Another 'just a protester' media moment
Congressman Edwards keeps making himself a target in Asheville
Last Wednesday, I had noticed that Raleigh Radio Host K.C. O’Dea picked up on a story by McClatchy’s News & Observer about an incident involving NC Congressman Chuck Edwards at Rotary Club in Asheville.
As noted in the above set of X posts, the McClatchy story claims Edwards hit an attendee with a clip board, according to a single source — a man named Guy Gooder.
This is how the article first describes the alleged incident:
“Guy Gooder says he heard, but didn’t see, Edwards hit the man and couldn’t tell where the blow landed. Edwards’ body was between Gooder and the other man, blocking his view, Gooder said.”
The article makes it very clear that Gooder does not like Edwards and Gooder throughout the article claims Edwards “insulted the intelligence” of those in attendance by defending Trump administration activities.
The article, based completely just off of Gooder’s account, then describes the incident like this:
When Edwards wrapped his speech, he had to walk down a center aisle between tables of Rotarians to get out the back door.
“If you do that for 30 minutes and you walk past somebody, they’re probably going to insult you back,” Gooder said.
And that’s what happened.
A man sitting at a table in the aisle addressed Edwards.
“The Rotarian basically said that was a load of B.S.,” Gooder said.
“Chuck stops and kind of bends over, kind of in-his-face type of stuff,” said Gooder, who said he was at the next table over, “and then it continues from there.”
Edwards, he said, “hit the guy with his clipboard” while the man was still seated.
Gooder said the two men left the room and continued arguing out of view of the Rotarians.
Gooder identified the man, who told McClatchy he couldn’t answer any questions but that he had just gotten off the phone with a police detective and that they’re “trying to come to a resolution.”
Well, Edwards released a statement saying the man who confronted him was drunk and abusive, and that the police had to be called.
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McClatchy describes Gooder as the “district’s community service project chair and a corporate sponsor of the event,” and who is a “graphic designer from Franklin.”
Returning to the point of O’Dea’s X post, it took me about two minutes to take a look at Gooder’s social media and realize this was another version of the “just a protester” media treatment of Edwards’ last appearance at an Asheville town hall where a “veteran” screamed f-bombs at him from the audience.
The image grab of my X post cut off some off the extended text, which included a link to a post on Gooder’s Instagram account where he posted “Say Cheese” along with this image:
I reported for North State Journal on that town hall, uncovering that the “veteran” was Jay Carey, a failed 2022 Democrat candidate for Edwards’ seat in 2022 and a member of the Henderson County Democratic Party. His wife is the party’s chair.
Additionally, Carey runs an organization called “Resist & Persist,” described as a “dedicated veteran issue advocacy non-profit committed to amplifying the voices of those who have served our country.” If one visits the “news” tab on the site, it’s filled with articles about Carey’s f-bomb tirade.
I joined K.C. on his show not long after responding to his X post. The segment begins just after the 1:04:29 mark. K.C. segues into the Edwards story just after that point and his take was that the Democrats/media are trying to “Bobby Etheridge” the congressman.
For those who might not understand that reference, it has to do with former NC Congressman Bob Etheridge’s famous “who are you” confrontation on a D.C. sidewalk in 2010. Republican Renee Ellmers would go on to unseat Etheridge that November.
O’Dea remarked that Edwards keeps making himself a target by doing events in Asheville, which is a deep blue progressive area of the state.
While talking to Edwards about the March town Hall for North State Journal, he told me that he wants to be out there talking to constituents, even if they disagree.
Maybe that strategy needs reconsidering.