Congressman goes nuts on college student

[dreamer20]

play the roles of annoying paparazzi, bait a reaction from Etheridge and put their edited video version of events on breibart.tv and youtube...I'm puzzled as to why they edited their faces out.

The congressman was wrong.
He has no excuse for his reprehensible behavior.
Does not matter if the students were RNC or Breitbart operatives.

He can justify his behavior as two silent strangers suddenly, and unexpectedly, shoved a camera into his nose in order to provoke a negative reaction from him. He pushed the camera out of his face and demanded to know who they were. They were no students, but breibart tv operatives who conspired together to pull a dirty trick on him.

 

[B_RedDude]

Guessing he's one of them there Blue Dog Democrats

 

[justasimpleguy]

Breitbart strikes again: Catches lawmaker 'assault' on cameraman - On Congress - POLITICO.com

Andrew Breitbart's shithead minions again. Professional bullshit artists extraordinaire.

 

[B_VinylBoy]

Pelosi is the Speaker. He is under her leadership. You see no connection?

There is no connection, except the one you're desperately trying to fabricate. Pelosi is not responsible for the actions of Congressmen when they are outside of the walls of the House. Period.

With your faulty logic, people should have held Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist accountable for the antics of Jack Ryan & Mark Foley when they were exposed for sex scandals back when the Senate was under Republican Rule in 2004, or House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert when Mark Souder was exposed for his sexual misconduct back when he was Speaker in the same year.

Yet you could rant about the demise of Wall Street under Bush? They didn't even hang out in the same building.

Did I actually blame Bush for the demise of Wall Street, or are you looking at life through your partisan blinders again and lumping me alongside other "libs" that may have done it? Don't make shit up, star... I don't take too kindly to people who intentionally lie about me. Provide a link where I, personally, said that Bush was completely responsible for the Wall Street Crash or shut up.

This wasn't an 'I hate Pelosi' thread BTW. It was a thread about irresponsible and reprehensible behavior of the congressman. There was a side note about leadership in the House.

In other words, it's an "I hate Pelosi" thread. Because if it was only about the Congressman, then you would have NEVER tried to make a connection between this incident and the leadership in the House. Partisan gnomes like you, bent on morally attacking anyone who doesn't share your ideologies, are not original or clever.

You can stop your bullshittin' now. Nobody's buying it.

 

[Pitbull]

Please go on.

No.
You missed the point

He can justify his behavior as two silent strangers suddenly, and unexpectedly, shoved a camera into his nose in order to provoke a negative reaction from him. He pushed the camera out of his face and demanded to know who they were. They were no students, but breibart tv operatives who conspired together to pull a dirty trick on him.

That is not what happened.
I am not surprised that you choose to characterize it that way to make excuses for a democrat.

In this age of everything gets recorded and Gotcha journalism, his overreaction and behavior are stupid in additional to unacceptable and possibly criminal.

Breitbart strikes again: Catches lawmaker 'assault' on cameraman - On Congress - POLITICO.com

Andrew Breitbart's shithead minions again. Professional bullshit artists extraordinaire.

Your post and Politico link insinuates that the whole thing is a setup that Breitbart arranged.

Breitbart.com was the first (to my knowledge) to post the video.
I have yet to see anywhere that he takes responsibility or admit involvement in anyway.

And a setup?
Is that what Congressman Etheridge does whenever he sees a camera and calls out his name?

 

[Bbucko]

Hmmm. Suspicious youth accost a senior citizen, refuse to identify themselves or their "organization", shove a camera in his face, then get annoyed and even more aggressive when he doesn't "cooperate".

Why should the public demand an apology when the senior citizen still managed to stop short of the good old-fashioned ass whuppin' these troublemakers deserve? Ooh, he grabbed my wrist and then my collar! Congressional brutality!

Once Etheridge's personal space was breached, all bets were off. The plain fact is that he was assaulted, on videotape, before he laid a finger on anyone.

I admire the congressman much more after this controlled self-defense. He should have sent both of them running with black eyes and bloody lips for what they did, yet there wasn't a scratch on them. Huzzah!

The very clever congressman smelled a rat, and the facts will bear out that he was 100% correct. This was an ambush to create news for his underdog opponent. Impeding a public official from peacefully using a public thoroughfare is hardly angelic behavior. Or, view it as the assault of a senior citizen by those much younger and stronger than himself, which it was. His response was swift, firm, controlled and appropriate to the circumstances. Show me the injuries!

This has nothing to do with party. It's old-fashioned common sense and common law.

Thanks for posting this. It's a perspective I'd never previously considered and gave me a serious pause when I read it last night.

I wish you'd post in the Politics Forum more frequently my friend. Some fresh blood with your caliber of knowledge and experience would really shake up some of the more sclerotic paradigms and tactics we see here all too often.

 

[B_talltpaguy]

^He totally has a point... And another thing, with all of the death threats flung at Congressmen these days, I would probably freak out a bit too if some guys came up to me on the street, got in my face and refused to identify themselves.

However, I think I still would have just walked away, and if they followed me/persisted, I would have pulled out my phone and called the cops.

I don't think it's a legal requirement, but people posing as media are certainly obligated to identify themselves if they wish to be taken seriously by the people they confront.

 

[Trinity]

^He totally has a point

Please. No he doesn't.

This article in Politico presents all of the Democratic Talking Points on Etheridge's inappropriate actions and their attempt to defend him. The article ends with the correct statement:

Dems defend Etheridge, attack Breitbart

Still. It's pretty hard to think of a context in which Etheridge's assault on the videographer would be acceptable.

Politico, by Ben Smith, June 14th, 2010

 

[B_VinylBoy]

But if it were a Republican congressman grabbing the arm of a young polite African American man...

Please go on.

No. You missed the point

Nobody missed your point, Pitbull. You just knew not to go there and stopped before you revealed something about yourself that we pretty much already knew.

 

[gymfresh]

I wish you'd post in the Politics Forum more frequently my friend. Some fresh blood with your caliber of knowledge and experience would really shake up some of the more sclerotic paradigms and tactics we see here all too often.

Thanks, Bb. You know I follow your posts here, too, and take it in. BTW, we're so overdue to go out again. Now that I'm back from Nick8's, let's do it.

 

[maxcok]

"Still. It's pretty hard to think of a context in which Etheridge's assault on the videographer would be acceptable." -- Ben Smith, Politico


You know, I read this in the Politico blog, and it took me aback. I thought a lack of imagination was the hallmark of conservatives, not "libtards".

I could think of dozens, maybe hundreds of situations where his reaction might have been acceptable, even appropriate. Like maybe the kid unleashed a sting of obscenities at him off cam, or kicked him in the nuts, and it was edited out. I'm not saying that happened, just saying we have no clue what actually happened. We can't base our final judgement on an edited tape, which quite likely records a snippet of a much longer exchange.

 

[Trinity]

"Still. It's pretty hard to think of a context in which Etheridge's assault on the videographer would be acceptable." -- Ben Smith, Politico


You know, I read this in the Politico blog, and it took me aback. I thought a lack of imagination was the hallmark of conservatives, not "libtards".

I could think of dozens, maybe hundreds of situations where his reaction might have been acceptable, even appropriate. Like maybe the kid unleashed a sting of obscenities at him off cam, or kicked him in the nuts, and it was edited out. I'm not saying that happened, just saying we have no clue what actually happened. We can't base our final judgement on an edited tape, which quite likely records a snippet of a much longer exchange.

Silly.

You could base it on what Etheridge had to say himself. He didn't claim to have gotten kicked anywhere (or any other actions that condoned his actions) He in fact -knew he needed to apologize for his inappropriate reaction. The Defenses of his actions are pathetic. The whole edited video excuse and the bunch of "what if scenarios" are simply nonsense.

 

[midlifebear]

^ "You lie!" And now, please continue with your State of the Union Address.

 

[B_talltpaguy]

How awesome would it have been if Etheridge had acted just as calculatingly cluelessly as these punks did, kicked the one guy in the nuts and then ran away shouting for help, as if they had been trying to mug him? lol

 

[Mr. Snakey]

It's the Obama kick ass mentality. It's seems to be the democrats agenda now. Why the president is so angry i don't know. Perhaps his good friend Donald Young could shed light on the matter. However, he was found dead in a Chicago hotel room a few years ago.

 

[Pitbull]

...and stopped before you revealed something about yourself that we pretty much already knew.

OK I'll admit it publicly.

I'm extremely intelligent,
Have impeccable common sense,
Am fascinatingly insightful.

:smile:

 

[scotchirish]

I don't see how there could be anything more leading up to his reaction as far as this one incident is concerned. In the video you can clearly see that he is approaching them on the street, of course they were undoubtedly waiting for him. I don't see how they enticed him in any way other than acting like the media does. Even if these were two patsies out to get some dirt on him, as a political figure, he should strive to always be on his best behavior, our government doesn't need any more embarrassment.

 

[maxcok]

It's the Obama kick ass mentality. It's seems to be the democrats agenda now. Why the president is so angry i don't know. Perhaps his good friend Donald Young could shed light on the matter. However, he was found dead in a Chicago hotel room a few years ago.

What in fukinghell does any of that have to do with the topic?

I mean it was ridiculous enough for the OP to try and link to Pelosi.

Obama? Donald Young? Donald Duck?? Who's next?



welcome new obamabashing troll to poliforum

 

[maxcok]

Silly.

You could base it on what Etheridge had to say himself. He didn't claim to have gotten kicked anywhere (or any other actions that condoned his actions) He in fact -knew he needed to apologize for his inappropriate reaction. The Defenses of his actions are pathetic. The whole edited video excuse and the bunch of "what if scenarios" are simply nonsense.

resent:​

 

[B_VinylBoy]

OK I'll admit it publicly.

I'm extremely intelligent,
Have impeccable common sense,
Am fascinatingly insightful.

And somehow, you jumped to that fallacious conclusion after posting an inquiry as to what would happen if a Republican Congressman grabbed the arm of an African American. Wow. Such an epic, self masturbatory dodge of massive proportions... even for you.

I guess I'll have to answer your own question since you're too afraid to do it.

What would have happened if a Republican congressman grabbed the arm of a young polite African American man? Nothing that we haven't seen before. You would of had a bunch of zealots from both sides of the political spectrum try to manipulate this into a race issue (as you just tried to) on various news shows, editorials and blogs. You, being a partisan zealot under the specious guise of an independent, would then lob another one of your uncorroborated claims that Democrats always try to make issues about race when in fact you were the one that did it first on this thread. That would have generated the usual vitriolic responses in return, followed by your usual bouts of passive aggressive whimpering about how your "opponents" do nothing but call you names when they disagree with you.

In other words, another malignant overdose of pseudo-moralistic slop and political talking points shoved in people's faces as insight or fact. Lather, rinse, repeat.