Is Coakley Employing Thugs?

Right in front of Coakley, one of her thugs pushed John McCormack from the Weekly Standard into a metal railing, causing him to fall to the ground. All this because he asked her about her comment regarding the lack of terrorists in Afghanistan:

Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley attended a fundraiser at the Capitol Hill restaurant Sonoma tonight. After the event concluded, Coakley took two questions from the media but declined to say whether or not she stands by her statement at last night's debate that there aren't any terrorists in Afghanistan (and that they've all gone to Pakistan or Yemen).

After taking a question from a CNN reporter on the street outside the restaurant, I asked her:

TWS: Attorney General Coakley, you said last night that there are no terrorists in Afghanistan--that they're all in Yemen and Pakistan. Do you stand by that remark?

COAKLEY: I'm sorry, did someone else have a question?

GRIFF JENKINS, Fox News: I did. Why are you in Washington tonight?

COAKLEY: We planned an event after the primary that would be a unity event in Washington. We're also in the middle of a very intense campaign [...]

After Coakley finished her answer, she began walking away from the restaurant, and I walked behind her asking why health care industry lobbyists were supporting her at the fundraiser. She didn't reply.

As I walked down the street, a man who appeared to be associated with the Coakley campaign pushed me into a freestanding metal railing. I ended up on the sidewalk. I was fine. He helped me up from the ground, but kept pushing up against me, blocking my path toward Coakley down the street.

He asked if I was with the media, and I told him I work for THE WEEKLY STANDARD. When I asked him who he worked for he replied, "I work for me." He demanded to see my credentials, and even though it was a public street, I showed them to him.

I eventually got around him and met up with the attorney general halfway down the block.

"Attorney General, could I ask you a question please?" I said. "We're done, thanks," Coakley replied. She walked back toward the restaurant, apparently searching for her car. She remained silent as I (politely) repeated my question.

Coakley staffers told me they didn't know who the man was who pushed me, though by every indication he was somehow connected to the campaign.

A subequent post thinks the thug is Michael Meehan, a media consultant on loan to the Coakley campaign from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.