…her campaign doesn’t like.

Coakley, whose campaign to succeed Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, was asked a question by The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack about her previous statement that Islamic terrorists no longer reside in Afghanistan as she exited a campaign event with lobbyists for health insurance and pharmaceutical companies at a swanky D.C. restaurant.

McCormack didn’t get an answer. Instead, he got a shove to the pavement. He also managed to get the identity of his assailant. The bespectacled marauder in the photo appears to be Michael Meehan, a Democrat political operative who is the president of an outfit called Blue Line Strategic Communications:

Blue Line specializes in crisis communications, media relations, business and political communications. Blue is a nod to our Democratic roots, Blue Line is a nod to our love of hockey and the intensity in which we fight for our clients.

Please stop laughing. This stuff is serious. At least Meehan doesn’t lie about what he does for a living, though.

The Boston Herald has a piece up about Coakley’s reaction to the incident, which essentially amounts to “I din’t see nuthin.’ Whether this will stave off the uproar to come is a doubtful prospect; particularly since the whole thing is on video:

Coakley’s pugilistic entourage is only one of her mounting problems. She also has a reverse Willie Horton problem of sorts; the record shows that Coakley knowingly kept an innocent man in prison for five years to further her political career.

The election is six days away.

UPDATE: I deeply apologize for omitting a most obvious reference in the above piece:

The Hayride regrets the error.

UPDATE NO. 2: This gets better and better. Meehan, as it turns out, is an Obama appointee. The President has nominated him to the Broadcasting Board Of Governors!