Paul & Conway Condemn Stomping
Politico reports:
Rivals Rand Paul and Jack Conway on Tuesday condemned the actions of several Paul supporters who attacked a volunteer for the liberal MoveOn.org before the latest Kentucky senatorial debate.
A TV news crew captured footage of a Paul supporter stepping on the head of the volunteer Monday night in a parking lot outside the venue for the debate in Lexington. And the video of the incident went viral overnight.
"The Paul for Senate campaign is extremely disappointed in and condemns the actions of a supporter last night outside the KET debate. Whatever the perceived provocation, any level of aggression or violence is deplorable, and will not be tolerated by our campaign," Republican Paul's campaign said Tuesday in its second statement since the incident.
"The Paul campaign has disassociated itself from the volunteer who took part in this incident, and once again urges all activists – on both sides – to remember that their political passions should never manifest themselves in physical altercations of any kind."
The Paul campaign's first statement came just after midnight and only acknowledged "supporters of both sides," without distancing the campaign from the Paul booster who was caught stepping on the MoveOn volunteer.
The Conway campaign released a similar statement earlier, calling for “steps” to be taken to prevent that sort of “thuggish” behavior between now and the Nov. 2 elections.
“I was shocked to see video footage of a Rand Paul supporter stomping the head of a woman outside the debate last night,” said Conway, a Democrat. “We can disagree on issues – and I don’t know what preceded the incident – but physical violence by a man against a woman must never be tolerated. It is my hope that steps have been taken to ensure this kind of thuggish behavior never happens again in this campaign."
