On Tuesday, October 31, three George Allen campaign aides dragged a first-year UVA law student out of the Omni Charlottesville Hotel. Mike Stark, a liberal blogger who has provoked Allen in the past on Allen’s use of the “N”-word, was booted out for asking the senator needling questions about his first marriage at a campaign event.
“Why did you spit at your first wife, George?” Stark shouted before being put in a partial choke-hold by three Allen volunteers. The man squirmed and, civil protest-style, dropped himself to the ground; he was then told to leave.
The mainstream media and wingnuts on both ends of the spectrum responded to the incident, another flurry in one of the most inflammatory senatorial campaigns in the country. CNN ran the story on Tuesday evening with the headline “Senator backers slam student to ground after question.” The video, captured by WVIR-TV NBC29, was also all over video-sharing website YouTube.
According to Byron York, White House correspondent to The National Review, the “Liberal Blogosphere” has been ruminating on Allen’s first marriage—and the spitting rumor—since the Allen camp dredged opponent Jim Webb’s novels for sex scenes. Stark, who has previously made news for confronting Allen about his use of the “N”-word, announced on his blog, www.callingallwing nuts.com, before the incident that he wanted to keep up his antagonism of Allen: “I’m also trying to ‘Roger and Me’ George Allen whenever I can,” refering to Michael Moore’s tactics in his breakout 1989 documentary.
Stark went at it again at a November 4 Allen rally in Weyers Cave. This time, the Allen campaign was ready—Stark was cuffed and escorted out by sheriff’s deputies, after an Allen supporter pushed him to the ground.
Several media sources have reported that Stark filed a complaint with Charlottesville police and criminal charges may be filed, too.
Stark’s silver lining may be the job he subsequently landed with Air America Radio. According to a WCAV-TV Newsplex report, the liberal show “The Young Turks” hired him as a field reporter for being willing to “ask questions others are not willing to ask."
