Protesters are demanding justice for a man who was injured during fighting that erupted last week when audience members at a St. Louis-area aging forum began yelling about health care reform.Ahhh, the irony of that last statement. Can we read that again?
Backers of Kenneth Gladney, 38, of St. Louis, gathered Saturday at the offices of the Service Employees International Union for an event organized by the pro-limited government Tea Party coalition.
The group claims union members attacked the politically conservative Gladney at the event two days earlier. But members of the union, which supports the president’s health care plan, say Gladney initiated the fight.
The melee, which ended in six arrests, was one of several at town hall meetings around the country as Democratic lawmakers returning home faced resistance to proposals to reform the nation’s costly health care system. U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, a Missouri Democrat, organized the event in Mehlville.
On Saturday, Gladney sat in a wheelchair, his knee bandaged, holding a flag that read: “Don’t Tread on Me.” Others who gathered at the union offices held signs with a slightly different version of the message: “Don’t Tread on Kenny.”
The union offices weren’t open, and the union didn’t send members to attend. Gladney’s attorney, David Brown, received cheers from the crowd of about 200 people when he read a statement written by his client.
“A few nights ago there was an assault on my liberty, and on yours, too.” Brown read. “This should never happen in this country.”
Brown told the crowd that Gladney is accepting donations toward his medical expenses. Gladney told reporters he was laid off recently and has no health insurance.
Gladney told reporters he was laid off recently and has no health insurance.Although on the surface, it might appear that Gladney's sorta kinda protesting against his own self-interests (notice a pattern here?), that didn't stop the usual suspects from putting him on TV and making him the brown face (just proving that all TeaBagger's aren't white. See, we got proof now!) of a new movement. Witness Mr. Gladney and his disgustingly cheesy attorney on Fox News.
That lawyer is so slimy, he makes Laura Ingraham seem likeable. Not to be outdone, Gladney shows up to shoot the breeze with Neil Cavuto.
I don't have the video proof, but I distinctly remember seeing Gladney on Fox & Friends that very same morning, wearing the very same shirt, with the very same greasy attorney by his side. So, three appearances on the same network, on the same day. But nobody's manufacturing a story here, nah, no way that could ever happen, right?
Milking the cow even further, he shows up at a TeaBaggers protest in St. Louis over the weekend, now seated in a wheelchair and assuming the full-on victim role.
I know some of you are wondering by now, just how badly did this Negro get beaten? Here's the actual video in case you didn't see it yet.
Call me crazy, but I don't see an assault here.[2] I see a bunch of people sprawled out on the ground, and I see Gladney pop right back up. His ego and pride seem more bruised than anything else. I don't see him being "beaten visciously by two men and a woman". He allegedly had to spend the night in the hospital, and now suffers from injuries to his "knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face." He didn't speak at the TeaBag Protest because he's supposedly "under heavy medication as a result of the beating".
Knee-Grow Please.
[Editor's Note: The brotha in the SEIU shirt should be just as ashamed of himself for making such a spectacle of a political event. If I knew his name, I'd call him out too.]
Before anyone gets it twisted, I have no problem whatsoever with Gladney because he's a Conservative.[1] None whatsoever. My problem is watching a Negro so blatantly assume a victim role when he clearly wasn't hurt that badly, and the disgust of watching folks who wouldn't have given a sh*t about him had they found out he'd been selling pro-Obama bumper stickers instead. Hell, if he was selling "Hope & Change" bumper stickers, these same folks mighta whooped his ass instead. Shamelessly allowing yourself to be whored out to advance a flimsy political point by people who wouldn't otherwise care about you is the exact inverse of what Dr. King died for. And good luck with that lawsuit, buddy.
Get out that wheelchair, drop that lawsuit, get a job, and grow a pair, Black Man!
Question: Does Gladney have a legitimate lawsuit? Is it strange that he's protesting healthcare reform when he has no healthcare to speak of? Do you think these townhall protests are manufactured hype or spontaneous showings of freedom of speech?/b>
Protesters demand justice for man injured at health care town hall in St. Louis [KCStar]
[1] I also have no issue with Conservatives demanding answers to their concerns about proposed healthcare legislation at these townhall meetings. But by talking over the elected officials who are there to simply provide answers, I fail to understand their approach. Yelling, screaming, and chanting seems like a big tantrum, rather than an attempt to be heard. Because you know what people do when they're being yelled at? They tune you out. Do I think some of these protests are "manufactured"? Yes, to a degree. One plant in a crowd starts yelling, and it makes such behavior socially acceptable to the others who pile on. And BTW, how come no GOP representatives have had their townhalls interrupted? Hmmmmmm.
[2] If you really, really wanna see somebody get their a$$ whooped, checkout former LA Clippers center Keith Closs catching a beatdown in this classic video.
