Kicking 'em While They're Down
UPDATES! There have been many fairly important updates to this post—chief among them that the person identified in the second photo has denied being the person depicted in the first. That account is now here. We've closed comments on this post because people were posting personal info that could be used to contact and harass the guy. That would be clearly non-Kosher even this weren't an investigation still in progress; since it is still in progress, it's super bacon cheeseburger with a clam on top non-Kosher. END UPDATE
So I see that TalkLeft and other liberal blogs have been wondering about the identity of this guy:
…who purportedly kicked a female protester (video here) at the Republican convention. Of course, if you're trying to identify a hardcore right-winger, left-wing blogs are probably the wrong place to post your query. Because someone on the right might've recognized a former National Taxpayers Union intern (left):
I didn't know the guy, but a few people who were in town this summer and did seem fairly certain it's him. Assuming it is, I guess "the angry and debilitating, empty-rhetoric of mob-style street politics" he denounces here are less debilitating when you're in the mob.
UPDATE I showed this video, in which the kicker is shown more clearly and speaks briefly with a reporter, to someone who spent the summer as part of the same internship program. That person says it's him…
UPDATE 2: Naughty, naughty NTU… someone there just cropped their 2004 intern photo, leaving this, with the guy I'm being told appears to be the kicker cropped out. Of course, I expected as much, so the full photo is still above.
UPDATE 3: Allow me to clarify that I'm not posting this just because of the resemblance in the photos (which would be grossly irresponsible), but because of numerous people who spent the entire summer with him using language like "absolutely sure" and "no doubt" about the guy in the RNC photo and video being the same person. Another blogger has just passed along the following email, which I'm told was sent some time ago but held back for want of multiple confirmations, which I've had at this point:
The young republican who kicked a girl in ABC video is a junior at Wharton (University of Pennsylvania) named Scott Robinson. Although I have been an acquantaince of Scott's for 2 years and know of his radical republican ideals, this video was over the line and heinous enough for me to speak up. [AUTHOR-IDENTIFYING COMMENTS REMOVED] I hope this helps in doign whatever it takes to ensure that something like this does not happen again and Scott is held responsible for his actions. Thanks
UPDATE 4: Yet another D.C. intern this summer who knew Robinson is JD Henchman. He's absolutely postive that the person in the video is Scott, and adds: "I'm not surprised that Scott would do something like that."
