I spoke to Stanhope, as he drove to the hospital for x-rays and treatment for the injuries sustained at the rally, and asked him what happened. Mr. Stanhope said that he was with a group of about 150 Tea Party activists across the street from the MoveOn.org-organized union rally. A union man with a bullhorn, Richard Andazola, 28, was yelling across the street at the Tea Party activists, calling them fascists.
Then one of the Tea Party activists, also bullhorn equipped, replied, ,i>We pay your salary!,/i>
This enraged Andazola, who, according to Stanhope, rushed the Tea Partiers, chanting Fascists go home! Fascists go home! He violently shoved Stanhope twice, the second time apparently striking Stanhope in the throat:
Somehow in the melee, Stanhopes hand was also injured
The union thug was later cited by law enforcement:
"Following up from Friday's post on dissent against the American-imposed regime in Iraq, here are some observations from As'ad AbuKhalil on how the reality of the occupied land gets transmuted through the magic seeing stones of the American media into something more rosy and benign:
First, notice that US media, especially the New York Times and Washington Post, cover Iraq with barely a mention that the country is occupied and has been occupied since 2003. Secondly, notice that every article about repression and protests in Iraq has to mention that the country is a "democracy" as if to express amazement at the willingness of Iraqis to protest against it (this is today's NYT: "Unlike protests elsewhere in the region, the crowds in this young, war-torn democracy did not call for an entirely new form of government...").