The first thing you notice when the camera starts rolling is a union member already sprawled out on the ground with somebody standing over him. No explanation of how he got there (pushed, shoved, punched?) and Ham couldn’t care less. Then yes, Gladney is pulled to the ground by somebody wearing a union shirt. (At the :06 mark.) But instead of Gladney being beaten and punched, as his attorney describes, and instead of union “thugs” standing over him and threatening him, Gladney bounces right back on his feet in approximately two seconds and the scuffle ends.
That was the savage “beating” the conservative blogosphere can’t stop talking about?
The only real mystery from the incident is why Tea Party member Gladney, who’s seen up-close after the brief encounter walking around and talking to people and who appears to be injury-free, then decided to go to the hospital to treat injuries to his “knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face.” All that from a two-second fall to the pavement?
Media Matters: Inventing tales of a union “beating”
Media Matters also notes: Gladney was not “hospitalized.” (i.e. Rushed away by ambulance.) Instead, as the Post-Dispatch correctly reported, Gladney “said he sought hospital treatment.”
I haven’t been able to watch this with audio yet, so I don’t know if that adds any confirmation or rebuttal of Gladney’s story, but it appears to be a near complete fabrication (depending on whether there was some other altercation that occurred before the camera started rolling) – or maybe even a complete fabrication.
Also note how the conservative blogosphere is reacting to this video. The base is not reality based.
August 10, 2009 at 8:55 pm
If you google around a bit, you’ll find out that Kenneth Gladney is black.
August 10, 2009 at 9:12 pm
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August 10, 2009 at 11:58 pm
yeah, ok, I was distracted by the big white guy in the foreground falling to the ground at 0:06. Gladney is the guy in the brown shirt / brown shorts behind him.
August 11, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Yeah, it looks like the big white guy (I’ll call him Man2) pulls Gladney down when he falls. Not clear if: a) Gladney shoved Man2 and Man2 pulled Gladney down with him b) Man2 pulled Gladney off someone else and fell down, taking Gladney with him c) Man2 grabbed Gladney, unprovoked, and just fell down with him d) Something else.
Whatever happened, it doesn’t look like Gladney’s version of the events, but people standing around immediately started accusing Man2 of attacking Gladney.
I listened to it w/ audio and didn’t hear any racial epithets, but it was hard to hear.
August 11, 2009 at 5:39 pm
OK, upon further viewing it’s clear that Man2 grabbed Gladney and threw him down and then fell over himself. It’s not clear what lead him to throw Gladney down. And what happened to the other union guy laying on the ground?