September 17, 2004

Shut Up, They Explained

A morning radio talk show took calls today from numerous people who have had their cars "keyed" or otherwise vandalized, their houses egged, their yard signs stolen, or have been harrassed by road-raged loonies on the highways. All because they display support, by bumper sticker or other symbols, of the Bush-Cheney ticket.

But most of the time the thugs who think Bush supporters deserve to be accosted, screamed at, or suffer personal property damage are smart fortunate enough to commit these idiocies out of the range of cameras.

Well, the Kerry campaign ran out of such luck the other day, when some Kerry supporters ripped a Bush-Cheney sign out of the hands of a 3-year old girl who was with her father at the airport in Huntington, WV, understandably making her cry. All the key players were captured on film, and the photo has been plastered all over the Internet today. What a nightmare for the Kerry people. This is worth many times more than 1000 words.

Michelle Malkin has more examples of that famous liberal tolerance.

It's reminiscent of what a certain actor said about "a chill wind blowing in this nation." Bush supporters don't deserve to be opposed on principles or debated on issues. They deserve to be punished.

UPDATE: It seems that the man in the photo with the crying 3-year old has had experiences like this before, according to one prominent lefty blogger. While this doesn't mean the whole sign-ripping incident was staged, it sure raises eyebrows.

UPDATE II: This is smelling worse all the time, as Captain Ed notes. As much as Bush backers would like to believe the original story, the blogosphere has done what CBS didn't do. Within a few hours it has shown its ability to be self-correcting through a system of "checks and balances" that the major media claims we don't possess. Like Jonathan Last, I wonder what kind of weirdo uses his kids as props in a political stunt.

UPDATE III: Michelle Malkin follows up. Yes, Phil Parlock, the father of the little girl has appeared at many political events, and has been harrassed and had his signs taken away before, but he says the boy in the picture in the pro-Kerry shirt is not his son, and by no means was the incident "staged" in any way.

Posted by dan at September 17, 2004 10:39 AM