The thuggish behavior described in the article differs only in degree from the use of Brownshirts in 1930's Nazi rallies.

Why is this being reported only in a semi-obscure forum like Slate? Is the mainstream media so cowed that they are cooperating wholeheartedly with Republican party propoganda?

Comparing people to Nazi's is fun. And so are mainstream media conspiracy theories, don't get me wrong. But I'm going to have to point out that this story has been reported other places in the mainstream media:

abcnews

UPI

CBS

washington post

and even a wire report on, GASP, Foxnews

Just so you know, very little on Slate is technically "original" reporting. It's more of an analysis site, so anything you see here likely has been reported elsewhere.