Fox News Runs Damage Control For Rand Paul Re Assault On MoveOn.org Activist
Reported by Ellen - October 26, 2010 -
Last night (10/25/10), MoveOn.org activist Lauren Valle was tackled and then stomped on outside the Rand Paul/Jack Conway debate venue. It has since been determined that the stomper was a volunteer with the Paul campaign which subsequently dismissed him. In the wake of such a potentially damaging incident in one of 2010's hottest campaigns, who did Republican Paul turn to the morning after? Why, Fox News, of course. Predictably, Fox did its part to downplay the attack and promote Paul's talking points.
Paul appeared this morning on America’s Newsroom where host Martha MacCallum began the segment by trumpeting good news for Paul: his 7 point lead in the latest poll. The other host, Bill Hemmer described the MoveOn incident by saying, “A female protester getting roughed up during demonstrations in the parking lot while Rand Paul and Jack Conway were debating on the inside in Kentucky. Her shoulder stepped on after being heckled by two men there.”
While it appears to be true that Valle’s shoulder was stepped on, it’s also pretty clear from the video that her head was stepped on, too. Hemmer forgot to mention that she had been wrestled to the ground before she got the heel to the head. Nobody seemed interested, at least in this segment, in Valle’s condition, despite the fact that she suffered a concussion and was hospitalized overnight.
In a friendly tone that was notable for its lack of concern for what had happened and who might be responsible, MacCallum asked Paul, “What was your reaction that folks who were wearing Rand Paul tee shirts and hats treated this woman this way?” She might as well have asked, “What’s your spin?” Because that’s what she got and she seemed completely satisfied with it.
Paul said, “We want everybody to be civil. We want this campaign to be about issues. I will tell you that when we arrived, there was enormous passion on both sides (my emphasis). It really was something where you walk into a daze of lights flashing, people yelling and screaming, bumping up. And there was a bit of a crowd control problem. And I don’t want anybody, though, to be involved in things that aren’t civil. I think this should always be about the issues and is an unusual situation that so many people, so passionate on both sides jockeying back and forth and it wasn’t something that I liked or anybody liked about that situation. So I hope in the future it’s gonna be better.”
So Paul suggested that both sides were at fault, took no responsibility, made no condemnation or apology and didn’t seem especially remorseful. He did not say a word about Valle’s condition or welfare. Nor did he indicate making any attempt to find out which if any of the perpetrators were on his staff. But that was no problem for MacCallum. She said sympathetically, “Yeah, well, hopefully everybody out there will listen to that and as you rightly point out, there’s been a lot of tensions out there and a lot of excitement and a lot of passion, sometimes leading to things that we wish were not happening out there.”
Then, MacCallum helpfully changed the subject.
