Regarding the spitting "incident" Saturday

[BobcatJH]

In a comment on my "A letter from the march on Washington" post earlier today, someone commented on the "incident" surrounding a veteran, Josh Sparling, being allegedy spat upon at the pre-march CODEPINK protest. Well, as someone who attended that rally, here's what I posted at Digby's Hullabaloo:

As someone who was at the CODEPINK event - here's my take on that and the march in general - and who saw Sparling up close and personal, I thought I'd weigh in. We were close to the front of the event because we were there early and my girlfriend wanted a good spot to take photos. Shortly after the event began, I noticed Sparling and his small group - himself, a woman wearing the same 82nd Airborne sweatshirt and another young man - push their way to the front. By the time they made their move, the crowd was packed pretty tight, so I don't see how they could have made it so close (just to the left of the front) without some pushing.

When everyone would cheer a particular speaker, he first stood out by loudly booing. He would also give a thumbs down gesture to accompany those boos. One of the official speakers, a woman who formerly served in the armed forces, went over to him, and the two appeared to have a civil conversation. When a man who was taking pictures went over, Sparling appeared to be shouting in his face to move the camera. Later, when the female veteran spoke, she mentioned his service and our appreciation for it and there was a good round of applause. Nothing that would lead someone to characterize anyone as un-American.

I missed his impromptu speech because myself and my girlfriend were helping keep the CODEPINK protesters on the sidewalk as we marched to the full protest. That said, I sincerely doubt Sparling was treated with disrespect on our side of the street. (I didn't notice anyone on his side of the street barring a few curious folks who appeared to be taking pictures of the counter-protesters.) The worst I saw anyone from our side do in response to a counter-protester was throw up a fist or peace sign. When someone shouted, it wasn't profane. Now, on the other hand, Sparling's Freeper friends across the street had spent the better part of an hour holding up ridiculous signs like "Anti-American peaceniks think sedition is patriotic" and "We gave peace a chance. We got 9/11". Also, they hung an effigy of Jane Fonda. These weren't friendly people. They were people looking to provoke a response. That they got it in the form of spitting, based on everything I saw Saturday, seems laughable on its face.

Before I even noticed Sparling's leg, I thought the kid was a right-wing plant in our group. I thought we were going to be marching, peacefully, and this kid would break a window or otherwise do something to make for an ugly scene, making what was actually a peaceful protest look anything but. It looked to me like he was taking great pains to stand out in what he was doing. For anyone to portray Sparling as an innocent actor in Saturday's events while making the CODEPINK attendees out to be a rabid mob boggles the mind. Our group was 90 percent women, including children and grandmothers. Half of the guys there didn't look like they could hurt a fly. I can safely say Sparling and his group showed up looking to start something, something that, from the looks of your citations, appears to be a pattern.

[TheDebbieDee]

1. Another DUer mentioned that this whole spitting incident

was probably a "Parlockian" manuever.

Parlock is the last name of a right-winger who managed to show up at many Democratic rallies during the last Presidential Election cycle. Parlock managed to get "roughed up" by far left-wingers at several of these rallies. One incident in particular, Parlock claimed that some left-winger grabbed the flag his 3-year old was holding and threw it on the ground and stepped on it..........

[bahrbearian]

2. Is Josh Sparling related to Philp Parlock ?

Phil Parlock
You have to feel sorry for Phil Parlock. I mean, the guy was just trying to exercise his First Amendment rights at a John Kerry campaign event, and he was viciously attacked by Democratic thugs. They even made his daughter cry!



"They just pounced on us," said Phil Parlock, "She was crying; they were pushing and shoving her." My God - will those evil Democrats stop at nothing? John Kerry must hate children! Actually, it looks like it's Phil Parlock who hates children - see, this isn't the first time Mr. Parlock has made it into the papers after being "pounced on" at a Democratic rally. After he and his 12-year-old son Louis smuggled Bush signs into an Al Gore event back in 2000, Louis apparently hoisted a girl onto his shoulders. According to the Charleston Daily Mail, "'She walked up and said 'I'll get on your shoulders and hold a sign,' " Louis said. While she was sitting on Louis' shoulders waving a Bush-Cheney sign, a man who identified himself as a volunteer for the Gore campaign tried to pull the sign out of the girl's hands, Parlock said. He pulled so hard that Louis and the girl fell over. 'That sounds like an exaggeration,' said Sarah Feinberg, spokeswoman for Gore's West Virginia campaign." And - would you believe it - Parlock was a victim of nasty liberals at a Clinton campaign event back in 1996 as well! Again, according to the Charleston Daily Mail, "The Huntington man said he was knocked to the ground by a Clinton supporter when he tried to display a sign that read 'Remember Vince Foster' ... 'It must have been a strict Democrat who did this,' Parlock said." Yup, our Phil certainly has a habit of complaining to the media about Democratic "thuggery." Kinda makes you wonder why he took his young daughter to the event last week. But then, once you realize that Parlock appears to have a relationship with the photographer that snapped the above pic, and that the man wearing the union shirt holding the ripped up sign looks suspiciously like one of his sons, and that Parlock even happened to be around when his local Republican party headquarters were shot at by a unknown assailant ...well, it just kinda makes you think. Funny how our Phil always seems to end up in the wrong place at the wrong time - with the media in tow.

[gratuitous]

3. Josh Sparling, well on his way to his post-service career

Mr. Sparling is also the poor, abused vet who received a Christmas card that said "P.S. Die" on it, and he had a little trouble when he tried to get on a plane without a boarding pass. Now he's getting the vapors because his mean-spirited little jibes weren't just absorbed by his victims, so he has to go running to mommy and daddy about how tough he's got it.

Josh Sparling: Professional Right Wing Victim. He should print up business cards.

[Warpy]

4. Joshua Sparling is not an unknown wounded soldier

with strong opinions.

From Wiki: "On 27 January 2007, at an antiwar protest at Washington DC, he was spat upon by marchers, according to the New York Times.

"Later, as antiwar protesters passed where he and his group were standing, words were exchanged and one of the antiwar protestors spit at the ground near Mr. Sparling; he spit back."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Sparling

Then from Michelle Malkin: "Lots of readers watched Fox & Friends this morning and e-mailed about the disgusting greeting card a wounded soldier (Joshua Sparling) received while hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Thanks to reader Shari for taking these cell phone camera shots of the card displayed by co-host Brian Kilmeade..."

http://www.michellemalkin.com/archives/004021.htm

The alleged origin of the alleged greeting card, "The person who sent the Letter to Joshua Sparling telling him to die is allegedly Michael Crook who was on Hannity and Colmes earlier this year. The Political Teen has that video here."

http://stuckonstupid.blogs.com/stuck_on_stupid/2005/12/joshua_sparling.html
--------------

This guy's whole postwar life seems to be one incident from evil war protesters after another, doesn't it?

Can anyone say 'Parlock?'

Fe fi fo fum...

[repsac3]

13. Joshua Sparling = John O'Neill

I kinda see Mr. Sparling here ending up as more of a John O'Neill swiftboat type. He's definitely become a RW spokes-model for the cause...

I'm trying to track whether any of the other nasty little cards that Michael Crook says he sent to vets ever surfaced. Sparling got one, but when Crook took credit for that one, he said he sent out a bunch... Where did they go?

I can't say for sure that any one or all of these unfortunate events did or didn't happen to Mr. Sparling. The likelihood is that all three did not, but 'spossible I could be wrong, I suppose... But I'm going to need incontrovertible proof, with video, fingerprints, & DNA samples, before I believe him when there's another new "Sparling accosted by peaceniks" story. I mean, what're the chances, ya know?

[pacalo]

5. Shouldn't this first-hand account be on the "greatest" page?

[Contrary1]

9. Yep. K&R n/t

[glitch]

6. Even their scams are tired and boring.

I guess it's all they've got. It doesn't matter, with their ratings it looks like only they believe their stories.

[oasis]

7. If I ever see the right wing scum I'd have no trouble in working up a lugie for him.

:puke:

[BayCityProgressive]

8. I saw the asshole too

he was a fucking dick. swearing, saying liberals should go to hell ect. I flicked him off, and after what he was saying to people I would have spit on his ass too. Fuck that prick.

[WahooJunkie]

10. Anyone care to link

to the original "spitting" incident thread? This is the first I've heard of it.

[Contrary1]

11. Here you go:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=67909

[pacalo]

12. I didn't see that one, Contrary. This is the thread in which I learned about it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x68230

It links to the FR thread that mentions their Fox News-style version.