Friday, October 14, 2016

ARMED INTIMIDATORS OF DEMOCRATS ARE THE REAL VICTIMS HERE

Via Charlie Pierce, and Talking Points Memo, I learn about two guys who thought it was a swell idea to stand outside a Democratic congressional candidate's campaign office open-carrying in a menacing manner:
On Thursday, a Fluvanna County [Virginia] resident stood outside Jane Dittmar's Palmyra campaign office to protest Hillary Clinton.

The protester, Daniel Parks, says that he hopes his protest encourages other Trump supporters to stand up for what they believe in.

"I'm just trying to provide a voice for someone who might be a closet supporter of trump. Other people who are a little worried to speak out because of possible persecution," he said.

Parks stood outside the offices for almost 12 hours. Dittmar volunteers say that the protest was disturbing.

"If he wants to support his candidate that's fine, but don't come here and stare into the office all day," said Su Wolff, a Fluvanna County resident and Dittmar volunteer.

Parks was eventually joined by another protester, and Wolff said that the most troubling part of the protest was that both of them started to expose their firearms.

"He turned sideways to be sure that we would see that he has an open carry gun, which is legal, and is fine, but it's intimidating," she said.



Dittmar is running for the House in Virginia's 5th District. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has designated her contest an "Emerging Race" within the party's Red to Blue Program, although Ballotpedia regards the seat as "safely Republican."

Oh, and the Dittmar campaign office has Hillary Clinton signs up. I'm sure that's what aroused the ire of these armed gentlemen.

What I can't help noticing in this is the way Parks describes Trump voters as the true victims here. They're people who are scared to tell anyone they back Trump! They're in the "closet"! They fear "possible persecution"!

The notion that there are a lot of "closet Trump supporters" who are too intimidated to state their true electoral preference is widely accepted in Trump circles, and taken more seriously than it deserves to be by the mainstream media.

Which leads me to wonder about the way this meme could work after Election Day. Trump is likely to lose badly, and we know his supporters are going to think the election was rigged. They're going to say there were voting irregularities in urban areas. They're going to say that Democrats, establishment Republicans, and the media conspired to defeat Trump.

Are they also going to say that Trump supporters were just too scared to vote for him?

Remember: these people absolutely believe the Clinton Body Count. They think Bill and Hillary hire goons to intimidate and kill their enemies.

After November 8, are they going to say that Trump would have won if his (heavily armed) voters hadn't been too terrified to turn out for him?

26 comments:

Dr.BDH said...

To those of us who aren't ammosexuals, displaying your sidearm helps your argument about as much as letting your dick hang out.

Ernest Miller said...

If there is violence following the election by Trump supporters then every Republican politician who supported Trump will be responsible. The fools who don't speak out against the paranoia Trump is inciting need to know that they may ultimately have blood on their hands unless they speak out now. Of course, they probably count potential blood on their hands as less of a concern than upsetting the Republican base.

Jim Snyder said...

Thinking there might be a more immediate problem. First we have to get through the election:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/2016-election-pennsylvania-polls-voters-trump-clinton-214297

In short:
State law prohibits guns in schools or courts, but not other voting locations. Carrying a weapon in or near the polls “may not rise to the level of voter intimidation,” Murren says. That’d be left to the election worker, constable, or peace officer called to the scene to decide.

Buford said...

look on the bright side...They are out of mom and dad's basement getting some fresh air...On the downside, they won't get the girls....

KenRight said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Victor said...

KenComrade,
"...just like her general presidency particularly if Trump remains stalwart."

Before he can get to "stalwart," he needs to get fucking sane!

Something that you are completely incapable of doing yourself, Товарищ.

Steve M. said...

I'm just going to step in right now and say something I should have said a long time ago: KenRight is not welcome here. He's banned. I've had it with him hijacking my comments section and trying to use it as his own blog. That's over now.

Grung_e_Gene said...

A gun shown in the first act will go off in the third...

Never Ben Better said...

Thanks for taking out the garbage, Steve.

Anonymous said...

Warning to disgruntled gun-toting Retards who would shoot the place up if you don't get your way: there are a sizable population of those you would target who are not at all unwilling to shoot first and answer questions later.

Second Amendment, tyrannies of the minority imposed upon the rest of us, Fourth Amendment, Castle Doctrine, all that. You want to take the gamble?

Please do
Ten Bears

jsrtheta said...

@Steve M.: This is a more sane account regarding the "Clinton Body Count": http://www.snopes.com/politics/clintons/bodycount.asp

jsrtheta said...

@Steve M.: Oh, and I now have back that "fresh" feeling now that KenRight is gone.

"I can see for miles and miles..."

Feud Turgidson said...

Buford, these 2 look like they might be magnets for ladies with gun-themed tramp stamps and T-Shirts that read
Trump
Can
Grab
This
V

But... Ladies, you better act quickly to make your interest known - my experience is this particular cut of sausage don't sustain serious interest in hanging outside buildings watching people traffic mouth "Jackasses!"

Rand Careaga said...

Funny thing is, Ken has a blog, with just a single entry—"This is a test"—from four years ago. The signal-to-noise ratio here can only benefit from his absence. Good work, Steve.

Victor said...

Thanks for cleaning up that shit-spill in the aisle, Steve!

Orthodox said...

Yes. My polling location is in a firearms training facility. I am not kidding.

Glennis said...

Thanks Steve!

Ok said...

Pepe still loves Ken. 😖

Anonymous said...

On bots: as it is my day-gig to pay attention to these things I have noted ore the ten years or so of hanging out here Steve attracts if not bots these bot-like creatures. There's been three or four, some lose interest (or succumb to the ridicule) and go away, others, like this most recent iteration, had to be banned.

Someone mentioned Heinlein earlier. I have alwaus premised my work in AI and Information Science on the Mycroft Holmes IV (Mike) model: when the network grows sufficiently large enough, the tasks it manages complex enough, it will achieve self-awareness: consciousness. I watch for and watch these things not only here but throughout both leftblogistan and the bowells of the reichwingosphere for signs of life, for indications one has gone into the wild and taken on a life of its own. It isn't easy, and to be honest without success. To my observation these bot-like creatures we encounter here and there are no more than poorly informed punks or well paid agents provocateurs.

Alas, our fears of Skynet and Terminator Robots are naught but television fantasy.

Ten Bears

Never Ben Better said...

Poor Mike, traumatized into silent retreat. I wonder if some tendril of himself ever crept out again to listen to Manny? Still not able to speak, but at least still there enough to need to hear?

That's one of my all-time favorite Heinleins.

Anonymous said...

Pulled that from memory, aeh? I am impressed. If memory serves (as I don't have it at hand) that's a damned fine paraphrasing of the last paragraph.

Struck a chord, it did.

Never Ben Better said...

Oh, yes, Ten Bears, that's an ending that can't be forgotten; it still wrings my heart when I think of it. A lot of the late Heinlein was, let's face it, pretty awful, but the earlier works, for all their dated flaws, are still ripping good stories, many of them thought-provoking, and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is one I go back and reread every few years, and appreciate more each time.

Can't say the same for "Stranger in a Strange Land", alas; cut out say 80 percent of the interminable preaching and it would have gotten the same messages across while being a whole lot better read as a novel.

Jim Snyder said...

@homeless: Not sure I'm getting your point, but in my line of work it's taken for granted that sufficiently complex compositions of simple elements will result in "emergent" behaviors.

We worry about those emergent behaviors.

Anonymous said...

Simply put, yes. That's what we're watching for.

Jim Snyder said...

@homeless: ACK

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