Aug 25, 2006

STAUNTON - A man who identified himself as a law student confronted U.S. Sen. George Allen here today, demanding to know if the potential presidential candidate had ever used the n-word.

Mike Stark, in his early to mid-20s, also asked Allen, R-Va., why he had a Confederate flag and a noose in his office. The News Virginian confirmed that Stark is a first-year law student at the University of Virginia.

An Allen aide asked Stark to leave, while a staff person at the Holiday Inn in Staunton also told him to leave the premises.

The man paid $20 to attend a luncheon hosted by the Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce. The man stood with reporters waiting to interview Allen, then fired him questions.

“Is this an interview?” Allen asked. “I’ll be glad to talk to you afterwards.”

Allen aide David Nepp, stepped in and asked the man to leave.

We all want to make a difference...and we all can--sometimes doing the most unlikely things. Once you get involved, there's no telling how you can affect the world. Case in point: Mike Stark.

In 2002 Stark, an ex-Marine, was "sitting at home, watching TV like everyone else." He wasn't an activist, but as America prepared for war with Iraq, he decided he had to do something. "I started calling local radio talk shows whenever I had the time," he recalls, "and sharing what I knew about the Iraq situation. I wanted people to be careful--I wanted to remind them that they shouldn't believe everything they heard." He made calls regularly, but didn't tell anyone about his "weird, geeky hobby"--he was too embarrassed. Over the next few years, he added national radio shows to his speed-dial, and did what most progressives only dream of: talked back, literally, to Rightwing radio hosts. Still, he had no idea he was doing anything that people might find impressive or inspiring. <.....>

Gradually Stark's web site, callingallwingnuts.com, became a destination for anyone interested in getting on right-wing call-in shows (Note: Beginning callers can find excellent how-to advice there)--and for the growing number of folks fascinated by his eccentric, homegrown activism. Stark became a hero of sorts. Who else has had the chance (or balls) to ask Newt Gingrich about his pretensions to morality...or ask Nancy Pelosi how she planned to support Lamont? "I love asking politicians questions that they don't want to answer," he says. "And that includes people on my side. <...> I'm just willing to confront people who are doing something I think is wrong. Of course, I know a lot of people are afraid of confrontation. But in this case, they've got it backwards...because it's the politicians who should be afraid of us. They're the people who, if they're not careful, will make complete asses out of themselves in their effort to keep their power."

Does activism like Stark's actually affect anything? Well, consider this: If the Dems take the Senate this year, Jim Webb will have to beat George Allen in Virginia. And if Webb beats Allen, it'll be partly because people exposed Allen's racism by asking him--directly--if he'd ever used the word "nigger." Who was the first person to go on record (and tape) doing that? Stark. <...>

Stark's activism does have a price, though. He's the father of a 14-month-old girl, and "Every time I make a decision on whether to go to Washington, or attend any political event, I'm taking time away from being with my daughter." So why does he do it? "I've had this discussion with my wife a lot," he explains. "These are pretty momentous times, and I think the people who are in charge of things right now are pretty close to just plain evil. We have a responsibility to our country and each other to get involved. I like to think that if I was in Germany in 1939, I'd be hiding Ann Frank in my attic instead of cowering along with everyone else."