CA Health Care Reform Rally Ends in Violence

A pro-health care reform rally in Thousand Oaks, CA turned violent Wednesday when, according to authorities, an unidentified man bit off the tip of another man’s pinky finger.

The health care reform rally attracted only about 100 people, but it was a spirited event, one in which an Obamacare supporter wandered into a small crowd of about 25 counter-protesters to engage in a shout-down. Apparently, the exchange of words turned into a fistfight, according to Ventura County Sheriff’s Capt. Frank O’Hanlon.

Reports differ on whether the supporter went to confront the opponents intentionally or was just walking among them while trying to cross the street to the pro-reform rally.

Southern California’s KTLA-TV, which first reported on the fracas, wrote, “The 65-year-old was apparently aggressive and hit the other man, who then retaliated by biting off his attacker’s pinky.”

The injured man “retrieved the finger and went to a hospital,” according to Associated Press. A hospital spokesperson told the news service that the counter-protester, who had Medicare, “lost half the finger, but doctors reattached it and he was sent home the same night.”

Anti-health care reform protesters see the altercation as an act of “Nazi” aggression. A comment left on the Washington Post’s website reads: “I think your characterizations “wound up among a group of 25 counter-protesters” and “a fistfight broke out” are deceptive and apologetic in regard to an act of violence that would not have been out of place during the run-up to Nazi rule. You may simply laugh this off or use language designed to minimize such as “fingertip” but this was a violent act done by a group intent on quieting dissent, done in the name of the president’s policies. …”

Another comment reads: “I heard an eye witness account on the radio that the pro-Obama supporter was the agressor and did the finger biting. If so, those on the right are going to have a field day countering the “terrorist”, Nazi like, astro-turf descriptions of anti-Obama health care protestors by Pelosi and other Dems. The union and Move On protestors are proving themselves to be the real thugs in this debate. Do they get paid to attend these rallies? Oh, that would be too good if proven to be true.”

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