Opinion: Rotten tomatoes miss Palin, hit police officer

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Political history is not usually made on a second-floor balcony in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.

But that’s where 33-year-old Jeremy Paul Olson lost it Monday. Observing the lines and hoopla attending former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin‘s book-signing at the mall’s Barnes & Noble, Olson lobbed not one but two tomatoes in the direction of the former Republican vice presidential candidate.

Instead he hit a police officer and was arrested for disorderly conduct and assaulting a police officer. Gawker called the Bloomington jail and talked to ‘a bored-sounding officer ... apparently indifferent to the feat of produce-based heroics.’ The site added, ‘If anyone has information on the tomato-wielding Real American Hero Jeremy Paul Olson, please email us. Who is this man? What motivated him to throw tomatoes at Sarah Palin? And most importantly: How could he miss!?

Palin, who has already sold more than 1 million copies of ‘Going Rogue,’ kept on autographing, with First Dude Todd Palin at her side. Certainly her fans ignored any sign of trouble -- lining up in freezing weather before the mall doors opened at 5 a.m.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo Credit: Associated Press

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