So, who is to blame?

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**JEB_Stuart**

There is a very, very tight race for Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat in Massachusetts at the moment. There is a chance that the moderate Republican Scot Brown will win the seat over State Att. Gen. Martha Coakley. Anyway, this has led to a very tense environment, and things are starting to get ugly. This reporter alleges he was assaulted by Coakley aides and volunteers while he tried to ask her a few questions. Coakley maintains that it was Republican "stalkers" and activists, and the AP simply says he fell. As a journalist I am inclined to believe either the AP or the reporter himself, but regardless of my own specialty I would throw Coakley's story right out. The idea of Republican strong men who just follow her campaign pushing down reporters and old women willy nilly is completely ludicrous. So my question to all of you on Dakka is this: What do you see as more likely, the reporter, or the AP?

Read the story for yourself, and the vote in the poll if you please. And of course leave comments and ideas as you will.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1225332

**Albatross**

It looks dodgy to me - the volunteer chap seems to admit that he played some part in the fall, and issued an apology. But then he also claims the guy tripped over a fence. My money is on a combination of the two. The guy probably nudged him out of the way, which led to him falling over the fence. That would explain the rip in his trousers. These things happen - bodyguards and the like aren't exactly known for their delicate treatment of the general public.

**Frazzled**

There are pics. he was pushed.

**Fateweaver**

I'd love to see Scot Brown get the seat.

It really says a lot when an ultra-liberal State is allowing a Conservative to even get close in a race for Kennedy's old seat, let alone him maybe even winning it.

Guessing that even Obama's crew (Liberals) are getting fed up with Obamanation.

**dogma**

Frazzled wrote:There are pics. he was pushed.

There are interviews conducted by Sean Hannity in which the reporter himself expresses enough uncertainty to state that he was deliberately pushed down.

Source.

HANNITY: He said, "But I clearly did not intend to cause John McCormack to trip and fall over that low fence." Did you trip or were you pushed?

MCCORMACK: I mean, he knocked me. He knocked into me. He knocked into me which sent me into the fence which sent me to the ground. So whether he intended to knock me into an area without a fence that may be true. But the fact is, I mean, he knocked into me and I ended up on the ground because of it.

HANNITY: All right. Why don't you walk our audience through? We can show the videotape of this. Why don't you walk our audience through exactly what happened from your perspective?

MCCORMACK: I guess the play-by-play, I asked that question, she declines to answer it, she takes one more question, and begins to walk away. And within a matter of seconds I asked a question about while these health care industry lobbyists are here supporting her at this Democratic fundraiser, she's supposed to be taking on the Democratic -- she's supposedly taking on the health care lobbyists in Washington, D.C.

And she didn't answer. And before I knew it, I got knocked into on my right side. I think might have been a head-check, I don't know exactly how he hit me. But he pushed me into this steel railing, metal railing. I ended up on the ground.

And then he actually helped me up. And he began -- he asked, are you all right? And in my view he was feigning concern which is clearly displayed by the video, the fact that he continues to push-up against me aggressively.

**Frazzled**

You watch Hannity? I weep for the loss of your brain cells.

**dogma**

Fateweaver wrote:I'd love to see Scot Brown get the seat.

It really says a lot when an ultra-liberal State is allowing a Conservative to even get close in a race for Kennedy's old seat, let alone him maybe even winning it.

Guessing that even Obama's crew (Liberals) are getting fed up with Obamanation.

Massachusetts is about as liberal as it is conservative, with roughly 30% of individuals surveyed self-identifying as either. I think what you mean to say is that the Democrats appear to be losing ground in a traditionally Democratic state. That being said, the latest polls put the split at somewhere between 8 and 3 points.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Frazzled wrote:You watch Hannity? I weep for the loss of your brain cells.

Nope, I use search engines to turn up transcriptions occasionally.

**JEB_Stuart**

dogma wrote:Massachusetts is about as liberal as it is conservative, with roughly 30% of individuals surveyed self-identifying as either. I think what you mean to say is that the Democrats appear to be losing ground in a traditionally Democratic state. That being said, the latest polls put the split at somewhere between 8 and 3 points.

Dogma is absolutely right on this point.

dogma wrote:Nope, I use search engines to turn up transcriptions occasionally.

Phew! You had me worried for a sec Dogma! His declaration that he was pushed seems to be enough evidence that he was assaulted by her staff. This however gives me a large level of concern regarding the AP's journalistic methods. I would really like to think that the AP does as good a job as it should...

**dogma**

JEB_Stuart wrote:His declaration that he was pushed seems to be enough evidence that he was assaulted by her staff. This however gives me a large level of concern regarding the AP's journalistic methods. I would really like to think that the AP does as good a job as it should...

Assault seems a bit extreme. By his description of the events it seems he was pushed, but not pushed in a way which would have caused him to fall were it not for the fence. He did not say he was pushed down, but that he was knocked into, or pushed into a railing. To me it reads as being slightly more forceful than one would expect, but not necessarily reprehensible.

I'd accept the AP's description as being the most content neutral, as its difficult to properly describe all the relevant forces of agency using journalistic language. From a basic level of consideration the man fell, regardless of whether or not it was as the result of a push, tripping, or a combination thereof.