Stark Raving

Well, you really didn't think you'd heard the last of Mike Stark did you? He's the person who assaulted people, pushing them out of the way to try to confront George Allen with a bogus blogosphere rumor. He was wrestled to the ground and tried to turn it into Allen's problem.

Well, this time he's the one who pushed someone to the ground. He got handcuffed and led away as a result.

Mike Stark told The Associated Press that sheriff's deputies detained and released him. He was not charged.

"I'll own this town," Stark, a first-year University of Virginia law student, was overheard telling sheriff's deputies as he was led away from the rally at Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport.

Stark said that he was attending the event as a reporter for the Air America Radio network's "The Young Turks" show and that he wanted to ask Allen about his arrest record and why he didn't do more to stop his supporters from wrestling him to the ground at a campaign event on Tuesday.

On Saturday, Allen supporters formed a human wall to block Stark's access to the senator, who is in a tight election race with Democrat Jim Webb. As Stark tried to sidestep the wall, he brushed the side of a supporter, who fell. A deputy sheriff grabbed Stark, put his arm behind his back and led him away to the cheers of about 100 Allen supporters.

Stark said that he had little contact with the man and that he overheard him tell another supporter that he planned to "take a dive."

The supporter who fell refused to give his name or talk about the incident.

Dan Allen, an aide to the senator, also refused to discuss the incident. The Augusta County Sheriff's Office said it would have no comment until a formal statement Monday.

I honestly think this sort of stunt works against people like Stark. The fact that the AP is, again, reporting this straight is also interesting. Is it, as a commenter on the last post put it, because the media is trying to discredit bloggers? It very well might be since the headline stresses Stark is a blogger.