Mike Stark Physically Attacked by Allen Staffers

Mike Stark has a huge following on Daily Kos. He is a man of real courage and creativity. After the now famous "macaca" slur by Virginia Senator George Felix Allen, Mike confronted Allen at a campaign event and asked him point blank if he had ever used the "N" word. Allen's negative response, we soon learned from old college teammates, was a lie.

Some weeks back, a diarist on Daily Kos posted that Allen had sealed arrest records and encouraged Virginia Kossacks to go investigate. I helped perform CPR on that diary while it was expiring because I wanted to know what was in those records!

Well we still don't know what is in those records, but Mike Stark, at a campaign event today, asked the Senator point blank. The response? Mike was grabbed, put in a head lock, and brought to the ground by Allen staffers. Apparently, Allen would rather the world not know about those arrest records -- especially not now, one week before the election, when the candidate with integrity (Jim Webb) is passing him up in the polls!

Mike Stark plans to sue George Felix Allen, as he notes in this letter to NBC.

So very interesting: Mike Stark, a Marine for four years, Jim Webb and John Kerry, both also veterans, are getting attacked by cowards who never served yet try to pretend that they speak for the men and women in our armed forces. I don't think their strategy is going to work much longer...

What a great way to start the day! Yes! (with Two UPDATES)

Progressives like me have been chomping at the bit to scream the truth to those Americans who listen to the despicable lies and distortions from Republican talking heads. We put up our blogs with a snowflake's hope that our words will make a difference. If only the Democratic talking heads would shout out the truth! But too often, they disappoint. That courage to stand up to Republican lies fueled the excitement for Howard Dean. That courage to stand up to Republican lies is fueling a ratings surge for Keith Olbermann. Sometimes we see a courageous spark from John Kerry. Today I present to you a flaming torch from John Kerry, courtesy of salvador on Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/31/12192/264

"If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq . It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it. These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men. And this time it won't work because we're going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions. No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq."

Thank you, thank you, thank you, John Kerry!

UPDATE 1: This New York Times article provides helpful context.

UPDATE 2: This is the joke that Kerry botched:

Kerry was supposed to say, "I can't overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq."

Here is the CNN story that provides the quote.

Tons of Information About Races & Candidates

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

--AZ-01: Rick Renzi

--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

--CA-04: John Doolittle

--CA-11: Richard Pombo

--CA-50: Brian Bilbray

--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

--CO-05: Doug Lamborn

--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell

--CT-04: Christopher Shays

--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

--FL-16: Joe Negron

--FL-22: Clay Shaw

--ID-01: Bill Sali

--IL-06: Peter Roskam

--IL-10: Mark Kirk

--IL-14: Dennis Hastert

--IN-02: Chris Chocola

--IN-08: John Hostettler

--IA-01: Mike Whalen

--KS-02: Jim Ryun

--KY-03: Anne Northup

--KY-04: Geoff Davis

--MD-Sen: Michael Steele

--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

--MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent

--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

--NV-03: Jon Porter

--NH-02: Charlie Bass

--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

--NM-01: Heather Wilson

--NY-03: Peter King

--NY-20: John Sweeney

--NY-26: Tom Reynolds

--NY-29: Randy Kuhl

--NC-08: Robin Hayes

--NC-11: Charles Taylor

--OH-01: Steve Chabot

--OH-02: Jean Schmidt

--OH-15: Deborah Pryce

--OH-18: Joy Padgett

--PA-04: Melissa Hart

--PA-07: Curt Weldon

--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

--PA-10: Don Sherwood

--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

--TN-Sen: Bob Corker

--VA-Sen: George Allen

--VA-10: Frank Wolf

--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

--WA-08: Dave Reichert

"Unbelievable" Just Doesn't Cut it Anymore

I offer up a little reading for you today, brought to you thanks to DailyKos:

What would happen if a Republican sectretary of state was running for governor and losing badly? Hmmm. Can a secretary of state disqualify his own opponent in the governor's race? If not, can he have his subordinate do it for him? Maybe. He will try!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/17/112822/73

What would happen if the Republicans chairing the committees responsible for overseeing important aspects of the Iraq war didn't know why Sunnis and Shiites were fighting each other and what each side wanted? Perhaps they wouldn't understand what an impossible mess their fearless leader concocted for us:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/opinion/17stein.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

A few more questions: What will happen this time if exit polls disagree with official vote tallies? What will happen over the next two years if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate? What will happen if the final strongholds of our Constitution fall in the next two years? Ya' can't help but wonder...