Chaos at Carnahan Town Hall

Things got pretty ugly last night (as I was afraid they would) when union thugs showed up to defend socialism at a health care town hall meeting in St. Louis.

Patriotic, freedom-loving Americans have been giving socialist elitists in Washington a hard time for trying to push government health care on us, so yesterday the union bosses sent out memos calling for their thugs to crash protests by citizens at town hall meetings.

Knowing how union henchmen often operate, I expected violence would probably ensue somewhere, but it only took a few hours.

Violence erupted last night at a health care town hall meeting held by Rep. Russell Carnahan (D-MO) in Gadsden, a suburb of St. Louis.

From Fox2Now:

The town hall meeting was scheduled months ago by Carnahan’s office. The intent was initially to educate senior citizens about Medicaid and Medicare issues, but Thursday the Democratic Party sent out releases encouraging people to show up and show support for President Obama’s health care reform plan.

As you see in the videos below, a lot of people were being turned away at the door…while others who appeared to be union personnel, were being allowed in.

But some citizens did make it inside and they let it be known that they did NOT want this socialist monstrosity forced on them.

Outside, things got really nasty.

Kenneth Gladney, 38, of St. Louis was handing out yellow flags printed with “Don’t tread on me” when a union thug from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) attacked him.  Gladney, who is black, said his black assailant, used racial slurs before attacking him.

Gladney was taken to the hospital for injuries to his knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face.

A letter from Gladney’s attorney was posted at the St. Louis Tea Party website. David B. Brown witnessed the attack on Gladney and provides this account:

I am Kenneth Gladney’s attorney. Kenneth was attacked on the evening of August 6, 2009 at Rep. Russ Carnahan’s town hall meeting in South St. Louis County. I was at the town hall meeting as well and witnessed the events leading up to the attack of Kenneth. Kenneth was approached by an SEIU representative as Kenneth was handing out “Don’t Tread on Me” flags to other conservatives. The SEIU representative demanded to know why a black man was handing out these flags. The SEIU member used a racial slur against Kenneth, then punched him in the face. Kenneth fell to the ground. Another SEIU member yelled racial epithets at Kenneth as he kicked him in the head and back. Kenneth was also brutally attacked by one other male SEIU member and an unidentified woman. The three men were clearly SEIU members, as they were wearing T-shirts with the SEIU logo.

Kenneth was beaten badly. One assailant fled on foot; three others were arrested. Kenneth was admitted to St. John’s Mercy Medical Center emergency room, where he was treated for his numerous injuries. Kenneth was merely expressing his freedom of speech by handing out the flags. In fact, he merely asked people as they exited the town hall meeting whether they would like a flag. He in no way provoked any argument or altercation, as evidenced by the fact that three assailants were arrested.

Video from the Examiner below shows some of the fight, but not clearly.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch also has coverage here.

The union heavies probably think they can knock around a few Americans and dissent against this socialist takeover will go away.

They. Are. Sadly. Mistaken.

Americans have a tradition going back more than 200 years that says when our freedoms are threatened, we mobilize. And we stay in the fight until our freedoms are once again secure.

If these thugs with their Chicago-style activism want to keep this barbaric behavior up, they’d better have plenty of thugs willing to get arrested, because the American people are not going to back down.

American Citizens Turned Away at the Door

Inside the town hall

Union thugs assaulting people

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