Disgusting Politics in the 10th

I wasn't going to blog about this, but it is getting too much attention to ignore.

As I am watching this video, I see a staffer following around yelling questions at Frank Wolf (most professional trackers videotape only and don't yell out questions trying to provoke the opposing candidate).  Then I see the staffer try to follow Wolf out the door, the camera gets VERY close to Wolf's wife a few inches from her head in fact.  Then the cameraman gets smacked by an 84 year old staffer nearby.

Good for the smacker.  Trackers are not there to stalk.  Trackers are not there to follow people around and yell questions at them.  And a 20 something staffer should not be getting that close to an elderly woman just to get a camera shot.

Charges should be filed, and they ought to be against the obnoxious tracker.  It's too bad this is the best the Judy Feder campaign has to offer in the final week. 

Comments

[Bad Pun]

The 84-year-old was inspired by the blog "Raising Cane."

The last gasp of a dying horrible campaign.

[Another Burke Resident]

Ben -- My faith in you has been utterly restored. Feder's campaign is so desperate for attention that they are willing to stoop this low. The guy with the cane is 83! Are you kidding me that they are considering assault charges? I think Cong. Wolf would have been justified if HE had hit the tracker in the face for getting so close to his wife. He showed remarkable restraint.

It's great to have Ben back!!! Finally people are paying attention to these idiot trackers that exist. For the most part they are good but this person is a complete idiot.

[Loudoun Insider]

Care to revise your Wolf-Feder numbers in the post below?

The Feder campaign is the worst run in recent memory. What a mess.

Get a f-ing life. Ever since Hillary and Leslie lost in their primaries you've been bitter about the entire Democratic Party. I voted for both, I campaigned for both, and I contributed to both. However, I did not choose to trash the party just because the people who I wanted to be nominated did not win. What happened to you? I've moved on and I'm 20 years old. It's about time you got over those loses and grew up. I probably won't even check this blog anymore. With the party poised for such great achievements this year all you can do is pout about some petty events that happened a couple months ago. I can't believe you were the writer of the same blog that I religiously checked during the '07 state elections and in '06.

[Warren]

Out of state trackers hired by out of state money to elect a DC insider to Congress from Virginia. Feder got crushed last time because people saw her as too shrill. This will backfire in their face.

[Blah]

OUCH !~!~!~!

Mrs. Wolf isn't going to like that expression: "... getting that close to an ELDERLY woman..."

[Blah]

OUCH !~!~!~!

Mrs. Wolf isn't going to like that expression: "... getting that close to an ELDERLY woman..."

[John]

Throw the trackers and the 84-year old whacker in jail. All of them. None of that behavior is acceptible. Judy Feder should be ashamed and Frank Wolf should be ashamed - their associates are all wacko and incompetent.

Evidently there is more to the video - perhaps the Feder campaign should get it all out there?

[10th Voter]

Good call. The Feder tactics were over the line and went beyond what should be considered acceptable in a political campaign.

[55]

That video tape tracker is a douche bag. I wish the old guy would have just gone the whole way and given him the beat down of his life. Getting in someone's face like that is just wrong. You can say a lot of things about the Wolf's but they really are nice people. Good for the old guy!

This video is a sad attempt to re-create the the infamous event during the Allen-Webb race, and it fails miserably.

Feder's campaign has been a disaster, poorly run, spending money months before they should have - what a mess.

Looks like the crowd at Raising Kaine is doing for Feder what they did for Byrne during last June's primary - and John Bowerbank and Terry Mcauliffe are their next victims.

Feder looks like a Dana Carvey character from the older SNL days.

[A Voter]

Good for you for calling it as it is! Neither political party should resort to this kind of harassment.

[woody patrick]

here is the rest of the video - if anyone is interested.

http://www.moroccoboard.com/news/314-moroccan-americans-pursue-pro-polisario-congressman-frank-wolf

[not jon henke]

While feder isn't going to win, anything thats gets her closer or makes wolf look bad is helping to defeat him in the next election.

Of course this isn't the greatest story for her campaign, but if the wolf campaign's handling of it can be made to look bad then all the better in unseating him in the long run.

[Grapes]

What do you expect from a pro-abortionist?

[Virginia Centrist]

Congressman Wolf is a class act through and through. The Feder staff members look very juvenile here. The Congressman early in the video politely declines to answer their questions, yet they still continue to basically intrude in his personal space and his wife’s personal space.

Ben Dutton should not have struck the camera/cameraman with the cane, but you can hardly blame him for doing it.

To me this is another example of how we have lost our way in politics with respect to civility. It’s ok to disagree with someone without being disagreeable. The Feder people went over the line, and the article in the Washington Post the other day focused more on the aggressive YouTube techniques rather than the actual action by the Wolf staffer.

Feder's extremist man-cut is not what the 10th needs right now.

[Just Saying]

Video of Supervisor Gary Lofton (who was accompanying Congressman Wolf that day) acting like a lunatic can be found here: http://www.raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=16957

[Tom]

I'd expect more from an experienced Congressman like Frank Wolf. Why not turn to the cameraman and say, "Look, I'm not taking any questions from my opponents' staff? You had your chance a few minutes ago at the debate." Then he'd be on the record and his silent treatment wouldn't look so complicit. No one's innocent in this altercation, but a statesman should've at least said something the first time his friend physically struck the tracker. This makes Wolf look bad just because we expect better from him.

[choctaws]

too bad you think the victom is the perp.

That is standard republican thinking.

You are not larry sabato.

You may not even be human

[Loudoun]

Feder is a lost cause. As to Ben Dutton, good for him. From what I understand, Feder's campaign is only showing half the story.,...as usual.

Go FRANK! I will send another donation right away!

I'm in the 10th - I'll vote for Judy, but this kind of behavior (on her behalf) leaves a sour taste.

[Gnarly]

Ditto what Tom said...exactly.

The silent treatment was just weird even though the Feder staffer was originally at fault. Next time it happens, Wolf should just laugh at them....then tell Ben to "cane" him.

[This is just too fugly!]

Judy Feder is one fugly woman (is s/he a woman?) and s/he ran one fugly campaign. S/he deserves to lose. Please let this be the last time s/he runs for office. Please.