While slamming Rand Paul supporters who assaulted a MoveOn.org worker in Kentucky, Ed Schultz claimed Wednesday there was simply no other side to the story – that he had not seen "any violence, anywhere, from anybody on the Left." Furthermore, Schultz blamed GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul for inciting the violence.
[Click here for audio.]
There's just one problem – evidence exists of a possible assault on a Rand Paul supporter at the very same event.
At Monday's Kentucky senatorial debate between the GOP's Paul and the Democratic nominee Jack Conway, multiple Paul supporters attacked a MoveOn.org worker, wrestling her to the ground and stomping on her face. Raw footage circled the cable news cycle and the internet in the ensuing media frenzy.
What didn't get reported was that a Paul supporter suffered injuries at Monday evening's debate and filed an assault report with police, according to local media.. The woman, who recently had foot surgery and was wearing a surgical boot, had her foot stamped on in the crowd and her surgical incision re-opened.
So evidence does exist of a possible assault on a Paul supporter, something Schultz either did not know or totally discounted. Schultz ranted instead about Rand Paul stirring up discord on the right and thus helping incite violence, on his Wednesday evening MSNBC show.
"Rand Paul is one of these Tea-Partying candidates that has gone out across America and across his state with the help of the nutjobs across the street, and whipped these low-information voters up into a frenzy that they, bottom line, just can't control themselves," Schultz spat.
On his radio show, he vilified the Paul campaign, stooping low as he referenced vague accounts of Paul's past 30 years back. The woman's supposed "submissiveness," he remarked, "might parallel with the behavior of Rand Paul when he was in college, trying to get a woman to be submissive. Oh yes, that thinking is still alive and well in the Rand Paul campaign and it's yet to be denounced."
If Schultz wants to carry his "hear no leftist violence, see no leftist violence" message back before this election, he should also remember that an Obamacare protester had the tip of his finger bitten off at a MoveOn.org rally last year.
A partial transcript of the Wednesday radio segment is as follows:
ED SCHULTZ: I want to identify this guy, that's what I want to do. ...Does anybody know who this guy is?
(...)
Did she [the MoveOn.org worker] commit a violent act that warranted her to be taken over like that and pulled to the ground, and then kicked by Rand Paul supporters?! And one other thing about this story. Stop giving me this crap about both sides. There isn't any both sides about this! I haven't seen any violence anywhere from anybody on the Left.
(...)
What if she had fought back? Looks to me like she was pretty submissive. Which I think might parallel with the behavior of Rand Paul when he was in college, trying to get a woman to be submissive. Oh yes, that thinking is still alive and well in the Rand Paul campaign, and it's yet to be denounced.
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The following is a partial transcript of the segment from MSNBC's "The Ed Show," which aired on October 27 at 6:06 p.m. EDT:
ED SCHULTZ: Rand Paul is still using this "both sides" talking point garbage. It doesn't seem like he gives a damn about what happened. Lauren Valle deserves, I think, a personal and professional apology from the candidate. I think America deserves Rand Paul to quit speaking through Fox, man up, talk about your goons, say this isn't your campaign, you had nothing to do with it, you will not tolerate this whatsoever.
But you see, Rand Paul is one of these Tea-Partying candidates that has gone out across America and across his state with the help of the nutjobs across the street, and whipped these low-information voters up into a frenzy that they, bottom line, just can't control themselves.
(...)
Does that guy look like somebody who can control himself? Or is he a guy that's whipped up into a frenzy, full of hate, full of despair, full of disdain for liberals in this country? If it's truly about the debate, let's make it about the debate. If it's truly about confron – tation? Yeah, now where do we go?
