Who hasn't wanted to body slam a journalist?

[gunsmith]

  Especially The Guardian 

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/politics/reporter-alleges-greg-gianforte-body-slammed-him-in-bozeman/article_9df533bb-9919-51aa-8d0d-5d5cb4e48923.html

Seems like the reporter like to jab stuff into the personal space/face of politicians and caught a proper response.
I hope the R wins and the wanna be Kinky Friedman loses .

[DittoHead]

a proper response

Sorry, but no.

[MechAg94]

Proper? 

If that was a typical response, reporters would generally be a lot more polite.   

[Angel Eyes]

Too bad there's no video, 'cause I don't think that's ever gonna get old.

[KD5NRH]

Too bad there's no video, 'cause I don't think that's ever gonna get old.

I'm calling BS on the body slam.  Guy was up and talking normally within 2-3 seconds of the supposed slam, and even a fairly good martial artist taking a serious fall that he knew was coming on a good mat is quite often going to need more time than that to recover. 

Then there's the description: they claim Gianforte "grabbed the reporter by the throat with both hands and slammed him to the ground behind him."  I may not know every martial arts technique in existence, but I've never seen a throw from a two handed throat grab unless there's a GSD-to-chihuahua disparity in size and strength.  At least one site says Gianforte is 6'2" and 195 pounds, so a little taller at my weight, and I doubt I could throw the ~90 pound 16 year old girl who occasionally uses me as a defensive techniques dummy that way.  (You know you're in a martial arts class when an underage girl can tell you "Pull my hair...harder, like you really mean it...yeah, just like that" right in front of an off duty cop and nobody thinks it's weird.)

Sounds more like Gianforte tried to push the reporter away, reporter resisted to the point where he fell on his own, and I'm not sure what happened to his glasses, but nobody casually states "you just broke my glasses" right after taking any sort of hit to the face serious enough to break glasses.

Or maybe the recorder shut down for 18.5 minutes of battle royale.

[zxcvbob]

They're walking back the "grabbed around the neck" story, now that the damage is already done.

[gunsmith]

YES!!!

Very pleased, LOL!!!

The simpletons / dinosaur media must be pulling their hair out.
Only Democrats are allowed to assault people, I had a feeling he would apologize, glad he did
LOL LOL LOL.

[RoadKingLarry]

And it looks like he won.

[makattak]

Apparently Montana voters at his press conference actually cheered when he mentioned assaulting the reporter.

And laughed at any media present while going to vote for Gianforte.


Hey, any on the left reading this? I know you are aghast at all this and think it's hypocrisy on the right because we're always the ones talking about the violence on the left.

It's not hypocrisy because the right has noticed you don't really care about political violence (from the left) and has decided that it can't be a one-way street.

You want the attacks (literal ones) to stop? Police your side and stop covering for them with the "mostly peaceful" crap while tarring the right as "VIOLENT!" when they have actual peaceful protest. (i.e. the Tea Party) They were angry, but not violent.

I'm not sure the genie can go back in the bottle, but it's pretty clear people are fed up. Trump should have been a wake up call and instead you doubled down. That's not going to help.

Related? People in my wife's hobby were discussing on Facebook that they need to track down and expose anyone in the hobby who voted for Trump and make sure no one takes classes, workshops, or buys anything from them. In other words drive them out of the hobby, something that people do simply for the love of it. As a Trump voter, that actually frightened her that people hate her that much and want to seek her out in something (that ought to be) completely devoid of politics.

You want less hate? Stop calling every Republican candidate/politician literally Hitler. Your minions believe you and start treating people who simply disagree on politics as someone who literally wants to throw people in ovens.

[DittoHead]

Apparently I'm in the minority here being opposed to violence as a political tool.
 

The ever-present temptation to dehumanize and to dominate is especially strong when traditional means of recourse appear to break down, as many on the left and right would agree has happened recently. But the response should be to redouble our efforts to repair those mechanisms, not to destroy them altogether. Without an alternative for securing the dignity of individuals against infringement, the latter is a quick route to a political order held together by nothing more than brute force.

[makattak]

Apparently I'm in the minority here being opposed to violence as a political tool.
 

I may not have expressed it explicitly in my post, but I'm quite against it. (That's the "I don't know if the genie can go back in the bottle" part) I'd MUCH prefer to live in a country where political violence is rare and shunned by all.

However, I'm calling out the left because I understand the sentiment on the right and I don't think the right is going to stop until the other side makes concessions. The people have been kicked and beaten (not always metaphorically, even) and see the left covering for the people who do it.¹ I realize this sounds like a "HE DID IT FIRST!" issue, but when "Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury" people stop making petitions.





1: See the "punishments" handed out at Middlebury for injuring a professor.

[DittoHead]

I see some sentiment along the lines of "it's unfortunate it's come to this". I disagree that it has come to the point of violence as a necessity and agree with the NR article I quoted. However, I also see a more troubling sentiment cheering this on and being happy about. There's an excitement I see in some responses to this that I find rather repulsive.

[gunsmith]

Apparently I'm in the minority here being opposed to violence as a political tool.
 

not at all.
A: he apologized.
B: if you listen to the recording, the guardian reporters have a history of intrusion.
C: walk up to someone you dislike, shout questions at him,stick your cellphone an inch from his face as he is walking.
D: observe the effect of your actions.

[makattak]

I see some sentiment along the lines of "it's unfortunate it's come to this". I disagree that it has come to the point of violence as a necessity and agree with the NR article I quoted. However, I also see a more troubling sentiment cheering this on and being happy about. There's an excitement I see in some responses to this that I find rather repulsive.

That's the sentiment I'm referring to. I have been saying for years (seriously, look up posts warning about this) that the demonizing things like the Tea Party will result not in stopping the anger, but in stopping the "peaceful" part of the protest.

That's why I'm being Cassandra again after seeing what I've predicted come to pass, I'm now predicting what's necessary to stop it. (Which is the same thing that would have stopped it in the first place.)

The difference is, now that it HAS come to pass, I'm not sure it can be stopped without actual bloodshed. It's possible, but the "elites" we have today aren't up to the task. (Not even, "might not be up to the task." They simply aren't.)
 

[Ben]

Interesting:

http://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2017/05/26/awkward-ben-jacobs-tweet-about-wanting-to-punch-a-conservative-journo-hasnt-aged-well/

[gunsmith]

That's the sentiment I'm referring to. I have been saying for years (seriously, look up posts warning about this) that the demonizing things like the Tea Party will result not in stopping the anger, but in stopping the "peaceful" part of the protest.

That's why I'm being Cassandra again after seeing what I've predicted come to pass, I'm now predicting what's necessary to stop it. (Which is the same thing that would have stopped it in the first place.)

The difference is, now that it HAS come to pass, I'm not sure it can be stopped without actual bloodshed. It's possible, but the "elites" we have today aren't up to the task. (Not even, "might not be up to the task." They simply aren't.)
 

their old tricks are not working as well as they used to and they're getting increasingly angry.
it used to be they could bait opponents and the media would play over and over again the mistake.
"they" thought they could provoke anger and use it to drive up votes but all they are doing is provoking anger and losing votes.
this particular incident was not political violence, it was rude people shouting and sticking phones an inch from someones face.
do that to anyone, anyone, see what happens.
the reporter was violating basic personal space-there is not much to this story except an idiot reaping what he sowed, the dinosaur media is desperately
trying any tactic to preserve whatever power it has left. 

[DittoHead]

A: he apologized.

Good. Maybe he has more sense than some of his supporters.

B: if you listen to the recording, the guardian reporters have a history of intrusion.
C: walk up to someone you dislike, shout questions at him,stick your cellphone an inch from his face as he is walking.
D: observe the effect of your actions.

So does that mean he deserved it?
This happens literally every day to politicians and thus far, for the most part, they have managed to not assault people.

To be clear, at no point did any of us who witnessed this assault see Jacobs show any form of physical aggression toward Gianforte

It's unpleasant, it's rude, and I'm not sure I would remain cool and calm with persistent reporters which is a good reason for me not to run for that job. This was a media event, getting asked questions is not an excuse to assault people.

[Monkeyleg]

I wouldn't assault a MSM journalist, but I'd certainly spit on the ground in front of him. I'd love to do it, actually.

[KD5NRH]

It's unpleasant, it's rude, and I'm not sure I would remain cool and calm with persistent reporters which is a good reason for me not to run for that job. This was a media event, getting asked questions is not an excuse to assault people.

Try it on random cops and see how long it takes before you get put on the ground.  Be sure the unknown object in your hand is within two inches of their faces immediately upon completing your fast, determined approach.

[DittoHead]

Try it on random cops and see how long it takes before you get put on the ground.  Be sure the unknown object in your hand is within two inches of their faces immediately upon completing your fast, determined approach.

Right, because this guy is a cop and his training just kicked in? He thought he was about to be murdered or something? 

The police chief where I live does press release / media events pretty regularly and despite scary situations like a reporter holding up a microphone, he's managed to keep his gun holstered during them.

[Angel Eyes]

Meh.  It's not like he hit the reporter in the head with a bike lock ...

[DittoHead]

Meh.  It's not like he hit the reporter in the head with a bike lock ...

And if it was Putin he would have just been killed I suppose. Still, I'm trying to keep my standards higher than Russian or Antifa scum.

[Angel Eyes]

Still, I'm trying to keep my standards higher than Russian or Antifa scum.

Same here.  I just think this dust-up is being blown out of proportion.  The reasons it was all over the MSM is (a) it involved a Republican, and (b) it was done to one of their own.

[Scout26]

Stop consuming their product.   I've never wanted to body slam them, or even hit them.  Journalism is dead and has been for very long time now.

Get rid of TV, that herd needs to thinned/culled (in the metaphorical sense).  Lower ratings will either drive them to double down further, which will reduce their ratings (MSNBC and CNN) to the point they are unprofitable.   As is happening to newspapers.  (IIRC, despite all their Trump hate, NYT and WaPo are both shedding readers at unsustatinable rate.)

Same can be done with TV reporters.  (Although the person in this case was a foreign newspaper reporter, They can't be doing well either. )

Anyway, the reporter seemingly violated the rules of civil society by repeated ignoring the request of candidate.  While violence is not the answer, a goo dressing down by his fellow reporters definitely was in order.   Even a simple, "Stop, the he'll answer questions once we begin the presser." from one of his fellows should have been all it took.  But in today's world of "gotcha" reporting, that doesn't happen.   I don't mind candidates being asked hard questions.  Which didn't seem to happen in during the prior administration, and I would hope that this reporter is going after the other candidate(s) in this race in a similar manner, but if not, why not.   Because if he being a dick to both sides then fine.  But if he's doing it to just the one, then he's not a reporter, but an agent provocateur.

[Perd Hapley]

Same here.  I just think this dust-up is being blown out of proportion.  The reasons it was all over the MSM is (a) it involved a Republican, and (b) it was done to one of their own.

By way of balance, we observe that, while the Republican, in a fit of pique, may have committed misdemeanor assault against one obnoxious adult; the Democratic candidate supports the deliberate, serial murder of millions of completely innocent children. And the Democrat's not likely to apologize for it.

Lower ratings will either drive them to double down further, which will reduce their ratings (MSNBC and CNN) to the point they are unprofitable.   As is happening to newspapers.  (IIRC, despite all their Trump hate, NYT and WaPo are both shedding readers at unsustatinable rate.)

http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2017/03/cable-news-booms-in-first-quarter-ratings-236596