Well, someone’s getting a little overzealous in Brownie land. Via Twitter:
BROWN BULLYING TACTICS WATCH: Report of Coakley signs burned in Hyannis…hearing arrests made-send photos/accounts
Anyone down the Cape got any more on this? Please post reports, photos, whatever, in the comments.
UPDATE: Not clear that the report of arrests was accurate (at least not so far), though it appears that the report of arson was.
UPDATE: Here’s a pic.
FURTHER UPDATE: Good Lord. So when people at Brown’s rallies shout out garbage like this, does he just let it go by? Or does he man up and shut them down? Sadly, I think I probably know the answer.
“I’ll tell you what,” Brown said, using a megaphone to address the crowd. “There’s negative campaigning, and then there’s malicious campaigning.”
“She’s malicious!” a man in the crowd cried out. “She’s a phony!” shouted another. “Shove a curling iron up her butt!” a third man interjected a few moments later.
david-whelan says
In the event that a Coakley supporter acts like a complete ass, will you be reporting on that? I ask simply because given the emotion of these next few days we are apt to see stolen signs and bad behaviour on both sides.
<
p>I await your response.
david says
It’s “burned signs.” That’s arson, and there are reports of arrests. There’s a difference between being a “complete ass” and a felon. That’s my response.
david-whelan says
So will you report a felon that is committed by a oakley supporter? By the way, stealing is considered a crime. My point is that by 8 PM Tuesday evening both sides will have proven to have among its’ ranks a few idiots and aholes.
kathy says
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2…
<
p>Liberals aren’t Brown shirts by and large, because they believe in the rule of law. Can’t really say the same for the right-wing.
david-whelan says
Coming from the party of DiMasi and Wilkerson (to name a few) you got a lot of balls. There are creaps and aholes on both sides. Thankfully you and I are neither a creap or an ahole.
<
p>Introduce yourself sometime.
kathy says
It’s a completely different kettle of fish when you subvert democracy by jamming phone lines, intimidating voters, purging rolls of African-American voters (see: FL, Katharine Harris, Choicepoint), and steal votes via electronic voting machines (see: OH and FL). No, I’m not a creep and neither are you. You’re probably just misinformed and brainwashed by Limbaugh et al.
david-whelan says
I think he’s a damn fool. Again, introduce yourself sometime.
stomv says
but it isn’t always a felony. Campaign signs are inexpensive enough that unless stealing them steps on other laws, it’s unlikely to be a felony. Arson, on the other hand, is an entirely different kettle of fish. Standard IANAL disclaimer and whatnot.
<
p>P.S. nice move — lower the threshold and then reach out for “the other side did it too” argument. Neither side is perfect, ’tis true. That’s not at all relevant to the discussion though.
johnt001 says
Is that still a crime on the books?
amberpaw says
Where I come from, threatening sodomy is “fighting language” and not only disgusting, but illegal.
frankskeffington says
Rob’s having the same fun David is having, yet your silence over at RMG is deafening. (And while most everyone knows the connection…you’re new to the scene and I just wanted to make sure you knew it in a different time and place, you call me Festus .)
michaelbate says
Nixon’s defense to the Watergate charges was that “everybody does it.”
<
p>In the 2008 election, we saw a vivid contrast between the behavior of McCain-Palin supporters (especially at Palin rallies) calling “Kill him” about Obama. I do not recall any such incidents at Obama or Biden events.
<
p>The fact is, as I have noted previously, that the nastiness of the Brown-shirts is reaching a new low, at least where I live. For the first time ever, after numerous elections, a sign was stolen from my property. In the past, while sign holding, I have been able to carry on civil discussions with members of the opposite party.
<
p>The fact is that there is a lot of raw hatred out there. I personally saw it last summer with the people who disrupted Town Halls, and we are seeing it again now, as right wing extremist hate groups invade (their word) MA.
petr says
… to see the truth, even more than it is in mine.
<
p>
<
p>There are people all along the political spectrum who may, at any time, act like complete asses. That’s not the point. The point is, one end of the spectrum, as it is currently constituted, contains more than it’s fair share of vicious and sadistic people. Not your garden variety jerk, but real low-down and mean people.
<
p>Now, if you truly believe what you profess to believe, it is in your interest to get that sadistic element out of your party before they turn on you. And they will.
david-whelan says
Bagged! I’ll work on being more balanced.
anne says
I guess that’s what they mean by the “enthusiasm gap.”
johnt001 says
…all over town this week. Is it a funny coincidence that, in almost every case, there’s a nearby neighbor with a Brown sign? I don’t think so…
peter-porcupine says
First – clarification – the vulgar remark was made in western Mass at a DIFFERENT large rally, and is wrong.
<
p>I’ve checked Cape Cod Times, Cape Cod Police & Fire Blog and CapeWide News (the latter two are a virtual transcription of police calls and logs, including photos of suspects) and NONE have any mention of the incident, let alone ‘arrests’. So where are these arrests reported?
<
p>Any – ANY – corroboration of the arson? By ANY source independent of the Coakley campaign?
<
p>Because destroyed and stolen signs are nothing new, frankly.
jarstar says
I had my Obama signs stolen twice in ’08. Nothing new, indeed.
peter-porcupine says
apricot says
WTF?
OK people do shitty things with signs during campaigns. But there is a negativity to the Brownies that seasoned volunteers/voters have said, “I have NEVER felt this before.”
<
p>People giving 14 year olds the finger… Stealing signs with impunity…
<
p>I dunno. There’s a crappy feel in the air.
david-white says
Last week somebody stole our Coakley sign in Westwood. It may have been a Coakley supporter in search of sign for him/herself, but I sort of doubt it (I think they would have found a different way to get one). I strongy suspect somebody motivated to “work” for Scott Brown removed it.
<
p>Two signs have replaced the one that was stolen.
<
p>I suspect the Brown crowd is getting a little nervous about the campaign. I believe the final surge belongs to Martha Coakley who will better protect the interests of Massachusetts citizens in Washington.