Maybe The Internet Tubes Are Broken Over There

A liberal blogger suggested he'd provoke George Allen at a campaign stop and then tried to do so, being wrestled to the ground and evicted by Allen supporters (video at Hot Air). The blogger's background and his vague plan have been reported by the Associated Press and the AllenHQ blog and remarked upon by conservative bloggers including Blue Crab Boulevard and Sister Toldjah. Not by Michael Shear (of macaca fame) and Tim Craig in Thursday's Democratic Activist Claims Abuse by Allen Staffers, which sitting here Tuesday night is slated for A8 according to washingtonpost.com.

Now, these night-before-newsprint stories are dicey; sometimes when I wake up the next day they've changed a bit, sometimes the links just disappear, sometimes the original headline vanishes. The story tonight identifies Michael Stark as a "democratic activist" and UVA law student, but that's about it. And there's this:

On the video, Stark was heckling Allen about rumors that embarrassing material is contained in records from the senator's divorce. Those records have been sealed by a judge and are not accessible. Allen's current wife, Susan, is his second and the mother of his children.

Allen aides accused Democrats and the Webb campaign of orchestrating the event as a way of getting news organizations to write about the Internet rumor.

It doesn't sound like Stark arranged this with the Webb campaign, but as AP points out:

In a Monday posting on "Calling All Wingnuts," the blog Stark publishes, he hinted that he would attempt to provoke Allen before the TV cameras.

"Im also trying to `Roger and Me' George Allen whenever I can," Stark wrote, referring to director Michael Moore's 1989 documentary in which he repeatedly tried to confront former General Motors' chief executive Roger Smith about the company's downsizing.

And sure enough, that's what he wrote on his blog. Sounds like a delightful fellow, having shadowed Allen earlier in the campaign loudly asking if he had ever used a common six-letter epithet against blacks, according to AP. Stark's motto at his blog reads a never-ending battle against stupid, ugly, deceitful and corrupt right-wing water carriers…

So downside, being a petty political thug. Upside--more traffic!

You never know with the Post whether leaving out such info is careless or company policy. If you apply the standard used by Outlook editor Susan Glasser, reporters Shear and Craig omitted the information because including it would put a label on Stark and prejudge his opinions.

Update: Wednesday morning and it's all there. Same link, same story, same omission.

Update: More from Byron York at NRO [language alert]:

Democratic activists, Internet pranksters, rumor-mongers, and the Washington Post come together to hit the Republican candidate.

In late August, a man named Mike Stark posted a plea on the popular Democratic website DailyKos.com. He was a political prankster, Stark explained, and he’d been pulling pranks on conservatives for quite a while. He had had some success slipping past Rush Limbaugh’s call screeners. He wore a monkey suit to approach George Allen and ask, “Have you ever used the word n——-?” And once, during an episode of Hannity & Colmes, he held a sign up behind Sean Hannity that said HANNITY SUCKS ASS. Stark proudly recounted his work on the DailyKos and on his website, Callingallwingnuts.com.

But now, Stark explained, he wanted to do more...

My favorite part of Stark's provocation: He yells Why did you spit on your wife and then after being hustled out says now you're getting personal.

Read York, much more, including Stark asking for help for these stunts at the Daily Kos and Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo not exactly improving his reputation. And for the record, from the AP story by Bob Lewis:

Allen's former wife, Anne Waddell, issued a statement after Tuesday's incident calling Stark's question "a baseless, cheap shot." She said she and Allen divorced more than 22 years ago and, because it was a personal matter, they had the divorce records sealed.

Correction by Byron York--I better add this since I quoted it above:

I've corrected an error in my story about Mike Stark and the Internet-fueled attacks on George Allen. Stark was not the guy wearing a monkey suit in one anti-Allen stunt. Turns out he was too busy calling up a radio show to heckle Newt Gingrich about his divorce.