Coakley Camp Roughs Up Reporter?

Meredith Jessup | January 13, 2010 11:39 AM

My friend John McCormack over at the Weekly Standard followed Massachusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley around DC as she hob-knobbed with lobbyists at a Democrat fundraiser last night. As she exited the fundraiser, John asked the state attorney general to comment on her recent assertion that there are no terrorists in Afghanistan:

TWS: Attorney General Coakley, you said last night that there are no terrorists in Afghanistan--that they're all in Yemen and Pakistan. Do you stand by that remark?
COAKLEY: I'm sorry, did someone else have a question?
GRIFF JENKINS, Fox News: I did. Why are you in Washington tonight?
COAKLEY: We planned an event after the primary that would be a unity event in Washington. We're also in the middle of a very intense campaign [...]

Now, I know John and I know he wouldn't be thrown off a scent by a politician's non-answer like Coakley's. As Coakley left the restaurant, he walked behind her to ask why health care industry lobbyists were toasting her at a fundraiser on the eve of her senate election... again, no response from Coakley.

As he followed her, a man who seemed to be associated with the Coakley campaign shoved John into freestanding metal railing. John recalls:

He helped me up from the ground, but kept pushing up against me, blocking my path toward Coakley down the street.
He asked if I was with the media, and I told him I work for THE WEEKLY STANDARD. When I asked him who he worked for he replied, "I work for me." He demanded to see my credentials, and even though it was a public street, I showed them to him.

Video of the incident has surfaced this morning and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is dismissing the physical abuse of a reporter as a "dirty trick" by Republicans. Hardly.

Meanwhile, Coakley staffers claim they do not know who the obtrusive man was who shoved John. Take a look at a copy of video captured at the scene and let us know what you think: