This perhaps not the diary you expected - the incident occurred at the Appleton, WI Republican headquarters, where an elderly, disabled McCain volunteer was battered yesterday. The volunteer, who isn't identified, was in the office alone when Benjamin Porter came in angrily and pushed her to the floor. She hit her head on a counter during the fall, and thank goodness the injury wasn't severe enough to require medical treatment. I imagine it was terrifying though, and my heart goes out to her.
The Appleton Post-Crescent is reporting the story this morning, and there are some details that suggest Porter has some troubling anger issues, to say the very least.
Porter, who said he is a restaurant worker, said the frequent calls from candidates got to him.
"The Republican Party, just as they did four years ago, continues to call my house six times a day for one candidate or another," he said. "They always promise to quit calling but they continue to call."
Rather than, say, stop answer the phone as a rational person might, Porter went the city's GOP office to, as he told the arresting officer, "disrupt the Republican Party every time they disrupted him."
For Porter that meant,
Susan Weiss, the GOP membership chairwoman, said a woman who walks with a cane was alone in the office when Porter arrived.
The woman put a hand on his arm to calm him.
"He screamed 'Don't touch me.' He pushed her and she fell backwards and hit the back of her head on the counter," Weiss said.
One of the oddest details of the story is this (emphasis mine):
Porter left a note with his name, address and bank balance in the GOP headquarters on W. College Avenue after the incident.
Porter is clearly unstable, but I was also really troubled by some of the comments written on the Post-Crescent website about the story -
I suspect this guy just wants some redistribution.
well maybe the GOP should grow up and stop harrassing the very people it wants to vote for them; as far as the old lady with the cane, just like obama, she is guilty of harrassment by association
Maybe the guy confused the republican party with ACORN?
i mean you people do understand that government is the problem, dont you? remember, hitler killed 5 people, german government employees(you know the real patriotic ones) just doing their jobs killed the other 13 million
I guess this is what Obama means by getting in people's faces.
A vote for Obama is also a vote for terrorism, anti-semitism, and socialism. It's your choice, if that's what you really want.
Fortunately, rchlotto is a voice of reason:
What the @ell is wrong with you people? This isn't about Dem. or Rep., this is soley about ONE MAN'S INABILITY to control his violent temper. THAT IS ALL!!! He needs jail and or therapy. He pushed an elderly handicapped woman to the floor! I am quite certain that 6 calls a day from the republican party is a LIE! I have not recieved ONE phone call in 20 years and he gets 6 EVERY DAY? He was looking for an excuse to hurt someone, and he used this as his outlet. He is violent and has NO problem being violent toward an elderly handicap woman. There is a MUCH larger problem here than a few phone calls!