Did this really happen?

[Ksyrup]

I'm taking this with a grain of salt, seeing aas though the "witness" has a reason to make this out to be more than it may have been. Still...is the underlying story true? If so, that's awful.



By Robert Stacy McCain
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published September 17, 2004

<HR>A West Virginia man said yesterday that Democrats stole his family's Bush-Cheney campaign signs at an event featuring Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards.
"They just pounced on us," said Phil Parlock, who took his 11-year-old son, Alex, and 3-year-old daughter, Sophia, to the Democratic rally at Tri-State Airport in Huntington, W.Va.
Sophia became briefly famous yesterday when an Associated Press photo showing her in tears after Democrats tore her sign to pieces was posted on Matt Drudge's Web site, www.drudgereport.com.
"She was crying; they were pushing and shoving her," said Mr. Parlock, a Huntington real estate agent. "She was scared."
Sophia is the youngest of 10 children in a proudly patriotic family. The oldest two Parlock children, a 22-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old son, are members of the West Virginia Army National Guard, and a third Parlock -- who recently turned 18 -- will be sworn into the guard tomorrow, Mr. Parlock said.
The Parlocks went to Mr. Edwards' airport rally yesterday "to support the president," Mr. Parlock said, and brought nine Bush-Cheney signs with them.
"We stood there quietly while Senator Edwards went through the receiving line," he said. Then, as the North Carolina Democrat prepared to leave, Mr. Parlock said, "I took out a few Bush-Cheney signs, gave one to Alex, and Sophia and I held up one jointly."
Immediately, he said, the family was set upon by supporters of Mr. Edwards and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry -- "mostly the painters union guys" -- who "started stealing my signs." Soon, "old women and college students joined in the fracas," said Mr. Parlock, describing himself as "strictly a volunteer, grass-roots supporter" of the president. Mr. Parlock ran unsuccessfully for his local school board this year.
After the family returned home from the rally yesterday, he said, a friend called to tell him about the AP photo on the Drudge site. "In the picture, you can see one of the painters union guys has a piece of one of my signs in his hand."
A call to the Kerry-Edwards campaign last night was not returned.
Anti-war demonstrators have complained in recent weeks that they have been manhandled by security agents at Bush-Cheney campaign events.

[hhiipp]

It is most likely true. Edwards was here a few weeks ago and it in the paper it said you are NOT allowed to bring any kind of signs to the rally. The ones that were there we issued specifically by the campaign organizers.

[sachmo71]

When people mix politics, anything is possible.

[Bee]

My question would be why the hell this guy is bringing small children into a situation that is obviously designed to cause conflict.

[miked]

Exactly. If you support the president, that's cool. If you are intentionally putting yourself into a situation that will cause conflict, why involve your kids? And what does the fact that his kids are in the National Guard have to do with anything? It seems like Edwards' supporters (not Edwards' staff or employees) did the damage. So what's that got to do with Edwards/Kerry?

Amazing, but the idiot count seems to grow daily.

[Ben E Lou]

My question would be why the hell this guy is bringing small children into a situation that is obviously designed to cause conflict.[Horshack voice]Ooh! Ooh me! Ooh please me! Me!

To cause conflict and create a story???

[/Horshack voice]

[Fritz]

I like the word Fracas

[Ben E Lou]

It seems like Edwards' supporters (not Edwards' staff or employees) did the damage. So what's that got to do with Edwards/Kerry?I fear you're overestimating the average American... :(

[gstelmack]

I fear you're overestimating the average American... :(

Yup. Anyone else see the footage of the family of 4 down at the beach as Ivan was coming ashore? Where both kids were within a few seconds of being swept out to sea?

[CamEdwards]

the people who tore the sign up shouldn't have.

The dad who brought his Dubya-lovin' daughter to a John Edwards rally shouldn't have.

This really isn't that difficult for me to comprehend. There's enough blame to go around.

[Ksyrup]

Yup. Anyone else see the footage of the family of 4 down at the beach as Ivan was coming ashore? Where both kids were within a few seconds of being swept out to sea?
Hey, at least the mother recognized she was being stupid. That's half the battle.

[Buddy Grant]

Typical tactics of the party of bullies.

[Bee]

Typical tactics of the party of bullies.

I have no idea which party you are talking about...the party where someone took a sign away from a 3 year old and tore it up...or the party where someone brings his children to a rally for the opposition to try to cause a conflict. But in either case I agree. :D

[mgadfly]

Yeah, the supporters acted wrongly. What should have happened is they should have ridiculed him and shouted him down while security pepper sprayed him in the face, beat him to the ground, cuffed him, and turned him over to police to be charged with "defiant tresspassing."

And now the CPS should consider if taking your young children with you to commit a crime is child endangerment.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/09/17/bush.protester/index.html

[JonInMiddleGA]

An unusual sidenote here, as what appears to be the same Mr. Parlock is quoted in this article about women in the military vis a vis Jessica Lynch.
http://content.gannettonline.com/gns/iraq/20030719-26621.shtml

And here he is again, profiled in his fourth consecutive unsuccessful bid for the local school board
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2004/April/05/LNtop1.htm

edited to add
And, with a little more searching, here's a local story that references the incident (at the bottom of the article)
http://www.hdonline.com/2004/September/17/LNtop1.htm

[CentralMassHokie]

Actually, there's a whole bunch of blogs that have turned up that this guy and his family have reported similar instances to this at least 3 times.

And that the fellow in the picture holding the torn sign looks remarkably like someone from his family.

Amusing stuff.

[Glengoyne]

Maybe he is just trying to keep up with Dan Rather by fabricating a story that might have some effect on the election.

[judicial clerk]

My mom was at a Clinton/Gore rally in Hotlanta. Everyone was lining the street and the candidates and their wives walked down the line shaking hands and what not. Before the candidates go there, the secret service showed up to case the place. There was a store front very near the rally where the owner was taping a huge "Go Bush" on the inside of his store window. Two secret service agents walked into the store and five minutes later they walk out and the guy was taking down his sign. Also, my mom held her clinton/gore sign (provided by the organizers) upside down because she was voting for Bush. She said that one of the secret service agents kept staring at her until she turned the sign right side up. We have since upped her meds.

On a side note, my mom actually got the campaign sign signed by Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, and Tipper Gore and pictures with Bill and Hillary. I am hoping to sell it to pay off my student loans someday. I guess I'll vote for Hillary if she ever runs for president just to increase the value of the sign.

[Leonidas]

I rank this story right up there with "Bush may not have met all his ANG obligations" for worthy of attention as a campaign issue.

[Galaril]

Lets get this story straight:

I heard about this poor Republican family that has been accosted by a bunch of Democratic hooligans at the recent John Edwards event. Well here's the report and lets get this story straight.

A Republican family attended the rally to show support for the Bush-Cheney ticket. Phil Parlock, a Barboursville resident and strong Republican, said his family was accosted by some Kerry supporters.

"We do it peacefully and quietly to show respect. And, we don’t want to get kicked out of anything," Parlock said.

After standing on the tarmac with the Kerry supporters, Parklock and three of his children moved down to the airport road near a parking lot exit.

With Parlock were sons Phil II, 21, and Alex, 11, and daughter Sophia, 3.

Parlock said a Kerry supporter yanked a Bush-Cheney sign out of Sophia’s hands, making her cry. As they stood along the road later, someone threw the ripped-up remains of the sign at them as they passed.

A crying 3 year-old... pass the tissue.

Or not.

It seems Mr. Parlock had the same thing happen to him back in 2000 at a Gore rally, and back in 1996 at a Clinton rally. Parlock was also present, wouldn't you know it, at a local GOP HQ when a bullet was fired at the building during the Republican Convention. Poor Parlock, why was he cursed with such bad, bad luck? Truthout writes:

This could all be a series of strange coincidences. Parlock could simply be an unlucky guy who always seems to be around when Democrats do something wretched, who took abuse in 1996, 2000 and 2004 for supporting Republicans, who happened to have the same newspaper on hand to report his story each time, and who also happened to be on the scene of a shooting incident that made Democrats look like frightening would-be assassins.

The more likely explanation is that this guy is a serial troublemaker who is willing to go to great lengths (illegal lengths, even) to make the Dems look bad.

To make things even more interesting, a Parlock family picture shows that one of his sons looks an awful like one of the union guys that supposedly ripped the sign out of his poor daughter's hands during the latest incident. Also an amazing coincidence, I'm sure.



Link (http://www.unipeak.com/gethtml.php?_u_r_l_=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5oZXJhbGQtZGlzcGF0Y2guY29tLzIwMDQvU2VwdGVtYmVyLzE3L0xOdG9wMS5odG0=)

[CamEdwards]

I'm buying that the guy is a serial asshat, but I'm not buying that the guy that took the sign away is the little girl's brother.

1- The guy was wearing a shirt from a specific union (as were several others in the crowd). This is a small town. I'm pretty sure the other union members would have noticed and said something.

2- The little girl was obviously freaked and crying. She's three. It's pretty hard to coax a kid like that to react that way to a family member doing something like that. If it was her brother, she'd most likely be laughing.

Again, dad's a doofus who probably does crap like this to instigate trouble. I can't believe he would involve his three year old in this. I'm just not buying the bigger conspiracy.

[Ksyrup]

As I stated in the original post, I'm taking this whole story with a grain of salt.

[cartman]

you mean to tell me that people lost posts?!!???!

[cartman]

Dola...

And campaign signs??!!!???