HereÂ’s a transcript of a call to Mark Steyn, stand-in host for the Rush Limbaugh show Thursday September 3
Mark Steyn: Scott apparently you were at this rally
Witness - Scott Bush: Yeah, yes, I was right there when it happened
MS: And how did this scuffle develop?
SB: Well we were on our side which was right next to the Oaks Mall, there on the adjacent corner. We were standing on the curb...on the sidewalk and this gentleman from the other side, from the Obama side came across the street, over the island which is...anyway...and approached us, and while standing in the street ....passed through traffic, yelled at us and said “are you for a public option....are you against the public option?” We said “no”
MS: Those are fighting words
SB: Right... he started it, exactly...and then we all said no...and he walked directly to the elderly man who...you know...without taking anything away from him...you know...he wasnÂ’t, he was...you know...he was not very...He kind of targeted him.
He went to that elderly man. He went up to him and said “why are you not for the public option? The elderly man said that “I don’t want the government involved in anything that effects me” and uh...then the Obama gentleman said.....he got even closer kind of like a baseball coach gets to an Ump...you know. right after .....this he said “You’re an idiot” so he aggressed him. He got real close, you know right up, you know well within three feet...he was standing...I want to make this clear, he was standing in the street while we were on the sidewalk...he aggressed him, got...
MS: He threw the first punch did he..?
SB: Well it was....he was pointing at him, and he got right in his face...it was very threatening because he'd crossed the street in an unpredictable way
MS: Not the best way to do it in Los Angeles in my experience...but he got in his face, and how did the old guy respond?
SB: Well the old guy, this gentleman, the elderly gentleman, was trying to uh...kind of defend himself... and it wasn’t ...I would call it a defensive strike, because this gentleman, it wasn’t...because this gentleman, there was no...it was very unpredictable the way he approached him. So the Obama gentleman grabbed him, and pulled him into the street, and then the scuffle started, and just about as quick as it started it basically ended and the old man grabbed his hand, and blood started coming, and I walked up to him, and he's like...”He bit my finger off!” We got him up on the sidewalk...
MS: Who, who lost the finger?
SB: The elderly gentleman.
MS: So it was the...L.A. Times misreported it in characteristic fashion by saying that in fact it was the pro-Obama guy who'd lost his finger and it turned out it was the, in fact it was the pro-Obama guy who bit off the anti-Obama guyÂ’s finger.
SB: Yeah...
MS: The anti-Obama guy lost the finger.