It sounds like Mr. Stark has principal and is willing to stand up for what he believes. Is that a bad thing?

I never saw this blog during the "Fox Security" thing. Did anybody ever have a credible defense for O'Reilly's silly reaction?

Sorry, Phil. Apparently the first Mrs. Allen supports her former husband's Senate run and denies that any such spitting incident ever occurred.

Maybe Mike from Orlando will issue an apology to the Senator? But we know better, don't we?

Phil- join the ranks of wacko dems that feel the ends justify the means. Mike Stark is another a--hole you dems are quick to defend regardless of their his or her of integrity or depth.

"Maybe Mike from Orlando will issue an apology to the Senator? But we know better, don't we?"
Posted by: Missy at November 1, 2006 04:15 PM

An apology? For what? I watched the video and it was evident that Mike Stark was assaulted by Allen's goons after asking his senator a question. Stark should be issuing a lawsuit, not an apology.

It's too bad the AP story got it wrong as the video clearly shows. Stark only asked the spitting question AFTER he was assaulted by Allen supporters/staffers(?.

It's too bad the AP story got it wrong as the video clearly shows. Stark only asked the spitting question AFTER he was assaulted by Allen supporters/staffers(?.

indierik, why do you libs think you can make things up and throw them out in the public discourse? Then when proven untrue, no apology ever occurs.

Did you not read that the first Mrs. Allen states that no such "spitting" incident occurs? What gives your friend the right to allege that it did? And when proven wrong, no apology is forthcoming? Please explain.

Missy, I think you're completely missing my point (or maybe I'm not expressing myself clearly). Even if he said to Senator Allen "Why do you like pink dildos that are shaped like motorcycles and have 'burn in hell' embroidered on the side of them" I still don't believe he would deserve to have been assaulted as he was. This is still the United States, as long as a person isn't making threats you can say what you wish. And I would be on your side, Missy, if you asked a "liberal" politician an off color question and were then assaulted.

Whether the allegation is true or not, it does NOT give Allen supporters/staffers the right to CRIMINALLY ASSAULT someone.

They could have quietly removed him without engaging in the level of force shown on the video (he's not resisting at any point and there is no evidence on the tape that he instigated it).

indirik,
I'm not sure about that. I think it deals with a threatening move, which the video shows Stark was not a threat. Likewise, I don't think people should disrupt a debate or such by heckling. While we may not have a Constitutional right to freedom of speech (except against the gov) we do have a moral right to it and to allow others to speak.

radmod- Stark wasn't disrupting a debate or a speech. It appears (unless my eyes are dishonest) that he caught up with Allen in the hotel lobby. Allen won't face the public after the "Maccaca" debacle. Stark made his own opporunity to confront him without disrupting Allen's own freedom of speech.

"I think we have an administration today that is dysfunctional. And if it can't get itself together to organize a serious program for finding nuclear material on its way to the United States, then it ought to be replaced by an administration that can," - Richard Perle - I repeat, Richard Perle - on the shambles that is the Bush administration, and the danger they pose to the basic security of this country.

Sorry, indie, my bad. I forgot the part where I was supposed to say "unlike the Allen-Stark" confrontation. You are right, it was NOT a rally, etc.

indierik said: "Stark made his own opporunity to confront him without disrupting Allen's own freedom of speech."

I just watched the video- all I saw was an old, fat guy (who claims to be a 1L) shouting and being disrespectful. Typical lib.

During my first year in law school, I barely had time to eat- much less follow a politician around and maintain a fulltime blog.

Mike Stark has a great website.. callingallwingnuts.com and he was the guy in the backround who had the " Hannity sucks ass " sign at the Lamont celebration after he defeated Lieberman/ Stark has already pressed charges.. more power to him.. I hope he is quickly the richest man in the state of Virginia all at the tax-payers expense.

Ah, those wicked observational skills of LSSteve. Perhaps it would be best to view things dispationately and logically.
You know, dispassionate and logical: if you saw a man walk up, get attacked and then shout you are being logical and dispassionate. If you didn't, then, I'm sorry, you're an idiot.

I especially love how you just slur him by calling him an "old, fat guy". Do you guys have anything but name-calling on your side?

Somebody over @ Olbermann Watch.com is playing coy. That's right!!! Playing "coy"!!! Anybody whom was listening to Bill O' Reilly on that day that "Mike from Orlando had called in, myself, will instantly know what prompted Bill O' Wellian to say ""if you're listening, Mike, we have your phone number, and we're going to turn it over to Fox security, and you'll be getting a little visit." All he did was just say Keith Olbermann's name!!!! !!!! You know?!?!? Is Bill O' Reilly an Olbermannwatcher??!! I sincerely think so!!!!

The video begins "in medias res" so we really don't know what was happening prior to the beginning of the video. We do know that Stark was seeking to provoke a reaction and capture that reaction on video tape (see his blog for more on this). We also know that this was not a "public" event in that it occurred on private property and so Stark did not have a "right" to the in the hotel.

It is certainly not good PR for Allen to have that video out there. He already reacted badly to another vlogger guy (the "Macacca" guy) and this only feeds into that. I'd also say it raises questions about Allen in that he is responsible for his staff and they did not do a good job of managing the environment around Allen.

That said, I don't think the video makes Mike Stark look like some first amendement martyr - he comes across as wise-ass provacateur. He also falsely represented himself in stating that he was a UVA Law Student. He may be but that is not why he was there. UVA may have an issue with him invoking their name that way and it may even be grounds for disciplinary action.

As it relates to OlbyWatch, it just provides another example of the type of kooks KO is willing to put on the air at MSNBC.

"Stark joins Bev Harris among OlbyPals making news today."

You know I just noticed this comment. Interesting that BobbyC calls Harris an 'OlbyPal' yet in the previous entry Bobbyc indicates she is anything but.

Oh Robert Cox... silly you --- "Mike from Orlando" was bot having anything out of the ordinary happening to him when he was thrown to the ground. It natturally is hard to get close to anybody famous in politics. Just look at me... I tried to get close to one mister John Kerry to ask him a nice question. I could not even inch up to him... I tried to say something... but it was never picked up... AND NOW JOHN KERRY MAKES NATIONAL NEWS!!!!

Why is this blog so immature and sarcacatic?
I'm refurring to both writers and commentors.
If you could just write your opinion without name calling and childish insults it would improve the childish comments.
Just saying.

so true, FQ, so true.

Well, O'Lamely, I certainly bow to your name-calling ability... you are the master.

O'Lamely? Does that refer to O'liely? I'm certain it can't refer to me even though I was just before it.

Posted by: radmod at November 1, 2006 06:44 PM: "I'm sorry, you're an idiot."

No, radmod... you'd NEVER sink to name-calling.

And just who did I call an idiot, pray tell?

Well, first of all, radmod- you can't say "pray tell", because we all know that liberals are Godless heathens.

Second, you were calling me an idiot- because you don't agree with my opinion. Then, in typical liberal fashion, you admonish us for "name-calling".

But, I just paid homage to O'Lamely- who, in typical liberal fashion, not only name-calls, but advocates assination and murder of those who disagree with him.

...Of course OW doesn't have a spell check :(
(assination = assassination)

So, LS Steve, you are inferring that since I spoke about you and then said that a person who cannot see something coldly and logically is an idiot was calling you an idiot? How do you make that connection? Please enlighten me.

For those of you complaining about "name calling" (that means radmod and factoryqueen), do you ever criticize any of the following:

Coultergeist
"Comedian" Rush Limbaugh
Rush "Limpbaugh"
Bill "Orally"
"Fat Ass" Roger Ailes

I could go on....Hopefully that is a sufficient list for starters....

The power of the sun couldn't enlighten you, radmod.

I'm not "inferring" anything, radmod- I was simply pointing out that someone who asks: "Do you guys have anything but name-calling on your side?" engages in exactly the same behavior that he questions/disdains.

I've got to go since my battery is running down, but I'll enlighten you.

I spoke of LSSteve's observational skills.
Then in talking about dispassion and logic I said
if a, then b
if not a, then "you're an idiot."

Now Kerry was talking about Bush's state of denial. Then on education, he said:
if a, then b
if not a, then "you get stuck in Iraq."

There is no difference in the inference but you guys automatically claim Kerry was not talking about Bush but then automatically claim I was talking about LSS. Could that be a flip-flop?

Oops, battery's going, going ...

Wow, LawStudentSteve, you must've been a terrible student. During my first year of law school I had plenty of free time despite getting all my reading done. Of course, I learned early on that briefing cases was a useless waste of time. Maybe it took you a lot longer to figure that one out. And yeah, I graduated just fine in 3 years and passed the New York bar on the first shot, 2 months after graduation.

Just because you would've been incapable of doing something doesn't mean others are similarly incapacitated. Assuming that if you couldn't do it no one could just makes you seem like an pedantic, self-important fool. Then again, so does claiming to be a law student and yet not understanding the first thing about assault and battery in both the criminal and tortious sense.

I'd ask you which one of the elements YOU think was missing in that video or what possible defenses could be proffered, but I don't know that you'd understand what an element is and suspect you'd need a dictionary to look up the word proffered (hint, look under "proffer").

The man in question is not only a first year law student at UVA, he's also a former Marine and a father. Heckuva way to treat a constituent who is a veteran with a family, huh?

Hey, McDumbass... you're trying to tell me that during your first year (months?) of law school, you could miss days of classes, follow a politician around, and maintain a full-time blog?

And your assinine statment- "Heckuva way to treat a constituent who is a veteran with a family, huh?" falls flat in light of what Mr. Marine/LawStudent/Family Guy actually says... quoting from SEALED court documents, he shouts out- "did you spit at your first wife".

Yeah, Stark is a real class act. Like most libs.

I posted this on another thread but it works here too because of the double standard that KO will display tonight at the "outrage' over what happen to "poor" ol'Mike Stark..heres something I'm sure KO wasn't bothered by one minute..

2004
The New York Post reports that Franken, who recently signed a one-year deal with Progressive Media to host a live, three-hour liberal radio show to apparently challenge Rush Limbaugh, broke his glasses in the confrontation, but was not hurt after charging at a male supporter of Democrat presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche when he began yelling at Dean.

Franken, who said he was "deputized" by the Dean campaign to handle the heckler, said he did what he had to do to subdue the person trying to distract Dean from his message.

"I got down low and took his legs out," Franken stated, explaining he needed to fix his broken glasses with electrical tape after the fall.

Franken picked up the unidentified LaRouche supporter and body slammed him to the ground.

"I was a wrestler so I used a wrestling move," Franken exclaimed.

The police were called to the scene, but Franken was not immediately arrested for battery. The victim has not said whether he will pursue criminal charges against Franken.

Although he says he is not supporting Dean for president, Franken explained his physical action against the heckler was necessary to protect free speech.

"I'm neutral in this race but I'm for freedom of speech, which means people should be able to assemble and speak without being shouted down," Franken argued, neglecting the fact that he squelched the free speech rights of the heckler with his actions.

Afterwards, Franken said he would probably do it again if someone tried to vocally protest while a Democrat presidential candidate was speaking.

"I would have done it if he was a Dean supporter at a Kerry rally," he explained.

...damn spell check! assinine = asinine. When I name-call, I like to do it CORRECTLY!

Don't tell me you guys are even against Bev Harris? Do you not want a fair election where all votes are counted and we actually can do a recount where necessary. It has been six years and you have done nothing to fix this problem that will be worse next Tuesday. Maybe Robin Williams should become President.

Mike from Orlando. Keep it up. Stick it up the loofah kings butt. And now for the real issues. Ok Right wingers, now that the Kerry stuff is over, we turn it back to you. Do you support the war and all of the administration policies? Was it the right thing to do? Did they lie? Will you go under oath? Six days and counting.

"Why is this blog so immature and sarcacatic?
I'm refurring to both writers and commentors.
If you could just write your opinion without name calling and childish insults it would improve the childish comments.
Just saying."--Posted by factoryqueen

Substitute "show" for "blog" and I submit that this could be said of KO nightly!

Speaking as a moderate, I do agree with KO's overall premise(s) occassionaly--not always by any strectch. However, his side-show antics coupled with the unchallenged and hateful means by which he gets there is often petulant, sarcastic, disgusting, wrong and, quite honestly, undermines much of the legitimacy he so obviously longs for.

It seems to me that, like Bill O' from time to time, KO is really caught up in himself and in the kudos he gets from the politcos that he believes are mainstream, but are really on the fringe. It's almost as if he feeds the fringe what they want to further his feeling of being "in." Truth is, his antics are more likely driven by a desire to generate conversation about himself (like this) in the greater hope that'll boost his ratings...the former seems to be working, but not the all important latter.

As for Mike from Orlando, be honest about it...he is yet another example of an in your face, rude idealogue (they exist on both sides), that believes that it is ok for a human being to act like an untrained dog, relentlessly barking to get his point across (the guy just wants attention and a reaction). Like an animal.

Still hoping that either factoryqueen or radmod will be discouraged or outraged at the examples of name-calling that I brought up on here...

Crickets....I think I hear crickets.

Chirp, Chirp, Mike- the left is only outraged when us NEOCONS (a favorite name-call) do it.

I still hear the crickets too...

Steve:

As a war supporter, if you are not a Neocon, exactly what are you? Don't say 'Conservative' because pre-emptively invading foreign lands is not a Conservative principal. Never was, isn't now!

If you disagree, please make a 'conservative' case for this invasion and the subsequent "Nation Building" experiment gone bad.

Liberal Mike said: "pre-emptively invading foreign lands is not a Conservative principal. Never was, isn't now!"

How 'bout this, Mike- after the terms of the 1st Gulf War, very specific conditions were laid out for Sadam to continue to exist. He continued to violate those terms. After SEVENTEEN (17!) U.N. resolutions, (each of which authorized the use of force to remove Sadam from power), President Bush made a decision to remove him from power.

To me, that was a VERY conservative thing to do. You know, enforce the rules? Protect the county? Those sort of things that are foreign to liberals.

But, what do I know? I'm just a dumb NEOCON. Maybe I'm so stoopid that I should be stuk in Irak.

Did anybody notice Stark was wearing an Allen campaign button on his right breast. So he misrepresented himself to enable him to be where he wasn't supposed to be.

Posted by: LawStudentSteve at November 1, 2006 07:51 PM

Wow, I actually agree with you Steve! I ran a blog for about a month and a half and, quite frankly, it took up alot of time. (Mostly having to read all the comments and delete incivil and off-topic - from both sides)

Posted by: Ohio Mike at November 1, 2006 07:55 PM
I'm sorry but I didn't realize we were actually supposed to respond to that. Certainly, I would absolutely love to see KO and others stop the name-calling. The problem is that in the real world you have to fight fire with fire. Since it is the purview of the neo-cons to denigrate and belittle their foes it is necessary to do the same to them. Especially when they claim they don't do things like name-calling (re: BOR) and often that's all they do (re: Coulter). So I don't have a problem with name-calling when the other side starts it. And, yes, you know as well as I that BOR, Limbaugh, and especially 'Coultergeist' (that's a good one, I had never heard that) love to revel in name-calling and "started it." Like John Stewart I would love to see it end but, alas and alack, it ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

Posted by: Bob M at November 1, 2006 09:05 PM

Duh! Of course he was probably wearing an Allen button. If he didn't he probably wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the building since if you do things like put an anti-Rep bumper sticker on your car, they keep you from entering.

Was that really Pat Boone on Cavuto? Where did they dig him up from...is he really still alive ?
He talked like something from the tomb...looked like something from the tomb too.

Recent damning photographic evidence suggests that Mr. Stark indeed started the shoving...

Pat Boone is the perfect republican.. old, rich and ignorant of facts. I saw that addled old fart on Faux news,,, but who in hell gives a good godddamn about Pat Boone.. hey Pat do another heavy metal record. I wonder if he owns the worst channel in all of the TV nation with KDOC ? I remember Wally George on that channel.. sure am glad Wally died... here is to hoping that Pat is soon to follow

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Keith would put this clown on the show.

Just saw the photos of the lead-up to it (http://hotair.com/archives/2006/11/02/new-photos-show-kos-kid-shoved-his-way-towards-george-allen/

While the person that Stark pushes away may have been interfering with him, Stark does appear to be the instigator.

Sad that politics today relies on buffons like Mike Stark.