Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Balances Brutal Beating with Burned Obama Sign

While the story of Sean Kedzie, the son of Wisconsin State Senator Neal Kedzie, who was brutally beaten by thugs shouting support for President Obama, is spreading nationally, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel does not seem to think the story is that important. 

After a press release and photo of Kedzie’s beaten face were issued by the senator’s office Monday afternoon, the story quickly began to spread. Last night, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel decided to publish 74 words about the incident. Despite Kedzie being bludgeoned by two white men after he caught them removing pro-Romney signs from his yard, causing possible skull and eye socket fractures, the Sentinel fails to describe the severity of the attack. 

The Sentinel merely mentions Senator Kedzie’s description that his son was “wrestled to the ground, beat and choked.” This is followed by the non-descriptive line, “Sean Kedzie was treated at a hospital and later released.”

Never mind the fact that Kedzie was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and told Breitbart News, “if the neighbor who came out and scared off his attackers didn’t come out, it could have been much worse.” Kedzie says he could barely say “please stop,” he was being choked so hard, and he admits he feels he could have been killed.

I spoke with Sean Kedzie this morning. He has appeared on two prominent radio shows — Mark Belling and Charlie Sykes in Wisconsin — and he has been contacted by Fox 6 Milwaukee, Channel 3 and 15 Madison, and the Janesville Gazette. However, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has not contacted him or anyone in his father’s office for details on an attack that many are now referring to as a vicious hate crime.

Here is the full text of the Journal Sentinel‘s article. The article was also published without the graphic photo of Sean Kedzie, which illustrates a very scary picture of what has become of the political atmosphere in Wisconsin.

The son of state Sen. Neal Kedzie (R-Elkhorn) was beaten at his home in Whitewater after confronting a man taking down a Romney/Ryan campaign sign, the senator said Monday.

Sean Kedzie was attacked by the man and another man, who wrestled him to the ground, beat and choked him, the elder Kedzie said.

Sean Kedzie was treated at a hospital and released, his father said.

Whitewater police Monday confirmed they were investigating the incident.

However, twenty-five minutes after the Sentinel posted this brief piece, the paper made sure to cover in detail another local political incident where a pro-Obama sign was burned in someone’s yard. The Sentinel published a segment from Muskego Now and linked directly to the entire article, in which they interviewed the victim of the sign burning. “It reminded me of Mississippi in the ’50s,” he said, referring to churches and other property burned by opponents of the civil rights movement.

The Journal Sentinel via Muskego Now continued to play up the extremism of this occurrence: “He places the blame on extremism whipped up by talk shows that spread negativity onto the stage of ideas. He also cited politicians who refuse to cooperate with each other so that they can play the blame game. Pushing people to extremes eventually poisons the body politic, Schuele said.”

Ben Sparks, spokesman for the Romney campaign in Wisconsin, said, “We don’t condone behavior like that. It has no connection with the campaign.”

Breitbart News contacted Barack Obama’s Organizing for America Press Secretary, Gillian Morris, for a comment from the Obama campaign regarding the beating of the Senator’s son, but Morris was unable to give a statement at the time and said the campaign would issue a response this afternoon.

Update: The Wisconsin Democrat Party has issued the following statement this afternoon:

Statement on the Assault of State Senator’s Son Over Campaign Signs

Following is the statement from Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate on the assault of the adult son of state Sen. Neal Kedzie, who was attacked by two men after confronting one of them for taking down a Romney-Ryan campaign sign.