When wingnuts attack:
I spotted Scozzafava later as she was walking to the parking lot, and asked her: ” Assemblywoman, do you believe that the health-care bill should exclude coverage for abortion?” She didn’t reply. I asked her twice more. Silence.
After she got into her car, I went to my car and fired up my laptop to report the evening’s events.
Minutes later a police car drove into the parking lot with its lights flashing. Officer Grolman informed me that she was called because “there was a little bit of an uncomfortable situation” and then took down my name, date of birth, and address.
“Maybe we do things a little differently here, but you know, persistence in that area, you scared the candidate a little bit,” Officer Grolman told me.
“[Scozzafava] got startled, that’s all,” Officer Grolman added. “It’s not like you’re in any trouble.”
But is that really what happened? Not according to a Scozzafava aide who wrote Ben Smith:
Agree or not with Dede Scozzafava’s positions, she should still be afforded a basic level of respect. Asking tough questions is one thing, but acting like John McCormack did tonight shows a complete lack of decency. This self-described reporter repeatedly screamed questions while our candidate was doing what she is supposed to be doing: speaking with voters (remember, those who will decide this election?). And then this “reporter” followed the candidate to her car, continuing to carry on in a manner that would make the National Enquirer blush. That’s the truth, but maybe that doesn’t matter to your readers.
These morons spent the whole summer fighting for the right to pack heat at political events, and then are surprised that when you chase a politician screaming at them to their car, they might call the cops. I’m not surprised McCormack, who apparently was hired by the Weekly Standard to make Goldfarb look smart by comparison, wouldn’t understand that. But for the rest of us, we call that self-preservation and common sense.