Parlock: Repeat victim or performance artist?

We've all seen this picture lately, of a father whose 3 year-old daughter is crying because some nasty punk ripped up her Bush/Cheney sign at a Kerry political rally.

According to these three sites, this isn't the first such unsavory incident happening to Phil Parlock, a staunch Republican. In 1996, he was knocked to the ground during a Clinton rally. In 2000, while protesting during a Gore rally, he was knocked down again and his signs were ripped up. And now this incident while protesting at the Kerry rally. Just one of those things?

Parlock could simply be an unlucky guy who always seems to be around when Democrats do something wretched, who took abuse in 1996, 2000 and 2004 for supporting Republicans, who happened to have the same newspaper on hand to report his story each time, and who also happened to be on the scene of a shooting incident that made Democrats look like frightening would-be assassins.

This could be a series of coincidences, but someone should take a long look at this fellow regardless. Manufacturing a few sign-ripping incidents isn't a terribly big deal. But he appears to be hell-bent on making Democrats look like thugs, and there has been a shooting incident involving him on top of everything else. The media, which may well have been repeatedly scammed by Parlock, might want to do some further checking.

Parlock protests that he didn't stage any of these incidents - he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and was repeatedly victimized by horrid baby-hating Democrats. Regardless, you can bet the name Parlock will be flagged with the Associated Press forever.

Let this be a lesson to you discordians who want to stage your own incendiary scenes at political rallys. If you turn yourself into a laughingstock, your adversaries win, right? So either use a different pseudonym at each one, or use your own name but be upfront about your agenda and turn your efforts into satirical performance art, like these people.

Comments

[Jo]

Something about that kid brings out ALL the horrifying Democrat tendencies in me! I want to launch spotted owls at her and slap her upside the head with the whales! What is the nature of her evil! Our only hope is to bring in Jimmy Carter.

[pam]

Don't blame her. Little kids only know what their parents tell them! They don't become evil, owl-killing, whale-bashing Republicans in their own right until later in life. ;-)

[maya]

I do love Billionaires for Bush so very much!

[Anthony]

Do you smell fraud?
First Question: Why is this man taking his daughter to a rally for a candidate he doesn't even approve of? Exactly what lesson is being reinforced here, hmm?
Second Question: Three times? The man claims to have been abused at Democratic functions TWO other times yet still insists on bringing his child to such an obviously "hostile environment"?
Third Question: How come this man gets these FABULOUSLY convenient and photogenic photo-ops about how evil Democrats are, yet, strangely, numerous well-documented cases of Kerry actually cordially inviting up hecklers and allowing them their say conveniently go completely unrecognized by the media?
Fourth Question: Would anyone be paying attention to this clown if he were a Democrat saying he had been abused at a Bush rally? Obviously not; Bush doesn't allow opponents to enter his rallies.
See you in Hell, Jabba!
PS--go to my blog and read a serious Star Wars fan's response to my posting. Great potential flame war here, people (but he's a friend of mine so keep it cordially warm, not hostilely hot, please!)!

[*Name Hidden*]

The picture was taken by an AP photographer. IUPAT, the union the guy who ripped up the sign was in, apologized for the incident. Given the behavior I have encountered around here in a heavily unionized area just having a "W-04" bumper sticker on my car, I am inclined to believe it.

However, what is this guy's problem??? Why would he even THINK of taking his kids into a situation like that??? Since he has 10 kids, was his reasoning "Well, if she gets killed, I'll have 9 more." Completely irresponsible as a parent.