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Joe Killian Assaulted At Palin Rally
BlueNC - The people's think tank — Hat tip to Mark Binker over at Capital Beat for pointing me to Joe's blog: “Oh, you think that’s funny?!” the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. “Yeah, that’s real funny…” he said. And then he kicked the back of leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground. From my position there I saw the bottoms of a number of feet almost accidentally stomping me to death as the two political camps screamed back and forth, the music continued to blare and some of the Obama crowd moved the large bearded man and ...

Sign of the Times
Talking Points Memo — Reporter assaulted at Palin rally in North Carolina.

Beat the press
Ben Smith's Blog — The McCain campaign, today unhappy about the attention Joe the plumber is getting, has been running against the press off and on for a while, and the hostility from some supporters to the press does seem to be getting more intense. As usual, anecdotes are just that. But this one, from a reporter working on a piece for the Greensboro News-Record, stands out. He writes that he wandered to the back of a Palin event to talk to some protesters: I sidled up to one of the Obama supporters and asked why they were there, what they were trying to accomplish. ...

McCain/Palin supporter kicks reporter to the ground at Palin event
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth — From the News Record: We're big boys and girls who put ourselves out there and part of the job is tacking flack from both sides. Certainly I have heard complaints from Democrats about "the media" and have been accused of being too conservative. But I have never had the sense that a Democrat was going to get physical in that kind of way. Even though McCain and Palin have taken a kinder gentler tone in their speeches, there was still a real undercurrent of anger at the rallies I covered this week. After today I'm wondering - and this is just wondering at this ...

Getting Violent
Oliver Willis — McCain rally attendee kicks a journalist. Imagine what these people will do if/when Obama wins?

White Hot Hatred at Palin Rally
Hoffmania! — ... A reporter got slew-footed by a McCain-Palin fanatic who kicked his legs out from behind. Cowards. I sidled up to one of the Obama supporters and asked why they were there, what they were trying to accomplish. As he was telling me a large, bearded man in full McCain-Palin campaign regalia got in his face to yell at him. "Hey, hey, " I said. "I'm trying to interview him. Just a minute, okay? " The man began to say something about how of course I was interviewing the Obama people when suddenly, from behind us, the sound of a pro-Obama ...

Palin Praises The "Energy" Of The Crowds At Her Rallies
TPM Election Central — ... There's no quibbling with one thing she said: Her crowds are indeed "supportive." As for the "energy" at these rallies, the reporter who was assaulted at a recent Palin gathering might find that a bit of an understatement. ...

McCain Camp Ramps Up Press War Over "Joe The Plumber" Coverage
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... . Much of that disdain for the media has carried over into the McCain crowds. During the Republican National Convention, the audience taunted the NBC News set (a station that campaign has viewed as hostile). On Friday the anger was brought to a more alarming level when a member of a McCain-Palin crowd physically assaulted a reporter for the North Carolina-based Greensboro News-Record. ...

McCain Camp Ramps Up Press War Over "Joe The Plumber" Coverage
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... . Much of that disdain for the media has carried over into the McCain crowds. During the Republican National Convention, the audience taunted the NBC News set (a station that campaign has viewed as hostile). On Friday the anger was brought to a more alarming level when a member of a McCain-Palin crowd physically assaulted a reporter for the North Carolina-based Greensboro News-Record. ...

It Finally Happened: Reporter Assaulted at Palin Rally
MoJo Blog Posts: mojo — ... This was a long time coming. A reporter in North Carolina was assaulted at a Palin rally when he tried to interview Obama supporters who were protesting on the scene. ...

And The Violence Mounts
Open Left - Front Page — ... threat and the liberal activist group's Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized Thursday, reflecting mounting tensions over its role in registering 1.3 million mostly poor and minority Americans to vote next month. Attorneys for ACORN - short for the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now - were notifying the FBI and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division of the incidents, said Brian Kettenring, a Florida-based spokesman for the group. And against reporters: Joe was working with me on a package for tomorrow's ...

Remainders: Schultz splits
Michael Calderone's Blog — Reporter attacked at Palin rally. More ugliness. Unlike McCain, liberal host Schultz tires of JTP talk on "Fox and Friends." Greta: Why's Obama attacking Fox? Secret Service disputes Milbank's claims. Hiatt discusses WaPo's Obama endorsement. Meet The Daily Show's secret weapon. Tribune company drops the AP. So does the Columbus Dispatch. Sarah Palin on SNL tomorrow. Sklar leaves HuffPost. Related: Arianna's ...

Friday's Mini-Report
Political Animal — ... "on the verge of an agreement that would spell out the conditions under which American troops would remain in Iraq and a timeline for their eventual departure." * McCain/Palin supporters have taken to physically assaulting journalists . Seriously. * ...

Wolverines!
Balloon Juice — ... or attack ACORN workers. He didn’t kick a reporter to the ground at a campaign rally. It isn’t Bob Gleason’s problem if some party faithful take his words more seriously than he does. ...

Death threats and vandalism
The Reality-Based Community — ... weeks before an election in which one of the campaigns has made ACORN an issue isn't hard to read. I'm still looking for anyone willing to defend the accusations of "voter fraud" and related Republican vote-suppression efforts in a bloggingheads.tv. debate. So far, no takers. Update Obama supporters attend Palin rally, chant things. Palin crowd members assault reporters, one of them with a thrown rock. (That's felony assault with a deadly weapon, if you're keeping score at home.) Secret Service and campaign staff eject Obama supporters, and not only don't have rock-thrower ...

Beating the press
The Reaction — ... Literally. With the GOP in general and McCain and Palin specifically villianizing the 'liberal media' as the mortal enemy of conservatives I suppose it was only a matter of time before the ...

NC: Greensboro reporter attacked by McCain/Palin supporter at rally
pandagon.net - we are the public option — ... how hard it would be to keep my job if I got into a fistfight with a guy at a political rally. Killian then looked for security or some member of law enforcement, but when he returned, the Palin bootlicker was gone. More below the fold. You won’t believe the reason for this violent assault. Ed Cone: In the comments at N&R political honcho Mark Binker’s blog, Guilford County GOP media chair Tony Wilkins says he spoke to the bearded man, and that the perp was angry over ...

Conservative News Busters, Egging on Violence Against Reporters?
NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias — ... Some reporters aren’t satisfied with claiming McCain and Palin are encouraging supporters to get violent. Mark Binker of the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record reports on how his colleague Joe Kilian was kicked in the leg by a Palin fan and is suggesting that people who peddle that "liberal media" message might be egging on violence against reporters: ...

Heckling voters
Political Animal — ... mostly black, and the "angry protesters" were "nearly all were white." Stop and think about that for a second. In the United States, in the 21st century, we have Republican activists protesting a presidential election . McCain/Palin supporters have taken to heckling, mocking, and shouting at people who want to participate in the democratic process. Literally. And when they're not trying to intimate voters at polling places, Republican activists are slashing voters' tires , kicking journalists to the ground , attacking middle-aged women going door to door on ...

Erik Ose: McCain and Palin Inciting Violence in North Carolina
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... News & Record reporter Joe Killian was kicked to the ground by a Palin supporter as he was trying to interview protestors at the rally who backed Obama. From Joe's blog: "Oh, you think that's funny?!" the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. "Yeah, that's real funny..." he said. And then he kicked the back of my leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground. An MSNBC sound technician was hit in the head by a rock thrown by another Palin supporter at this same rally. ...