Message Creep ***Updated***

Here's the link that links to some links and sublinks.

A cynic might say that the difference between Gates and Gladney is their political affiliation

If you don't read Michelle Malkin you may not be aware of Kenneth Gladney who was involved in a scuffle at a town hall meeting. Depending on who you read he was either knocked to the ground or savagely beaten to a pulp (a delayed-action pulp because he was walking around immediately after the event but he's in a wheelchair now) by union thugs. A cynic might say that he was actually worked over by RNC operatives after the event, with his permission.

This whole incident is a sign that Karl Rove has retired, because he'd have managed the message a lot better. For starters, Gladney, who is African-American, is talking about pressing hate-crime charges. So if he was beaten because he was black, then he wasn't beaten because he was against health care, right? And why was he beaten, instead of any of the other African-Americans attending? Perhaps the Republicans think that that they are one of the minorities covered under Hate Crime law; sadly, you have to arrange that sort of thing in advance. If it ain't in the law now, you can't put it in for Gladney. Planning, people!

More to the point, check this out.

Gladney did not address Saturday's crowd of about 200 people. His attorney, David Brown, however, read a prepared statement Gladney wrote. "A few nights ago there was an assault on my liberty, and on yours, too." Brown read. "This should never happen in this country."

Supporters cheered. Brown finished by telling the crowd that Gladney is accepting donations toward his medical expenses. Gladney told reporters he was recently laid off and has no health insurance.

Is this really what Republicans want? As system where your health care is dependent on the kindess of strangers?

***Update***: And a hilarious update at that. From the Washington Independent:

I just got off the phone with David Brian Brown, the St. Louis, Mo., lawyer who has appeared with Kenneth Gladney, the black man who claims he was beaten up by a bunch of Service Employees International Union members outside a town hall meeting in St. Louis. Gladney says he was just there innocently selling Gadsden flags — those flags with the coiled snake that say “Don’t Tread On Me” and became symbols of the recent GOP Tea Party protests... as Daily Kos diarist KevinNYC points out in his play-by-play of the event, there’s a big white guy in a white polo shirt yelling — “they attacked him!” The guy on the video looks strikingly like his lawyer, David Brown, who now says he was a witness to the event, so he can’t officially represent Gladney.

When I asked Brown, who was in a car with Gladney on their way to see Brown’s brother, who is going to be Gladney’s official lawyer, Brown said that there’s been lots of misinformation floating around online about this case.

For one, Brown said, contrary to recent reports... Gladney wasn’t laid off and has health insurance. “He’s just unemployed,” says Brown, and “has insurance through his wife.”

Although Brown initially identified Gladney as “a friend,” when I asked him what line of work Gladney is in, he had to go ask Gladney about that before he could report back to me that about a year ago, Gladney worked for an optical store. Brown said he thinks Gladney’s wife is a social worker, but he’s really not sure.

Meanwhile, though Gladney appears to be just fine in the video right after he was supposedly beaten up, he showed up the next day at a tea party event in a wheelchair. At the event, Bill Hennessy, the organizer of the St. Louis tea parties, asked the crowd to donate money to Gladney to help him pay for his injuries, despite the fact that he now says he has insurance. When I asked Brown about this, he said: “Well, who doesn’t need a donation? If people want to give him a donation because he’s injured and unemployed, that’s up to them.” Brown said Gladney has raised about $1,100 in donations so far.

So to summarize, Hennessy was, um, mistaken when he asked for donations to pay for Gladney's medical treatment. And Brown is Gladney's friend but he doesn't really know what Gladney or his wife does for a living. In any event he's not his lawyer. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that Brown works for the RNC and concocted this whole publicity stunt on the spot, except I just did.

(h/t to WAMK for pointing me to the WI link)