Nina Petraro Bastardi, a Republican-turned-Democrat who is running for New York's Nassau County Legislature, was heckled by a mob of rabid Republican demonstrators Wednesday as she announced her candidacy for the local legislative seat.
Bastardi and a group of supporters were gathered outside the local GOP headquarters to make the announcement when a deafening mob of agitators began to shout insults.
Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi was listing Bastardi's achievements as a summa cum laude student when someone in the audience yelled out, "She's dumb as a rock!" From there, the verbal assault escalated to vague threats and sexist insults.
When Bastardi tried to speak, the troublemakers drowned her out with chants of "Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!"
At one point, a protester threw a tea bag at Bastardi's group, a nod to the recent spat of GOP sponsored anti-tax, Tea-party events.
The Republican candidate for the Nassau seat, John Ciotti, was not present, but the Long Island newspaper Newsday reported that the chairman of the Nassau County Republican Committee, Joseph Modello, had this to say about the incident:
"They think they can come with impunity into our house and cause trouble. They can't walk all over us... We'd never pull that kinds of stunt. They come to us, they're going to have to take their risks. They got what they deserved today. They tried to make light of what we stand for in the Republican Party, and we gave it back to them."
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