Nice.

And the jerk on the left with the stupid look on his face is holding a piece of the sign as well. I'm sure he'll make a great father some day. In between beers.

I guess the dad should be thankful the crowd didn't beat the hell out of him AND his daughter.

Ya think there's a chance that little girl will *ever* be a Democrat now?

Vic

Classy move by Kerry's supporters. I wonder if they called the little girl a "Nazi" as well?

Also notice the little blonde lad with his FISTS CURLED, as if he is about to hit somebody...

Read this from Atrios before taking this story too seriously. Atrios has noticed the remarkable resemblance between the "union thug" and a member of Phil Parlock's family, with the implication that the whole thing was staged to discredit the Republicans.

Anyway, waving banners for the opposing candidate at a rally is the real world equivalent of posting trolls in usenet. Why don't you freepi get a life?

Oops. Stupid mistake in post. For "Republicans" read "Democrats" :)

Tim, I agree with you that it wasn't the brightest idea to display a Bush banner during a Kerry rally, but I doubt it was staged. I can see the dad being clueless and bringing his daughter expecting nothing like this to happen, but I seriously doubt he would risk his daughter if the intent was to cause a disruption.

Funny that the only other instance of seen of something like this was on the Dennis Miller show (granted, he's on the Right) where they showed a video of a Dem punching out a Rep in a similar situation.

Vic

The father is a moron for using his daughter to make a political statement. Really, why is he putting a political sign in a 3-year-old's hands, and then putting her on his shoulders so she would be seen by the world? Was it for her? Did she ask if she could attend the rally for Kerry to support *her* candidate? Is it really a smart parenting move to use your child to make *your* political protest?

What a jerk.

Now, that said, the people who tore the sign from her hands are jerks, too. But, once again, we see the actions of a few being assigned to the entire, national group of people who support Kerry.

I'm sure all you conservatives are just like that college Republican kid who kicked a woman who was on the ground at the RNC, aren't you?

David, could you provide a link to proof that:

"a four-year-old girl was at a rally for the President holding a sign that said, "My Grandfather lost his job, now it's your turn.""

Oh my, the Atrios link posted in comment #4 is a must-read. Turns out, the guy has a long history of going to Democratic rallies and then talking to the media about how he and his family were roughed up, had their signs torn up, etc.

At worst, he's a scammer. At best, he's a lousy father for bringing his daughter into such treacherous territory! Gee, however could he not have known this might not be a safe environment for her?

More bullshit by zealots in the US political arena.

Bush rallies are staged and by invitation only

So Bush rallies are staged but everyone turns out for Kerry of their own free will because his supporters feel so strongly about him? I find that hard to believe.

Hal, do you have any information to back up that statement?

BTW, I agree that it was idiotic to bring a 3 year old to a rally of the opposition and put a sign in her hands.

Vic

Hal,

The only link I still have, though I read this originally in an online newspaper site, is this link to a pro-Kerry web page that mentions the incident:

http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?68281/86665

BTW - Bush's Town Hall-style meetings, are invitation only, but most rallies are in open public places and many times, opposition supporters will show up. I think it's kind of tacky, but this is a free country.

Just a note on the picture above. Newspaper do report that the father also took his 8-year-old son and his 21-year-old son, so that could be the two people who are on either side of the father and his daughter. On that score, I don't know, so lets not jump to conclusions too quickly.

Various stories have circulated out there, but the guy with the baseball cap could just as easily have been trying to cheer his little sister up and keep some of the others in the picture, such as the screaming woman, at bay.

The overall fact is, we should ALL make room for descent. If taking our kids to rallies helps them to grow up with more excitement around and awareness of our elected officials, that is all to the good.

Thanks,

David

Vic, Bush does give most of his speeches at invitation-only rallies - and any else trying to get in, or who does manage to get in, is escorted out.

Kerry just holds come one, come all rallies.

It's in all the media - do your own research.

That link is useless as it is not even a story, but a comment by one of the posters there.

That has no credibility at all.

The overall fact is, we should ALL make room for descent.

Not to mention dissent. Otherwise, we'll all be heading into the flames, if you know what I mean. ;-)

If taking our kids to rallies helps them to grow up with more excitement around and awareness of our elected officials, that is all to the good.

Taking a preschooler to a rally is one thing. Taking her to a rally and sticking a poster in her hand -- which she can't even read -- and turning her into your political protest mouthpiece, is quite another.

And it's interesting to note that the Left is blaming the father for DARING to take his child to a political rally, but not condemning whoever it was that RIPPED APART the sign the child was holding in her hands, therefore making her cry.

You conveniently skipped over my first comment, RJ, where I said the people who tore up her sign were jerks.

And I also criticized the father not so much for taking the child to the rally but for sticking a sign in her hands, one he knew would cause, if nothing else, a ruckus.

So the father isn't any less of a jerk for using his child the way he did. He put her in a contentious position. Same is true for Dems who bring their preschoolers to the opposition's rally and stick signs they can't even read in their hands.

I should add that it looks like the father brought his children there TO cause a ruckus. He used them, an 11-year-old and a 3-year-old, to make HIS political statement.

That's family values for you!

RJ, based on that picture, the only verifiable proof on it, is the father who put his daughter in a volatile position,

How is that position "volatile"? Because he was surrounded by Democrats, and therefore cannot expect his daughter's personal safety to be assured?

"apparently according to links in the comments, on more than one occasion."

So...he goes to a lot of political rallies? The monster!

"Leave it to the Right to defend using children as your weapon and not make any comment on that."

How is he using her as a "weapon"? Do Democrats want to ban children from holding signs in their next anti-Second Amendment bill?

The guy is being contentious, and he wants his kids involved in it for some reason. So he goes to these rallies using his children as a shield, more than a weapon, I'd say.

And again, you read only some of the words people have written. It's not that the guy goes to political rallies. It's that he goes, brings his young kids, and sticks signs in their hands. [Maybe we should ask the 3-year-old why she's voting for Bush this November. I'm sure she's quite articulate on the big issues.] Then he acts surprised when people don't like it.

I don't think anyone should be tearing up anyone else's signs [or, if you're our current president, having the secret service arrest people who oppose you when they voice their opinions]. But I'm also the parent of young children, and I'd never stick a political sign in their hands even at home, never mind at the opposing party's rally. It's stupid and doesn't garner any sympathy from me.

People should leave their children out of their political battles.

By weapon I am referring to where he states that he was accosted/harassed twice before in similar protests. Knowing that, for the THIRD time, he takes a young child and puts a Bush sign in her hand. What. pray tell, do you think he thought was going to happen? Third times a charm apparently. By weapon, he intentionally did that to his own daughter, used her and was willing to put her in a situation where she was going to cry, get press coverage over it and use that as a weapon against the left. His intent was to publicly harm/shame the left, because he KNEW it was going to happen. His daughter's anguish was his weapon. That's what I gather anyway, by reading his own words. His definition of family values obviously differs from mine.

He also neglected to high-tail it out of there once his daughter got upset. He stayed around and faced the cameras.

Again, none of which is a defense of anyone tearing a sign from an adult or a child.

So, if Democrats brutalize you and your family once, or twice, you should just take this as a lesson that your free speech rights are forfeit against the mob?

So, if Democrats brutalize you and your family once, or twice, you should just take this as a lesson that your free speech rights are forfeit against the mob?

Not at all. I've never been to a political rally but I've seen them on tv. Republican rallies are very orderly, people sit in their seats, stand for ovations, and fan themselves with their pamphlets. Their 'concerts' are..well, conservative. Liberals, of which Democrats are a part of (rather than the other way around), are more animated about their beliefs. Of course that does not condone ripping a sign from a child, but the ones I've seen on tv are more like 'events' rather than 'programs'. It's a rally, perhaps some people have forgotten what the definition of rally is? (to muster - to arouse for action).

So basically, no, one's free speech rights are not forfeit. If you go to a Britney Spears concert and are on the front row and get bumped around, that doesn't mean you can't go there and speak (although in that case, nobody will hear you), it just means if you do go to the front row, expect to get bumped around. Smart people would then leave their toddlers off the front lines, unless of course they were willing to terrorize their own child for political gain.

Not defending the guy for what I would call baiting the crowd, but there's a big difference between being jostled and having a sign ripped away from you.

Vic

I guess for the analogy to be 100% perfect, someone would be having to wave a 'Celine Rocks' sign on the front row of a Britney concert.

The point being, I don't condone what the sign-ripper did, but I see a man using his child's fright for political gain, and right-wingers blogging it under titles like 'thugs for kerry', trying to imply that the criminal element is 'for kerry', and to me that is more telling.

One sign-ripper does not a political party make. Thousands of bloggers distorting the events with the implication of 'Democratic morality' comes much closer to defining a political party (in this case, Republican) for me.

Why don't you get your facts straight, David, before you go spouting yer stoopid Republican spinsanity.

The man seen to the left of Parlock (in the backward green baseball cap & union t-shirt), the supposed 'Kerry-Edwards' supporter & union man, is none other than Parlock's son.

Democratic 'thugs' who hate children?

Actually, it looks like it's Phil Parlock who hates children - see, this isn't the first time Mr. Parlock has made it into the papers after being "pounced on" at a Democratic rally. After he and his 12-year-old son Louis smuggled Bush signs into an Al Gore event back in 2000, Louis apparently hoisted a girl onto his shoulders.

According to the Charleston Daily Mail, "'She walked up and said 'I'll get on your shoulders and hold a sign,' " Louis said. While she was sitting on Louis' shoulders waving a Bush-Cheney sign, a man who identified himself as a volunteer for the Gore campaign tried to pull the sign out of the girl's hands, Parlock said. He pulled so hard that Louis and the girl fell over. 'That sounds like an exaggeration,' said Sarah Feinberg, spokeswoman for Gore's West Virginia campaign."

And - would you believe it - Parlock was a victim of nasty liberals at a Clinton campaign event back in 1996 as well! Again, according to the Charleston Daily Mail, "The Huntington man said he was knocked to the ground by a Clinton supporter when he tried to display a sign that read 'Remember Vince Foster' ... 'It must have been a strict Democrat who did this,' Parlock said.

Yup, our Phil certainly has a habit of complaining to the media about Democratic "thuggery." Kinda makes you wonder why he took his young daughter to the event last week.
But then, once you find out that Parlock has a personal relationship with the photographer that snapped the above pic, it makes more sense..

And that Parlock even happened to be around when his local Republican party headquarters were shot at by a unknown assailant ...well, it just kinda makes you think.

Well, it makes some of us think, but obviously not you, David. All the truth is available if you only bother to track it down.

This man is a known agitator, manipulating the media & making Joseph Goebbles proud.

Ever vigilant,
Sniper

Did anyone notice that the man in the cap and white shirt, behind and to the left of the father and daughter, has his sign upside down?

Where do you think all of the education dollars allocated to government subsidized programs is actually going?

Oh come on, Bush rallies are practically DIRECTED and fake as heck! Rally attendees are SCREENED for their loyalty to Bush. Look what happened to the mother of the deceased soldier who spoke up at a rally where Laura Bush was speaking, they ARRESTED her for trespassing when she had a TICKET to attend the rally! Un-fucking-believable!