Romney's Illinois chairman rips sign out Paul supporter's hand

[itsnobody]

What do you all think of this?

"They frequently interrupted TV reports of the event and at one point, Romney's Illinois chairman, state Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-Chenoa), ripped a sign out of one Paul supporter's hands and threw it on the ground"

Source - http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/north/chi-gop17aug17,1,1253331.story

You can Email the Senator at DanRutherford@DanRutherford.org

[Dustancostine]

Ha Ha we posted at the same time :)

If you want to call him here is the details:

District Office
320 N. Plum Street
Pontiac, IL 61764
(815) 842-3632
(815) 842-2875 Fax


Springfield Office
105B Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-6597
(217) 782-0116 Fax

[itsnobody]

Ha Ha we posted at the same time :)

If you want to call him here is the details:

District Office
320 N. Plum Street
Pontiac, IL 61764
(815) 842-3632
(815) 842-2875 Fax


Springfield Office
105B Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-6597
(217) 782-0116 Fax

Yes, let's all get the word out about this....do you think anyone has video coverage of this happening?

[Johnnybags]

my hands in NH this weekend, Mitts back yard, I hear Paul supporters are coming from all fronts, North,South,East and West, crossing rivers, mountains, and aging bridges for their candidate. If someone pulls the sign from my hand I will gladly show you where they are burried with a Paul sign as a marker.

[robatsu]

I love the way this article trivializes this vote, sez enough votes weren't cast to make it meaningful, but a survey of 48 state republican organizers, none of whom support Paul, is a much better indicator of who has the organization to get out the vote.

Me, I would think an exercise where you do actually have to get out the vote, e.g., the Illinois Straw Poll, would be a better indicator of your ability to get out the vote rather than what a small coterie of people think of your ability to get out the vote.

Pretty outrageous article.

[JAHOGS]

does this guy have a e-mail address?

[itsnobody]

does this guy have a e-mail address?

I found one DanRutherford@DanRutherford.org

[robatsu]

The more I think about this article, the more it steams me - they spend a couple of paragraphs trying to discredit the thing, talk about some irrelevant poll of republican officials, before they can even bring themselves to show the reader any results other than Romney's win, gotta make sure that the reader knows that this is a totally bogus poll, doesn't mean anything, just keep moving people.

[4Horsemen]

my hands in NH this weekend, Mitts back yard, I hear Paul supporters are coming from all fronts, North,South,East and West, crossing rivers, mountains, and aging bridges for their candidate. If someone pulls the sign from my hand I will gladly show you where they are burried with a Paul sign as a marker.

If they pull that crap, shove that sign up their rear end! :D

[noxagol]

Excellent, sounds like we are starting to get into the fighting stage! If they are physically fighting us that means we are really starting to get to them. They think we are obnoxious, well, to my knowledge no Ron Paul supporter has ever physically assaulted someone, we are just loud and shit. heh.

[JAHOGS]

I just sent an email saying I was a Romney supporter until this incident. LOL

[dsentell]

I just sent an email saying I was a Romney supporter until this incident. LOL

PERFECT!

[LibertyEagle]

Please be professional, if you email anyone.

[Trance Dance Master]

Romney is so jealous. Paul is so much more popular. Seems money can't always buy popularity.

[ThePieSwindler]

I used to be skeptical of the claims that the media is trying to silence Ron Paul, because the rationalization that he only gets 1% justifies it kinda made sense, though it pissed me off. Not anymore. Fuck the MSM and papers such as these - they spew doublethink. "Oh this poll is too small to be considered significant, but a poll of delegates which about 1/20th of the straw poll turn out is more accurate". Sure, unless they all want to be faithless electors and get punished and look like crooks, its the people who will decide who the delegates nominate.

[FluffyUnbound]

I like how they say that Paul supporters were "interrupting" the coverage.

Who wants to bet that what they mean by that is "The TV crew had set up a 'Romney Wins Handily' shot for their report and the Paul supporters kept getting in the picture in the background"?

Your support for Ron Paul doesn't fit the script, therefore by your existence you are an "interruption" to the stage management of the news.

[DeadheadForPaul]

"Paul's libertarian stylings and campaign of strict interpretation of the Constitution has earned him an unorthodox band of sign-carrying supporters. They frequently interrupted TV reports of the event and at one point, Romney's Illinois chairman, state Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-Chenoa), ripped a sign out of one Paul supporter's hands and threw it on the ground."

Sounds like our supporters were acting like a bunch of fanatical assholes. That a way to represent on our campaign...

[itsnobody]

I like how they say that Paul supporters were "interrupting" the coverage.

Who wants to bet that what they mean by that is "The TV crew had set up a 'Romney Wins Handily' shot for their report and the Paul supporters kept getting in the picture in the background"?

Your support for Ron Paul doesn't fit the script, therefore by your existence you are an "interruption" to the stage management of the news.

Yeah, it's most likely that Ron Paul supporters were simply chanting "Ron Paul" or something like that, which everyone should be allowed to do freely, but even if they were "interrupting" the TV crew like they say, which I doubt, that's still no reason to go to up to someone and rip a sign out from them and throw on the ground...

[noxagol]

Here is what I emailed:

Dear Sir,

I recently read in an article by the Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,1253331.story, of how you decided to assault a person's free speech and property rights by ripping a Ron Paul sign out of one of his supporter's hands and throwing it on the ground. I must say that I find this act to be very childish and reprehensible and that I was a Mitt Romney supporter up until this point. I have just added a hit to Ron Paul's website and I must say that I thank you for turning me off of Mitt Romney and onto Ron Paul. Ron Paul is by far a better candidate than Mitt Romney, with a true understanding of foreign policy and the Constitution. Again, thank you for turning me off of Mitt Romney. Have a good day.

[BLS]

This is CRAP....There's no way we shouldn't be hammering this guy for doing that.

I double dog dare that sonofabitch to try that with me. I'll shove my boot straight up his......well, you know.

[ThePieSwindler]

Another thing that bothers me is this Illinois straw poll coverage by the neocons on places like townhall. Its apparently "completely meaningless" (look at some comments on townhall), yet the iowa straw poll, where Romney ALSO bought votes, means SO much. Had Ron paul done better, the Iowa straw poll would have been "meaningless" as well because the "frontrunners" weren't there. Yet had ron paul completely bombed, like tancredo and hunter et al, they neocons would be ALL over this as proof that Ron does not have support nationwide. Its fucking disgusting.

[dsentell]

This is the note I sent:

"I was so embarrassed to read of your ripping a sign from the supporter of another candidate and throwing it on the ground, that I have decided to no longer support Mitt. Due to your position, I feel that he must endorse such behavior, which I cannot. Your behavior showed no respect for the other person.

Turn it around, how would you feel if someone else's campaign had done this to a Romney supporter?

Truly pitiful, truly sad,"

[ThePieSwindler]

Here is what I emailed:

Dear Sir,

I recently read in an article by the Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,1253331.story, of how you decided to assault a person's free speech and property rights by ripping a Ron Paul sign out of one of his supporter's hands and throwing it on the ground. I must say that I find this act to be very childish and reprehensible and that I was a Mitt Romney supporter up until this point. I have just added a hit to Ron Paul's website and I must say that I thank you for turning me off of Mitt Romney and onto Ron Paul. Ron Paul is by far a better candidate than Mitt Romney, with a true understanding of foreign policy and the Constitution. Again, thank you for turning me off of Mitt Romney. Have a good day.

That wasn't very believable, considering you said "turning me off" to mitt romney a bunch of times, and considering the line you pulled about "foreign policy and the constitution", which reeks of someone who has been a Ron paul supporter for a while. Lol. But still, hammer this fellow.


Why not just email him as concerned citizens or something? Or hell even as Ron Paul supporters? Faking as mitt supporters and telling about it is surely going to get us posted in some neocon blog about how we are lying, underhanded crazies. (not that i care i guess...)

[noxagol]

That wasn't very believable, considering you said "turning me off" to mitt romney a bunch of times, and considering the line you pulled about "foreign policy and the constitution", which reeks of someone who has been a Ron paul supporter for a while. Lol. But still, hammer this fellow.


Why not just email him as concerned citizens or something? Or hell even Ron Paul supporters? Faking as mitt supporters is surely going to get us posted in some neocon blog about how we are lying, underhanded crazies.

Oh well.

[ThePieSwindler]

Oh well.

hehe. The point is just to email the guy. What a brute.
Good work

[thomj76]

You can digg this at : http://digg.com/politics/Ron_Paul_3rd_IL_Straw_Poll_Romney_s_Illinois_Chair man_shows_true_colors

[BLS]

Dear Dan,

I read the article in today's Chicago Tribune about the Illinois Straw Poll.
I also found myself shocked and disturbed by the fact that you lost your temper enough to remove a sign from an opposing candidate's supporter and throw it on the ground.
People, weird and obnoxious or not, have EVERY right to express their feelings for a candidate (or anything else for that matter) without reprise.
I guarantee you wouldn't have gotten away with that if it were me holding that sign.

I'm very much a conservative, and have always voted Republican, while also donating money quite frequently to the GOP.
Acts like this only indicate to me you are both a child and clearly unfit to hold any public office, as I don't believe your actions are conducive of someone who should represent the constituents.

I suggest you offer a public apology to that person, or consider planning for your resignation.


An appalled US Citizen

[Mr. White]

Dear Dan,

I read the article in today's Chicago Tribune about the Illinois Straw Poll.
I also found myself shocked and disturbed by the fact that you lost your temper enough to remove a sign from an opposing candidate's supporter and throw it on the ground.
People, weird and obnoxious or not, have EVERY right to express their feelings for a candidate (or anything else for that matter) without reprise.
I guarantee you wouldn't have gotten away with that if it were me holding that sign.

I'm very much a conservative, and have always voted Republican, while also donating money quite frequently to the GOP.
Acts like this only indicate to me you are both a child and clearly unfit to hold any public office, as I don't believe your actions are conducive of someone who should represent the constituents.

I suggest you offer a public apology to that person, or consider planning for your resignation.


An appalled US Citizen

perfect

[dsentell]

perfect


Ditto!!

[bygone]

People, weird and obnoxious or not, have EVERY right to express their feelings for a candidate (or anything else for that matter) without reprise.

:)

[ronpaulitician]

What do you all think of this?

"They frequently interrupted TV reports of the event and at one point, Romney's Illinois chairman, state Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-Chenoa), ripped a sign out of one Paul supporter's hands and threw it on the ground"
I think that's pretty lousy reporting.

How did the Paul supporters interrupt the TV reports?

What caused Rutherford to use force against the Paul supporter? Did someone hit him in the head with it? Was he on camera and a Paul supporter stuck the sign in front of him?

[specsaregood]

Feel free to let the Romney campaign know how this reflects upon Mitt.
http://www.mittromney.com/CommentForm

Sent them this:
According to this article in the Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/north/chi-gop17aug17,1,1253331.story?ctrack=3&cset=true

Romney's Illinois chairman, state Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-Chenoa), ripped a sign out of the hands of an individual supporting a different candidate and threw it on the GROUND?!

How does that reflect on Mr. Romney? For him to have an obviously unstable person heading his campaign in Illinois?

Is Mr. Romney against freedom of speech and the rights of American Citizens to support whomever they wish?

[Dustancostine]

Funny,

The senator doesn't seem to be taking calls today.

--Dustan

[lbrtylvr]

note i sent to mitten

you'll have to rip my ron paul sign from my cold dead hands.

[Dustancostine]

I think we should all paint a "Come and Take It" Flag (Like my avatar) on our signs in the future.

--Dustan

[Highmesa]

This is the thing about the Romney campaign.

They will NEVER look like they have the on-the ground support the Paul campaign has, and one has to wonder if his campaign has ACTUAL support.

At this point, he is paying out of his pocket to have staff go raid area nursing homes and such and drive these people in to vote for him in these straw polls. Unfortunately for his campaign, these are not the type of people who will hang around and get pumped up and get the crowds pumped up. Look at what happened when they announced the results in Iowa. The hall was filled with Paul, Huckabee and Brownback supporters, but no one from the Romney campaign was anywhere to be seen.

Wherever they go and pull these stunts, there will always be more people for opponents campaings chanting and getting in their TV shots.

[angelatc]

Romney is so jealous. Paul is so much more popular. Seems money can't always buy popularity.

Ron Paul has college girls coming to hear him, while Romney is bussing in assisted living facility residents. THere's gotta be a bit of an alpha male internal struggle in Mittwit.

[Dustancostine]

This is the thing about the Romney campaign.

They will NEVER look like they have the on-the ground support the Paul campaign has, and one has to wonder if his campaign has ACTUAL support.

At this point, he is paying out of his pocket to have staff go raid area nursing homes and such and drive these people in to vote for him in these straw polls. Unfortunately for his campaign, these are not the type of people who will hang around and get pumped up and get the crowds pumped up. Look at what happened when they announced the results in Iowa. The hall was filled with Paul, Huckabee and Brownback supporters, but no one from the Romney campaign was anywhere to be seen.

Wherever they go and pull these stunts, there will always be more people for opponents campaings chanting and getting in their TV shots.

To be fair to Mitt. His paid staff did stay out side and watch the results from the Huge staqe they had set up. He could have had as many "supporters" (hired mercenary) inside as Huckabee.

--Dustan

[smtwngrl]

Ahem...... *sigh*

Personally, I think we need to pay attention to what we do, and to be a little more considerate. I saw that in Iowa....where whats-her-name could hardly introduce Ron Paul because the supporters were so loud. Let's try to look at what we do from the point of an observer who isn't a supporter, and determine how we would see it if we were on the other side.

It sounds like there may have been some of that here, too. "They frequently interrupted TV reports of the event."

I was aghast, though, at the reaction of Romney's Illinois chairman.

I think our reaction to something like that should be to laugh at him or tell him to calm down. After all, he is the one who is going to look foolish in the eyes of everyone--and to be an embarrassment to Romney's campaign---unless we go crazy over it.

What we do not need to do is add fuel to the fire by going on an email campaign. They will only feel justified, and dislike us more.

There's a time for the emails and phone calls, and there is a time when those will do harm instead of good. It will only fuel the fire and set the stage for another incident.

[specsaregood]

Anybody in the Martha's Vineyard area tomorrow; Go Say Hi to Mitt Tomorrow:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/tracker/dates/2007/aug/18/2972/

Event Details
Date: August 18, 2007
Time: N/A
Location: Oak Bluffs, MA

Description
Martha's Vineyard Welcomes Mitt for Dinner Event


P.S. we really need to come up with a better way of shadowing all these candidates. going to think about making compiling this information easier and distribute to meetup groups.
Edit: The individual campaign calendars on this site look promising: http://2008central.net/?page_id=965

[Roxi]

perfect



I concur

[BLS]

Ahem...... *sigh*

Personally, I think we need to pay attention to what we do, and to be a little more considerate. I saw that in Iowa....where whats-her-name could hardly introduce Ron Paul because the supporters were so loud. Let's try to look at what we do from the point of an observer who isn't a supporter, and determine how we would see it if we were on the other side.

It sounds like there may have been some of that here, too. "They frequently interrupted TV reports of the event."

I was aghast, though, at the reaction of Romney's Illinois chairman.

I think our reaction to something like that should be to laugh at him or tell him to calm down. After all, he is the one who is going to look foolish in the eyes of everyone--and to be an embarrassment to Romney's campaign---unless we go crazy over it.

What we do not need to do is add fuel to the fire by going on an email campaign. They will only feel justified, and dislike us more.

There's a time for the emails and phone calls, and there is a time when those will do harm instead of good. It will only fuel the fire and set the stage for another incident.

You got your methods....I've got mine.
I respect your opinion, but last I checked I was trying to save my country from people JUST like him. Who think you are a NOBODY....forgive me for having a very strong distaste for a man who is SUPPOSED TO WORK FOR US.

it's not the other way around.

[Roxi]

To be fair to Mitt. His paid staff did stay out side and watch the results from the Huge staqe they had set up. He could have had as many "supporters" (hired mercenary) inside as Huckabee.

--Dustan


I agree, although looking at the crowd they had at the stage afterwards, im afraid they would have dwarfed us in size... I don't think they would have been louder than us, and I think we would have kept it up longer, they would keep chanting ron paul as long as someone was willing to keep chanting "louder" and "who ya gonna call" even for 30 min at a time with little rest... I lost my voice right at the end of the day and im sure at least 1000 other people did as well. A lot of the RP supporters went home before the results to get on the roads so we only had about 500 during the announcements, but we were loud and persistant.

jay and I wondered if they were going to get revenge by parading the coliseum after they said Mitts name all the way until we walked out the door. I still can't believe they didn't but I guess they weren't smart enough to organize it, and what were they going to chant " we are paid staffers" ?

[Chester Copperpot]

Ha Ha we posted at the same time :)

If you want to call him here is the details:

District Office
320 N. Plum Street
Pontiac, IL 61764
(815) 842-3632
(815) 842-2875 Fax


Springfield Office
105B Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-6597
(217) 782-0116 Fax

i called both places...only got an answer at the pontiac number.. they are spineless,.,. all the secretary would do is take my name and number and 'pass it along to the senator'

I said I dont want that,., I want an explanation.. I tried to even give them an out.

I said "Hey for all I know the ron paul supporter could have been shoving his sign into the senator's face and then I could understand him ripping the sign out of his hand.. but the video ive seen about it doesnt show anything like that so I was hoping that maybe he would have at least told his staff"

her reply again"i can take your number.... blah blah"

I said "Look Im from new Jersey.. but the point is it really makes Illinois politicians look really immature.

again like a robot " I can take your name and number and blah blah blah"