBC ambush “rude”
Gunner
Those of you following RedState and their ilk know what’s going on. They’re trying to purge the GOP of anyone that fails their ideology purity test, and they’ve made the NY-23 race the focus of that effort. The fact that they chose to do it in a Republican district will give them a chance to overstate their significance on a national scale, should they succeed. They can do no better than deliver 27% of the vote, plus the 15% of “independents” that never vote Democratic. They’ll get their butts kicked 60-40 in any race outside their ever dwindling safe zones.
matoko_chan
And ANOTHER crude and clueless attempt at outreach by Konservative Klown Michael Steele.
Let them eat pie.
Midnight Marauder
@Paul L.:
Are you? Are you really surprised? Or are you just mindlessly wanking as you are typically prone to do? Since John has commented several times that Rangel should be gone.
But that wouldn’t fit in with your late morning wankfest, now would it?
Persia
@inkadu: Don’t forget that he was doing this to an unaccompanied woman, too. We all get trained to lock our car doors for a reason, and it’s not because we’re afraid of democracy.
feebog
@asiangrlMN
No. She is a State Rep running as the Republican Canidate in a district that ought to be a cakewalk. Except she is too “librul” for the Club for Growth Morans and the Red State political suicide purists. It looks like we may end up with a Democrat, at least to fill out the term for a year.
Sentient Puddle
@feebog: Don’t forget the RNC in that list of morans. They’re not supporting…her (I’m not even going to try to spell that name).
Paul L.
Looks like from the police and audio from McCormack that Scozzofava is full of it.
Retraction John?
He objected to asking questions of Scozzofava. Why not the same standard for Rangel.
Reggie
Yeah, the audio showed that he never screamed. Sorry, but this entire story is bogus. Go cry some more, and enjoy losing 30+ seats in the House in 2010.