Can't We Get Back To Giving The Finger And Not Taking It?

Yike - a 65 year old anti-ObamaCare protestor whacked a pro-Obama protestor in the face, then got his finger bitten off.  Why can't we all just get along?

From the press report:

About 100 protesters sponsored by MoveOn.org were having a rally supporting health care reform.

A group of anti-health care reform protesters formed across the street.

A witness from the scene says a man was walking through the anti-reform group to get to the pro-reform side when he got into an altercation with the 65-year-old, who opposes health care reform.

The 65-year-old was apparently aggressive and hit the other man, who then retaliated by biting off his attacker's pinky, according to Karoli from DrumsnWhistles, who attended the rally.

The man took his finger and walked to Los Robles hospital for treatment. Doctors reattached the finger, which was said to have been severed in half. He has since been released, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Neither man has been identified.

Drumsnwhistles is currently crashed out but Alan Colmes has some key excerpts:

[A man in an] orange shirt hit the pro-reform guy (I’m going to call him PR Guy just to keep the players straight). Hard…He punched him in the face, knocked him to the ground and into that thruway. As you can see from the photo, cars drive straight through that without stopping. The pro-reform guy could have been run over. He got up, tried to get back up on the curb, but Orange Shirt guy was in his face. Finger in his face, PR Guy standing, steps up to the curb, and there’s a scuffle. Orange shirt seemed to have PR Guy in a hold, but again, I was across the street, so won’t state that as absolute fact. Next thing I see is PR Guy’s hat being tossed into the street, both yelling at one another, then Orange shirt walks away, PR Guy picks up hat and crosses to our side.

 When he gets to our side, he tells a story in one sentence: “He punched me hard, straight in the face, so I bit his finger off.”

"Our" side.  Look, I am sure Karoli is an honorable person telling us what she saw, but do keep in mind - people tend to see what they want to see, and in a typical NBA game the referee always sees the response but often misses the provocation.

Presumably the 65 year old was provoked, but how, and did he over-react?  If the PR guy shoved Nine-Finger's wife or somebody's grandma (marked for death, one imagines) and then got mouthy, well, I deplore violence, especially when it involves my face or dangling body parts, but others have a shorter fuse.

Perhaps in the fullness of time we will achieve clarity on this.  Per the news, "neither man has been identified", but the police explain that Nine-finger had Medicare - does that mean his identity is known to the police but has not been released?

Comments

[bad s##t]

I ALWAYS bite off people's fingers when we disagree.

Doesn't everybody.....

[Thomas Collins]

The reform group is actually the group that supports cross state competition, mandate elimination, tort reform, HSAs, tax equalization, and other steps to open up competition and expand choice. Let's call the other group the Tysons, after heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson, who, getting frustrated that Evander Holyfield was in the process of pounding Tyson into submission, bit a portion of one of Holyfield's ears off. Similar to the boxer Tyson, the Health Care Tysons turn cannibalistic when things aren't going well for them.

[Jane the lynchpin]

I certainly do.

[Jack is Back!]

That is not how it went down according to the kid who was an eyewitness standing next to the fingerless victim and who later found the remains of the finger and took it to the hospital. He says, 1) it was a rump organization of anti-Obamacare protestors standing on the curb of a major road. The pro-Obamacare guy crossed the street to confront the anti's and in so doing actually stood in the road and decided to get in the face of the oldest, smallest, bespectacled individual (the fingerless senior). He actually dragged him into the road and began to strike him. The old guy trying to protect himself got his finger caught in this guys mouth who then decided to chop down on it. Holmes is getting his version from the LA Times which is 180 wrong. Believe it or not, the AP actually gets it right.

[gmax]

Worst part about it, I am sure the doctors want to start giving him shots to prevent rabies. This guy was a Kossite, right? I hear 85% are rabid or carriers of the virus.

[TOPSECRETK9]

PR guy walked across the street and got in 65 yo face. 65 yo pushed PR out of his face and PR BIT OFF, like a barbarian, 65 yo finger. Sorry, not buying that 65 provoked this.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Dammit, Tom, you went and wrote the best short comment and used it for the title.

[more]

One petite woman was also handing out single payer flyers. She was passionate about it, but not rude, not mean, always smiled, and simply offered the flyer. At some point, she crossed back over (she may have run out of her flyer supply. I don’t know for sure. But she was not in any way confrontational.)

All of a sudden, I saw a very tall man in an orange shirt (yes, he is in the photo I linked you to) confront her, verbally at first. Her back was to the thruway, and he was shooing her, approaching her, speaking to her in a very aggressive fashion (observation from body language only) and waving his arms in a shooing motion. With each step she took back, he took one forward, shooing her more. From where I was, it appeared as though he were telling her to get on her own side of the street, and backing it up with a very clear physical threat. Even from where I stood, it chilled me. I pointed it out to others and called out for anyone with a video camera to aim it over there. (I had a small Nikon cam with me that does video, but it would have been useless in that light.)

Ultimately, she did cross the street and come back over to our side.

Several minutes later, there was another altercation. My best recollection is that this man saw what happened to the woman and reacted to it. I cannot say with certainty where he was when he saw it — he may have arrived and was navigating his way through that group, or he may have crossed the street to defend her. He was confronted by the same man. I could tell from where I was that the man was belligerent, angry, and confrontational.

The man in the orange shirt hit the pro-reform guy (I’m going to call him PR Guy just to keep the players straight). Hard. (tweeted in real time) He punched him in the face, knocked him to the ground and into that thruway. As you can see from the photo, cars drive straight through that without stopping. The pro-reform guy could have been run over. He got up, tried to get back up on the curb, but Orange Shirt guy was in his face. Finger in his face, PR Guy standing, steps up to the curb, and there’s a scuffle. Orange shirt seemed to have PR Guy in a hold, but again, I was across the street, so won’t state that as absolute fact. Next thing I see is PR Guy’s hat being tossed into the street, both yelling at one another, then Orange shirt walks away, PR Guy picks up hat and crosses to our side.

When he gets to our side, he tells a story in one sentence: “He punched me hard, straight in the face, so I bit his finger off.”

http://www.drumsnwhistles.com/

[gmax]

Was this an astroturf Axelrod protestor? I hear the campaign money has dried up and the astroturfers must work for "tips".

I will be here all week and dont forget your waitress.

[Ignatz]

--Dammit, Tom, you went and wrote the best short comment and used it for the title.--

Maybe, maybe not. ConfederateYankee headlined it "Yes We Cannibal".

[Sue]

How freaking sharp are teeth that can bite off a man's finger leaving a stump?

[Don]

That Medicare-sucking rightwing thug won't be making a fist again anytime soon. The old teabagger's lucky he didn't hit me, or he'd be getting a digital-rectal free of charge, and using his own digit.

[Sue]

Ewww...tough...one of Obama's if they bring a knife, we bring a gun crowd no doubt.

[Republican Brown Shits Attack Again]

You want names, Tom?

We got names.

You want thugs, Tom?

You already got thugs.

"A 65-year-old man rallying in favor of healthcare reform was knocked to the ground by a man who disagreed with the call for a government-run health plan outside of a Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce meeting headlined by Sen. Bill Nelson.

Luis Perrero of Coral Gables was standing among about 40 Democratic activists and union workers when a man in a Ford pick-up truck pulled up to the rally at Jungle Island and began arguing with the crowd. The man, who only gave his first name as Raul, said Perrero called him a Spanish curse word. He punched Perrero in the face. Perrero fell to the ground and lay
motionless for a few minutes."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1214545.html

[Captain Hate]

I certainly do.

How does Dick sign his name?

[Ignatz]

--The old teabagger's lucky he didn't hit me, or he'd be getting a digital-rectal free of charge, and using his own digit.--

Don,

Freud had a thing or two to say about what lies behind a sentence like that.

[gmax]

Whats the treatment for infestation by lice again?

[royf]

Oh God now I'm really skeered!

[Semanticleo]

Don, would you like to be my imaginary son?

[Captain Hate]

Perrero fell to the ground and lay
motionless for a few minutes.

How does this differ from a typical work day for Perrero?

[gmax]

Well that would be 8 hours motionless -except for the two union mandated breaks of 20 minutes each, and of course the schlitz malt liquor luncheon.

[royf]

Just like a we weed up lefty, Can't hold his own in a fight with a 65 yr old man. So he bites his finger off, Now there is a tough guy.

Hey Don does biting off a finger qualify as "TORTURE".

[gmax]

I wonder if we could be Colmes and Don et al to condemn this, if we all starting insisting loudly and repeatedly that biting off fingers is TORTURE?

[TOPSECRETK9]

Like how all these Neanderthal lefty's are defending biting off body parts of old men.

[Jim Ryan]

Was the assailant a member of the press? A press dedigitator?

[TOPSECRETK9]

biting off fingers is TORTURE?

I'd prefer a box and a spider or panties on my head than a lefty biting off my finger, don't know about you.

[Ignatz]

--A press dedigitator?--

That was genuinely funny.

[TOPSECRETK9]

Nice Deb says:

Michelle Malkin says the Moveon crowd’s misinformation colored the early reporting of the incident, which explains why the first stories reported that the the dissident bit off the finger of the ObamaCare supporter.

Figures the press lapped up the move on propaganda ala Denver Dem headquarters story.

[gmax]

Yeah Top but what if, if

well what if they blew smoke in your face! You would not like that one little bit.

[Jim Ryan]

Ignatz, speaking of prestidigitation, the flick with the chimp over at Charlie's blog is not to be missed.

[TOPSECRETK9]

It's hilarious. All the lefty blogs think, just because the 65 yp told some girl to go back to her side, this justifies biting off to the knuckle a person's finger. Reminds me of Obama buddy Bernadine Dohrn getting all hot and bothered over the Mason belly carvings.

[Soylent Red]

All I want to know is this...

At what point ofter having your ass handed to you by a 65-year-old, to the point of resorting to biting, are you forced to hand your dreadlocked head in shame?

Message to Biting Dude: Political disagreements come and go. Being a candyass hairpulling weenie is for a lifetime.

[Soylent Red]

**hang** your head, of course.

[Dave]

Tree Rollins is a MoveOn.org guy?

[Jim Ryan]

Plus, how'd the guy escape so quickly? You can only run so fast in old Birkenstock sandals.

[bgates]

he'd be getting a digital-rectal free of charge

Your mom says she charges extra for that kind of stuff.

[Soylent Red]

Your mom says she charges extra for that kind of stuff.

She didn't charge me extra, bgates. She probably forgot, what with the busload of Marines waiting in line behind me.

Plus, sometimes whores just forget things.

[hit and run]

The free market springs into action:

http://members.fortunecity.com/mccuistion/images/gauntlet1.jpg>

[hit and run]

If the pic won't embed, well, sorry for an http://members.fortunecity.com/mccuistion/images/gauntlet1.jpg>extra click here

[hit and run]

No really, maybe http://twitpic.com/gcpb3>this will work?

But I do hope you've given up trusting me by now.

[PeterUK]

H&R.That will be a nice pair of gloves when Clarice finishes knitting them.

[clarice]

Of course, the press ate it up. They operate on memes and the fantasy meme re the town hall meetings is that it is armed and dangerous right wing fanatics behind this all.

Just as any story about something in the rural south has to begin with the reporter setting up a Heat of the Night type scenario..swamps, skeeters, sketchy characters, winding dark roads, heat..you know the drill---well at least I'm certain Soylent does.For his own amusement he probably ghostwrites this carpola for the illiterates whose names make the bylines.

[Ignatz]

--But I do hope you've given up trusting me by now.--

By now? Not to worry.

[clarice]

Very funny,PUK..Actually the "mail" worn by the actors in DC's Shakespeare theater is all hand knitting out of metallic yarns.

[Soylent Red]

"It was a dark, and stormy (and racist!) night..."

[bad s##t]

O/T, Clarice, my kids are hoping for a cold spell so I can cook them a "Clarice" recipe.

[matt]

which begs the question, "why did the astroturfer cross the road"

"to get at the other side, of course"

da dum dum!

[bgates]

Just as any story about something in the rural south has to begin with the reporter setting up a Heat of the Night type scenario..swamps, skeeters, sketchy characters, winding dark roads, heat

Did you know that movie was filmed in Illinois? During the fall, too.

[bad s##t]

lol Matt

[PeterUK]

Clarice,
Something to do whilst the blade is being hauled back up and another one is loaded onto the board.
Now if we can find you some fine titanium wire,I sense a business opportunity.

[bgates]

Wow, "Parents Angry at Obama" says the headline on the reliably statist Yahoo.

"Excuse to brainwash", the subhed.

[TOPSECRETK9]

via Allah

Rice drove himself to nearby Los Robles Hospital after the incident for treatment. One report said his finger was reattached, but Rice told THE WEEKLY STANDARD in a phone interview that’s not the case.

“They weren’t able to attach it because a human bite has so much bacteria,” said Rice, who also said Wednesday’s rally had a different feeling than other local health care events he’d been to recently.

“It had a Code Pink element that I’d never seen before and it had a MoveOn element I’d never seen before,” he said, calling some of the Obamacare supporters “borderline emotionally out of control.”

[Jim Ryan]

The jig is up. We only are against socialized medicine because insurance companies have hoodwinked us into it. Alright, I give up! I'm for single payer now!

[bad s##t]

For all those lefties who tell you no one objected when GHW Bush spoke to school children, remind them of the October 3 & 4 in the Washinton Post and the New York Times. Many high powered Dems were really pi**ed off.

[bad s##t]

That would be October 3 & 4, 1991.

[bad s##t]

Tops, I saw the man who lost his finger on FOX News and he says he left the finger at the hospital.

[reliapundit]

like obama with obamacare, the PR guy bit off more than he could chew!

[bad s##t]

Speaking of giving the finger, Ibama is extending 86nd Airborn tours despite his criticism of Bush for doing so.

[PeterUK]

"Tops, I saw the man who lost his finger on FOX News and he says he left the finger at the hospital." Where it is said to be "In a serious but stable condition".

[bad s##t]

PUK, the finger declined to make a statement.

[Soylent Red]

Ibama is extending 86nd Airborn

82nd, bad. 82nd.

Still, I am anxiously awaiting the release of the HBO original movie, "Stoploss 2: The Good War"

[Ignatz]

OT, but here's a cool but disturbing time lapse video of the Station fire and what Barbara and co are seeing up close.

[clarice]

HEH--PUK and Bad.

Bad-- Preheat your oven to 375..get some frozen puff paste..roll it out on a floured silpat or greased cooky sheet--cut about halfway through one- half inch from the edge all around..jab the bottom all over with a knife tip and cover all but that o-2 inch edge with pesto sauce or olive paste..shred some good mozarella on it..top with thin sliced tomatoes and Italian herbs , a drizzle of olive oil and salt. Brush some beaten egg yolk on the edges. and bake for about 25 minutes..

Fast and delicious homemade pizza full of the season's best.

[clarice]

bgates, of course I didn't know that!

[DebinNC]

Pic of biter and bitee.

[bgates]

Clarice -

re 6:08 why on earth would you?

re 6:07 do you deliver?

[PeterUK]

DebinNC
Looks like Rahm.

[DebinNC]

PUK
Looks like Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley 30 years later.

[Rob Crawford]

DebInNC -- from that picture, it looks like Rice was wearing a Gadsden's flag t-shirt -- the one with the coiled snake and "Don't Tread on Me". When the union thugs attacked Kenneth Gladney, he was handing out/selling Gadsden flags. Apparently there's something about "Don't Tread on Me" that sets off the rabid left.

I have a full-sized version of the flag, but don't have anywhere to fly it. Now I have to get a t-shirt and something for my car...

[Rob Crawford]

Oh, and the fact that the police are still looking for him speaks volumes. If the biting was done inadvertently while defending himself, he's got nothing to worry about. That he's either trying to take it on the lam OR (more likely) hunting down a lawyer first tells me he's got a guilty conscience a mile wide.

[DebinNC]

Good grief! I was kidding, but, according to Wiki, Lander (Squiggy) lives in Thousand Oaks...the scene of the crime.

[PeterUK]

Rob Crawford.

Or Mr Digit Cannibal went further than his remit. It is obvious that he crossed the road and is haranguing the bitee.I enlarged and sharpened up the picture.

[clarice]

No--begates..but you can make it faster than I can deliver it if you keep some puff paste in your freezer

[Captain Hate]

Are Alan Colmes eyes so perpetually bloodshot that the obviously yellow shirt looked orange to him?

Here's what probably happened: The guy in black, being as short as Joe Klein and with a complex about it, mouthed off when he was walking through the group because he's a douche and can't help himself. Like Don. The tall duffer probably pushed him to get him to keep moving and the lippy midget had to compensate with more inane verbiage. The duffer probably poked at him for added emphasis and the last person to be chosen for a Code Pink softball game bit his finger off. I hope the old guy doesn't get an std because there's no telling where that mouth has been.

[Rob Crawford]

Or Mr Digit Cannibal went further than his remit. It is obvious that he crossed the road and is haranguing the bitee.

Oh, he certainly went to provoke SOMETHING. But if was attacked first, attempted to back off, and was grappled, then, arguably, any harm he inflicted was in self defense.

I doubt that's the case, though. The left's been pumping itself up for coming on nine years -- some of them have to be chomping at the bit.

[PeterUK]

Rob Crawford.
Since not a few leftists are semi-professional,he was probably instructed to get a reaction.

[centralcal]

Tapper tweets that school districts in 6 states are "refraining" from showing Dear Leaders inspiring talk:

Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia and Texas.

ILLINOIS!!! LOL!

[daddy]

Well when ">http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/LegalCenter/story?id=1520940"> these 2 get early release from a California Prison next week maybe they'll be able to find another finger in their Chili at Wendy's.

[Captain Hate]

ILLINOIS!!! LOL!

Mental image of Twinkletoes Emanuel repeatedly stabbing a table.

[centralcal]

Quincy, Ill., schools decided Thursday not to show the speech. Superintendent Lonny Lemon said phone calls "hit like a load of bricks" on Wednesday

LUN

[Charlie (Colorado)]

A press dedigitator?

Oh.

My.

GAWD.

[Porchlight]

Did you know that movie was filmed in Illinois? During the fall, too.

I'm so dumb. I've seen that movie half a dozen times and never put it together that it was fall scenery yet supposed to be sweltering hot in some of the scenes. I guess they figured they couldn't make summertime in Illinois look much like summertime in Mississippi, so they went for fall.

I'll forever feel like a dupe now re: that movie.

[Sue The Skinny Bastard]

So, how did the guy with khaki shirt and olive shorts become the tallest man evah? Why, by being taller than the dude in black.

[Sue The Skinny Bastard]

Rob,

The caption under the picture says Mr. Rice is the one in the khaki and olive, not the one with the t-shirt on. I haven't seen him on Fox so I don't if the shorter man in khaki and olive is Mr. Rice or the taller man with the Don't Tread on Me t-shirt is him. Anyone who saw him today know?

[rick]

If I am reading the story at the photo the guy whose finger got bitten off is not the one wearing the Gadsden shirt but the one beside him wearing the olive colored shorts and olive colored shirt. He is no taller than the one in black.

[Sue The Skinny Bastard]

Rick,

I just saw him on a video at Hot Air. It is indeed the man in the khaki and olive. Almost as short as the cannibal.

[DebinNC]

HotAir: Rice talks to Cavuto

[Sue The Skinny Bastard]

The headline in my hometown newspaper...School District Won't Air Obama Address Live. The speech will be recorded and students who want to watch it can do so. The superintendent made those statements after fielding phone calls from upset parents for two days. Another boneheaded move by Obama. I am in Ralph Hall's district, so it's not a big surprise that the reaction has been anything but positive.

[PeterUK]

Looks like the Left just ate the wrong finger. That is one very cool senior!

[Cecelia]

These leftists have become freaking zombies.

They'll eat your hand and any caterpillars on the sidewalk.

[Porchlight]

Looks like the Austin school district will allow the teachers to opt in. It will vary according to each principal whether parents will need to opt their students in or out. AISD update

Guess we'll get an email tomorrow about it. I like our principal - he doesn't seem to be completely orthodox on this stuff. Maybe because he went to Texas Tech. :)

[Rob Crawford]

The caption under the picture says Mr. Rice is the one in the khaki and olive, not the one with the t-shirt on.

Weird. I swear it said "yellow" when I read it.

Could have been the rum talking. If I'd been drinking any rum. Which, sadly, I haven't.

[clarice]

suppose Caro will now start making signs saying "eat my finger"..

[Paul]

My pinkie, my pinkie, my kingdom for a pinkie but I guess he has that terrible Medicare a “Single-payer health care insurance” what a hypocrite. Did the little pinkie cry "Wee-wee-wee!" all the way home? It real should have been his right pinky finger that would have been a better story. They are haters not debaters.

[matt]

I have finally diagnosed the problem. It affects primarily the Left, but sometimes a small segment of the Right. I am copyrighting the name Political Alternate Reality Syndrome, or PARS.

Next I will get a government grant and pursue having a Foundation establish a seat in my name at a prestigious university such as Yale or Brown. Or those suffering could just exercise more common sense. LUN

[Pofarmer]

Quincy, Ill., schools decided Thursday not to show the speech. Superintendent Lonny Lemon said phone calls "hit like a load of bricks" on Wednesday

LUN

Quincy is South of Springfield. Most of Illinois, South of Springfield, could quite happily be part of MO. The Urban north rules the state.

[TOPSECRETK9]

Yeah, those old guys look really aggressive./sarc off.

How pathetic is this Drumsnwhistles, that she had to fake a sitch where her guy goes over to the old guys and justify his biting off a body part.

Liberal wacko projection is reaching fever pitch.

[Long time passing.]

Where have all my fingers gone?
===================

[Fresh Air]

Po--

Most of Illinois, South of Springfield, could quite happily be part of MO. The Urban north rules the state.

Actually, pretty much all of Illinois south of Kankakee would gladly join another state.

[Thomas Collins]

I am not going to minimize Rice's finger loss. But let's face it, wherever he goes now, he's the man who beat up the young whippersnapper who had to bite off the 65 year old guy's finger to avoid a further beating. The other guy is going to be viewed as crud in all but the Code Pink/Move On circle, about which circle I suspect Rice could care less.

Perhaps the GOP can get Gladney and Rice to give the response to O's health care speech.