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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Monday, April 12, 2010

Dirty Political Trix



While LV Congressman Charlie Dent and opponent Mat Benol politely exchanged views on Friday night, dark forces were at work. A thug, wearing a Phillies cap and Surf City sweatshirt, smeared an unknowing Dent as he spoke. He handed out a one-page flier captioned "Top Ten Reasons Charlie Dent is not a TRUE conservative." Goofy accusations, including the claim that Charlie supports homosexuals, are cited.

Gee, I know some homosexual conservatives, so what does that make them?

You can see this troll in the video above, handing out the fliers, until the LV Tea Party's Tom McFadden thankfully asks him to leave. I also have a more detailed video of this fellow as he leaves the building.

This no doubt hurt Congressman Dent, who came to this function in good faith for an honest exchange of views. But among many audience members, who resented the inherent unfairness of this tactic, Benol was blamed. There are even those who think this is the handiwork of Democrat John Callahan or independent Jake Towne.

I would be shocked to learn that any of the congressional candidates would engage in this behavior. That's why I'd like to identify this slug. If he's acting on his own, then shame on him. But if he is doing dirty work for one of them, we should know.

If you recognize this person, you can post his name here anonymously. He also had a female accomplice, but I never saw her.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Democrats aren't devious enough to do something like this and it'd be too hard for them to actually write why he's not a real conservative. I vote that he's a tea bagger since that is one of their main obsessions that if you're not to the right of Atilla the Hun then you're not a true conservative.

Anonymous said...

He looks like a former union leader.

Anonymous said...

He may be a tea party activist. Teabagging is a liberal predilection. For the left, it's all scrotums; all the time.

Anonymous said...

Such disdain for the 1st Amendment!

If such a thing happened at a Callahan event, I'm sure the disdain would quickly evaporate.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Bernie, but he looks like a union thug from Philadelphia. They are noted for this.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Such disdain for the 1st Amendment!"

The First Amendment also allows me to complain about assholes who engage in slime politics like what happened Friday night. It does not just apply to people who choose to disrupt debates. It applies to people who are offended by that kind of diisgusting behavior and point it out.

Anonymous said...

What's with the musical accompaniment? This schlub was no threat to anyone.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Then why did he try to hide his face? Why no disclosure on the flier he was passing out? This was a dirty thing to do, and if one of the campaigns is behind it, the American people have a right to know and decide whether they want to vote for a candidate who engages in this kind of thuggery.

This is one of the rare cases where someone actually got caught, but I should have followed this thug out the door to get his license plate number.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I thought the music an appropraie accompaniment to the thuggery.

Anonymous said...

If that guy isn't a union goon sent up from Philly, the tea party is moderate.

Anonymous said...

Maybe if you distracted yourself from filming his butt, to his face. We could help. Your hobbies are strange.

Anonymous said...

The clip does seem to pay inordinate attention to the guy's pooper. A 70s porn soundtrack might have been more fitting.

Joe Hilliard said...

Bernie, I doubt this hurt Dent and, as usual, such tactics backfire. I looked at the list and all but one point seem fairly irrelevent.

My personal laugher - Dent sought the Democratic nomination!!! Wow, like it wasn't smart politics to seek the write-in vote on the D ticket when the Dems only had a write-in candidate for the primary.

If they were able to hand out 50 fliers (realistically less?) I would assume about 30 people were mad at the flyer and the two people handing them out, about 10 would toss it aside and about 10 would be 'faithful' to either candidate. Maybe it would have some sort of impact on 5 people...

So for all the justified anger and hubbub it will not produce anything effective for either 'side'. Which is why such stunts are quite stupid.

About the 1st amendment: We were exercising that right by holding the event. Others DO NOT have a right to co-opt an event for their own agenda. They can host their own candidate's forum.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"The clip does seem to pay inordinate attention to the guy's pooper. A 70s porn soundtrack might have been more fitting."

What can I say? It does seem to pay inordinate attention to the guy's pooper. I was trying to get his face. Honest! But the dude wouldn't look at me. I got his face in my second video.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Bernie, I doubt this hurt Dent and, as usual, such tactics backfire. I looked at the list and all but one point seem fairly irrelevent."

I estimate he and his female accomplice had about 2000 fliers. They were handing them out before the event started.

When he came to my aisle, he handed me about 20, which I still have.

I find it interesting that he left as soon as he was told to stop. If he were a tea party type, I think he would have stuck around to hear his hero, Sam Rohrer.

I do not think this was sanctioned by you, the tea party or Benol. In fact, the tea party put a stop to it. But I am trying to find out who he is. If you see him in all thiose little groups you attend, please let me know.

Donna said...

The thug and thug-ess were handing out flyers like they were passing out tests in school - handing enough to the person on the end of each row to pass down to everyone in the row.

They clearly intended to place one in the hands of every person there - while Charlie Dent and Mat Benol were talking. And most people, not realizing that these people were completely unauthorized to do so, took a copy and passed it down, not looking at it UNTIL they'd passed it along.

I noticed MANY people reading it while Charlie and Mat were speaking. I saw many crumble it up, but I saw others walking out with their copy on top of their pile of candidate material.

The question isn't whether the flyer HURT Charlie or even Mat, if people were silly enough to think he had anything to do with it. The question is whether it was appropriate or ethical, and the answer is a resounding no.

I hope we find out who he and his female accomplice are and for whom they were attempting to smear a candidate who was decent enough to come to our forum, even though he's gotten some heat from people affiliated with our group.

Anonymous said...

These are ACORN and SEIU type tactics and are being righteously excoriated by those whose opinions were attempted to be swayed.

Anonymous said...

lets all get real, Charlie Dent will beat Mat Benol and stupid John Callahan in november. Go Charlie!

Unknown said...

As a Jake Towne supporter, I honestly doubt that Jake had anything to do with this "troll". It's not Jake's style.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Do you recognize him?

Anonymous said...

Someone should ask Greg Potter if he knows him.

Anonymous said...

Someone should ask Greg Potter if he knows him.

Anonymous said...

Bernie,
I am so mad you edited the original video, by adding music. I was not able to attend and was hoping to he charlies pearls of wisdom on the video. perhaps that is why the music, b/c as usual charlie was talking alot about nothing

Anonymous said...

The music was all wrong Bernie. Should have been "Surf City USA" or "Wipe Out!" And, you photographed his better side with the butt shot.

Ivan Denisovich said...

It's that guy who played the nerdy nervous creepy coworker in Office Space!