Today, Rand Paul supporters are actually curb-stomping their political opponents and from what I see on the more serious internets, that’s regarded as no big deal.
Yesterday, a blogger referred to an argument between two economic commentators as a curb-stomping and that was a big deal.
I’m sure you can guess the difference between the two situations and what it is that made the rhetorical curb-stomping so much worse than the actual curb-stomping.
Update. The good news is that the monster who said “curb-stomp” in a post has apologized. Yay!
Nick
Clearly, if Obama had used the bully pulpit…
mistermix
You need to get it straight: that woman at the Rand Paul rally was walking where Paul supporters told her not to, and therefore, by McMegan’s reasoning, deserved to get hit by a 2×4, and was lucky to have merely been curb-stomped.
rikyrah
this is who they are. this is who they’ve always been. It takes a real man to put his foot on a woman’s head.
real men for Rand Paul.
ps-has Paul commented on this?
peach flavored shampoo
Is curb-stomping a shovel-ready project?
cleek
@rikyrah:
yup. he said violence is bad no matter which side does it.
cause he’s a weasel.
Chyron HR
@rikyrah:
He deplores the curb-stomp related activities that both sides engage in.
Svensker
@cleek:
Seriously? Really? Oy.
ed
Yes, a metaphorical curb-stomping is obviously way, way worse than the actual thing, but you’re missing the Larger Picture: Yes, the Brownshirts routinely beat up union organizers and socialists (actual ones), but Hitler was a vegetarian, like smelly hippies, so the Liberals are the True Fascists. QED!
Billy
McMegan has a peculiar relationship with abstraction.
Linda Featheringill
http://politics-and-world-5678.blogspot.com/2010/10/see-rand-paul-2010-protester-get-head.html
Link to what you guys seem to be talking about but the rest of us haven’t heard about.
That one guy was planning on curb-stomping, I think.
Dork
@mistermix: But being hit by a 2×4, according to McAddled, is at only 891 square-foot kilofarads of force, so its not a big deal.
Pete
Don’t you get it – Jon Chait talking about curb-stomping is what caused this!
Alternatively, it’s not a big deal because just yesterday Jon Chait was trivialising it.
I’m not sure which reality we inhabit, but I’m sure McMegan will be kind enough to inform us the rules of Calvinball today.
aimai
When I saw this headline this morning I thought “wow. Talk about instant Karma!” Usually the wheel turns more slowly than this, or the mills of god grind a little coarser. Or some darned metaphor. I’m really, really, really, going to enjoy McMegan’s next essay “see, I was right! All this metaphoric violence by pundits has led ineluctably to real violence by some people. See how prescient I was? And what about the Conway supporter who stepped on that one woman’s foot that time?”
aimai
beltane
You know, I’d like to laugh at McMegan here but I can’t, because she is really dirt to me. She and her brave little, woman-beating black shirts disgust me. If she objects to rhetorical violence so much, then maybe she could spare a moment to ponder the threat posed to our country by her beloved teabagging thugs.
El Cid
She’s lucky the man didn’t sue for possible injuries to his foot when she threw her head down and beat the bottom of his foot violently.
balconesfault
What’s with the running shoes? Don’t they know that proper curb stomping requires Doc Martens, or at least surplused combat boots?
This is the kind of shoddy amateurish performance you expect when keyboard clattering glibernerds take to doing things outside their area of expertise.
Guster
@Pete: Absolutely. This is Chait’s fault. He should be fired. If he isn’t, the double-standard proves that NPR is racist.
Bella Q
@cleek: The actual biological weasels of the world resent that comparison. Because they are much better than Baby Doc. And I hope Chait understands what his nasty headline did, and that he now apologizes to the woman who got actually curb stomped. It’s almost as bad as hurting McMegan’s fee fees.
General Stuck
If this were the sixties, The Curb Stomp would become an instant new dance, like The Locomotive, and that business with the hoops. Hula.
kay
@General Stuck:
Look at Rand Paul’s face in the clip, when he gets out of the car and sees the people gathered. He has complete contempt for those people and this process.
I think he’s too good and pure for the Senate.
General Stuck
@kay:
that, and he’s a goddamn lunatic.
General Stuck
I just now was able to find a copy of the tape that would play, and the guy actually put his full weight onto this small woman and compressed her abdomen quite a bit. Fucker could have caused some serious injury doing that. not a bit funny
Odie Hugh Manatee
@beltane:
Shhh! She was nice to DougJ so you better watch it!
;)
Omnes Omnibus
@kay: A Libertarian Galahad?
kay
@General Stuck:
It’s bad, in my opinion. He’s in some trouble.
He’ll be a martyr on the Right. Remember, Conway is the AG.
“The fix is IN!”
soonergrunt
People who worry about right-wing violence are alarmist.
Omnes Omnibus
@kay: I know the fact that charges against the stompers would be pursued by a county DA is immaterial, but it is, nevertheless, true.
kay
@Omnes Omnibus:
They pretty much have to pursue it, I would think. That last asshole sauntered over and deliberately and carefully assaulted her. He’s not a young man, either. Isn’t he embarrassed?
I’m sort of enjoying picturing the brave liberty lovers scared shitless right about now.
Bella Q
@General Stuck
*I think he’s too good and pure for the Senate.
that, and he’s a goddamn lunatic. *
ETA: FYWP block quote fail
True, that, and thank you. I needed the chuckle it brought. My friend from Pineville is certain that the good folks of the commonwealth have some sense, but they are quieter than Baby Doc’s posse. I quote from her recent email entitled “Bell County election view” after her week long trip with childhood friends:
I take some hope from this, as it is a report from locals.
DougJ
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
She wasn’t even nice, I just have a thing about cutting slack when I get a response, partly because when I respond to people who get nasty here, they frequently back off. I think it’s just common courtesy.
Nick
FYI: Two polls today show Paul up 13 and 8 points. Both have him at or over 50%, PPP says Aqua Buddha ad backfired badly
Steve M.
Henry Farrell reminds us that McArdle was for mob violence before she was against it.
Omnes Omnibus
@kay:
Me too. That doesn’t make us bad people, does it?
Judas Escargot
@mistermix:
You need to get it straight: that woman at the Rand Paul rally was walking where Paul supporters told her not to, and therefore, by McMegan’s reasoning, deserved to get hit by a 2×4, and was lucky to have merely been curb-stomped.
…and don’t you dare get angry about this, or outraged.
Only conservative feelings matter.
morzer
This is just what the NFL tried to warn us about last week. Leading with the head can injure other players. C’mon, Commissioner, step up to the plate and make the Valle fine six figures this time.
Lunarmovements
Here is a video that shows Rand Paul was within 15 feet or so of the incident as it happened. It does not show whether he saw the stomping take place.
I’m packing my bags as I type this. This is the limit for me. What’s the unemployment rate in Canada these days?
PurpleGirl
I just looked up “curb stomping” on the web. It appalls me. The man who assaulted the MoveOn.org protester needs to be in jail. No ands, ifs, or buts. He assaulted her and intended to do bodily harm.
Bella Q
I’m really tempted to send this link to the Fayette County Commonwealth Attorney or the Lexington Fayette Urban County police to see if it will assist them with the investigation, since it has photos.
PurpleGirl
@Lunarmovements: Sorry to disappoint you but Canada has very specific guidelines for immigration and it isn’t easy for foreigners to get a job there. You basically need to have one lined up before you move. You do have 6 moths to a year of living expense money in the bank? (Not being snarky.)
Paul L.
Doug J. is a liar.
I saw the video and it looks like one Rand Paul supporter stomped on the moonbat. The other supporters told him to stop.
Are you going to correct it Doug J. like you did with Lawn Jockey?
Pete
Was she wearing a Greg Mankiw mask? These are questions the leftist-media-Soros claque will not ask.
Steve
@Paul L.: It’s true, a bunch of people grabbed her, wrestled her to the ground, held her down, sat on her, etc. – but only one person actually stomped on her, so it was as if he acted alone. Maybe you and Kramer can go looking for the second stomper later.
DougJ
@Paul L.:
Someone else held her down. If this had truly been a lone person doing it, this would be different.
Lunarmovements
@PurpleGirl: Only if I’m willing and able to live on air and dirt and am not disinclined to defecate outdoors. Barring that, my answer would have to be ‘no’.
Tim F.
I wonder how many people noticed that the guy holding Lauren Valle down is also groping her. You can see it pretty clearly in the frame at the top of TPM’s page. These Paul supporters are class acts all around.
Paul L.
@DougJ:
She was taken down because she was bum-rushing towards Paul. Also notice she was wearing a wig. Why did she disguise herself?
JD Rhoades
..always— do not forget this, Winston— always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever.
This sort of shit is one of the main reasons that, as a liberal in a heavily red area of a heavily red state, I always travel armed.
kay
@Paul L.:
Jesus. That’s chilling. You’ve gone completely berserk. Keep your hands off other people, okay? Them’s the rules, no exception for conservatives who think they’re members of some roving police force.
Rand Paul looks like sort of a little guy. Was he frightened by the protester with the big scary sign? He should have stuck to sitting in an office billing Medicare. I don’t think he’s cut out for a public life.
El Cid
@Paul L.: This is correct. The crowd heroically stopped a presumed assassination attempt, by a villain evil enough to wear a wig.
Ash Can
@Tim F.: And Paul L is rushing to their defense. I’m not sure which makes him happier — that it was a woman who got beaten up, or that it was a liberal.
Pete
Maybe she wore a wig because she thought the Paulite faithful might seek some sort of reprisal for her actions at a later point. Perhaps they might overreact.
How silly of her.
b-psycho
@Paul L.: I think the camera being pointed at them was a factor…
DougJ
@Paul L.:
You’re right, she was asking for it.
morzer
@Paul L.:
Why does Rand Paul wear a wig?
Cat Lady
Fixt for accuracy.
Aron Leroy
How the F*** did this guy survive?! tinyurl.com/37mgcy8