New Allen News
- Chad laments the Allen campaign, but believes that James Webb offers nothing to Virginians.
- Senator Allen has released a new ad.
Admittedly, it is damage control, and it might not be able to overshadow the negative attacks on him, but it is a great ad and hopefully will show Virginians the real George Allen.
- A new made-up scandal has arised. A heckler, Mike Stark, approached Senator Allen while he was making an appearance with Senator Elizabeth Dole in Charlottesville. This is not unusual, but what he did sparked some controversy. The heckler decided to get extremely close to the two of them and started yelling, questioning Senator Allen about his divorce from his first wife. A staffer tried to get in the middle of them, but Stark did not relent. Allen's staffers then restrained Stark by wrestling him to the ground before escorting him out of the building.
The heckler, for sure, was obnoxious; that is not the reasoning for such restraint placed on him. If he was doing so from the background, I imagine he would have never been more than an annoyance. However, present were two United States Senators. What was Stark intending? Most likely, he was not going to hurt them. But when dealing with two powerful politicians, is ignoring his proximity really a risk worth taking? Republitarian argues that this is a case of assault; from what I can see, the fear of assault would be reasonable on the side of the senators, not Stark, who appeared to be starting a confrontation.
Put another way, change Senator Allen to a Democrat, say Senator Kerry just for an example, and make the protestor a Republican. Would this sort of behavior have been tolerated? Mike Stark was out of line and should be the one apologizing, not Senator Allen or his campaign workers.
UPDATE 7:00 PM: Snyder notes that this is hardly irregular for Stark, who seems to have a history of making a fool of himself.
UPDATE 2 8:45 PM: By way of Hot Air, Anne Waddell, George Allen's first wife, is saying that there is no basis to Stark's question. My guess is that their marriage did not end on bad terms, as this would give Miss Waddell a great chance to take Senator Allen down.
So Mike Stark? Feeling stupid yet?
- Senator Allen has released a new ad.
Admittedly, it is damage control, and it might not be able to overshadow the negative attacks on him, but it is a great ad and hopefully will show Virginians the real George Allen.
- A new made-up scandal has arised. A heckler, Mike Stark, approached Senator Allen while he was making an appearance with Senator Elizabeth Dole in Charlottesville. This is not unusual, but what he did sparked some controversy. The heckler decided to get extremely close to the two of them and started yelling, questioning Senator Allen about his divorce from his first wife. A staffer tried to get in the middle of them, but Stark did not relent. Allen's staffers then restrained Stark by wrestling him to the ground before escorting him out of the building.
The heckler, for sure, was obnoxious; that is not the reasoning for such restraint placed on him. If he was doing so from the background, I imagine he would have never been more than an annoyance. However, present were two United States Senators. What was Stark intending? Most likely, he was not going to hurt them. But when dealing with two powerful politicians, is ignoring his proximity really a risk worth taking? Republitarian argues that this is a case of assault; from what I can see, the fear of assault would be reasonable on the side of the senators, not Stark, who appeared to be starting a confrontation.
Put another way, change Senator Allen to a Democrat, say Senator Kerry just for an example, and make the protestor a Republican. Would this sort of behavior have been tolerated? Mike Stark was out of line and should be the one apologizing, not Senator Allen or his campaign workers.
UPDATE 7:00 PM: Snyder notes that this is hardly irregular for Stark, who seems to have a history of making a fool of himself.
UPDATE 2 8:45 PM: By way of Hot Air, Anne Waddell, George Allen's first wife, is saying that there is no basis to Stark's question. My guess is that their marriage did not end on bad terms, as this would give Miss Waddell a great chance to take Senator Allen down.
So Mike Stark? Feeling stupid yet?
posted by CR UVa at 4:12 PM
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