This year’s crop of GOP candidates have been very aggressive in claiming the mantle of “Constitutional conservatives.” They claim reverance for the document (while telling us it doesn’t mean what 200 yrs of history says it means) and say we’ve lost our way. In fact, in the “Summer of Spittle” in 2009 anti-health care reform protestors claimed they had the right to protest at Town Hall meetings because the 1st amendment gives them this right.
Despite all the talk of the Constitution, a lot of these candidates hate the press. We’ve seen Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller handcuff a reporter for asking inconvenient questions. Now there’s this:
As the candidates arrived, a group of Paul supporters pulled a female MoveOn member to the ground and held her there as another Paul supporter stomped on the back of her head and neck.
According to the Louisville Courier Journal, “Lauren Valle of MoveOn.org approached Paul and tried to give him an “employee of the month award” from Republicorp…a fake business MoveOn created to symbolize what it says is the merger of the GOP and business interests controlling political speech.”
The video shows more than the initial story says. The woman didn’t “trip” and the head-stomping was not accident. She was wrestled to the ground and held down while a man stepped on her head. In the news clip, the woman is lucid and talking to reporters afterwards (but complains of a headache). Today we’re hearing the woman is in the hospital.
Christine O’Donnell’s campaign has also had some run-ins with the 1st amendment. Besides her now infamous “you’re telling that’s in the 1st amendment” gaffe, she’s also barred local news from covering her events because she didn’t like their coverage of her campaign. Yesterday, the News Journal was once again barred from an O’Donnell event.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell held a “Small Business Owners for O’Donnell” event this afternoon in Newark.
It was the fourth group to launch a “for O’Donnell” effort in recent weeks, preceded by medical professionals, Hispanics and sportsmen.
Minutes before the event started, Chris Merola, a member of O’Donnell’s communication staff, informed The News Journal that the paper would not be allowed to remain at the press conference.
Other media outlets, including Philadelphia and Salisbury television stations, were allowed to remain. The event, held at the Newark Regional Republican Headquarters, had been announced through a press release distributed by the campaign’s public relations firm.
Constitutional conservatives obviously don’t like the “Freedom of the Press” part of the 1st amendment. The Constitution means only what they want it to mean.