Elected Thug: NC Dem Congressman Etheridge Loses Cool, Assaults Student Reporter in Broad DC Daylight (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on June 14, 2010
Appalling.
An elected North Carolina Democrat congressman, Rep. Bob Etheridge, acts like a common street thug, attacking a student reporter after being asked if he supports Pres. Obama’s agenda. I’m guessing he DOES support it, because Etheridge happily voted for the ObamaCare monstrosity — against voters’ wishes — that will bankrupt America. But that doesn’t explain his unhinged, violent behavior to a kid reporter, who is also an American citizen asking a legitimate question of an elected representative.
Don’t expect to see this damning footage of Etheridge’s ballistic attack aired on the Obama-run evening news.
Wonder how much media news play this video would have gotten if this had been a REPUBLICAN congressman acting like a “GoodFellas ” goon?
From Mike Flynn, Big Government, Long Hot Summer Begins: Congressman Attacks Student:
Last week, Democrat Congressman Bob Etheridge (D-NC2) attended a fundraiser headlined by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He was asked by some students on the street whether he supported the “Obama Agenda.” He didn’t take it well.
Congressman Etheridge Assaults Student on Washington Sidewalk
Expect more of this. The hard, progressive left captured the Democrat majority in Congress and forced them to enact a fantasy grab-bag of legislation that is increasingly unpopular with the American public. We’re on the cusp of a deeper recession, millions of unemployed Americans have no prospect for work, taxes are about to spike higher and we’ve maxed out the national credit card. The Democrats were given a chance to run government and they’ve only succeeded in running it into the ground.
So, yeah, Democrats who are up for reelection this November are a bit testy.
Fortunately, Rep. Etheridge isn’t one of those gerry-mandered political welfare queens. According to the Cook Report, his district is an R+2 district. He has a credible opponent. Check her out here.
Let’s recap what we saw on this video. A sitting Congressman–a presumed living extension of James Madison and other founding fathers–was asked on a public street whether he supported the President’s agenda. His response was to hit away a video camera and assault a student. The age of Pericles this ain’t.
It is going to be a long, hot summer. But, you’ve been shown a politician who can be beaten this November. Act accordingly.
From Gateway Pundit, It Begins… Unhinged Dem Rep. Bob Etheridge Violently Assaults Student Reporter (Video):
Woah… Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC2) violently assaults a student reporter on the street after he is asked if he supports the Obama agenda.
What a thug.That’s odd… He doesn’t look like a tea party protester?
Honestly, was this necessary?
Is this what we can expect when we question democrats about their radical agenda?
From Doug Powers @ Michelle Malkin, Next on ‘When Congressmen Attack’ — Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC):
You know when you go up to your member of Congress and ask if they support the president’s agenda how they almost always take a swipe at you and then put you in a semi headlock? Yeah, Democrat Rep. Bob Etheridge of N. Carolina did that to a student who approached him on the street.
Etheridge’s opponent Renee Ellmers’ campaign might get some advertising mileage out of this one (suggested slogan: “I’ll focus my swings on knocking out the debt instead of my constituents”)…
From Politico, A congressional confrontation:
North Carolina Rep. Bob Etheridge appears to go after — physically — two young, conservative videographers on a Washington street after he’s asked about the Obama agenda.
“I have a right to know who you are,” he tells them.
Etheridge’s spokesman didn’t return a call seeking comment; nor did Larry O’Connor, whose “Stage Right Show” posted the video.
From Emptysuit, Bob Etheridge Attack Student:
The student should take out a warrant for his arrest.
From Ed Driscoll, Pajamas Media, When Democrats Attack!:
Pete Stark, Alan Grayson and SEIU would no doubt approve of the genteel style of Etheridge’s interaction with the American voter. Meanwhile, Will Collier quotes the movie Backdraft: “You see that flash of light in the corner of your eye? That’s your career dissipation light. It just went into high gear.”
From Power Line, Speaking of Gangster Government:
Big Government reports on Democrat Congressman Bod Etheridge (D-NC2), who recently attended a fundraiser headlined by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He was asked by some students on the street whether he supported the “Obama Agenda.” He didn’t take it well. Indeed, he assaulted the young crew with the temerity to ask the question. This guy should not be free to pound the pavement, let alone represent North Carolina in Congress.
From Bad to the Bohn, Congressman attacks Student Reporter:
And I thought it was supposed to be the Tea Party which was violent.
We have plenty of holier-then-thou thugs in DC — we surely don’t need more. North Carolina, support “Mafia Bob” Etheridge’s opponent, Renee Ellmers for Congress.
From DBKP, Death By 1000 Papercuts, Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-NC2: Dem Congressman Goes Off on Student:
Of course, assaulting a student for asking “Do you support the Obama agenda?” is kinda creepy, but the repeated guttural “Who are you?”–Etheridge kept asking this in lieu of a response to the original question–as he was smacking, grabbing the student’s neck and otherwise subduing a kid with an inconvenient question, was also a bit on the creepy side…in a wholly Night of the Living Dead-sorta way.
IF our public servants thought that their railroading of unpopular agenda items was going to be forgotten, they’re mistaken. They’re not responding well at all.
Rep. Etheridge is not the Congressman with the “Most Contempt for Those Who Disagree” with him. He’s merely the latest example.
There will be plenty of competitors for that title in the days ahead.
The heady days of Nancy Pelosi cheering them on with cries of “Damn the Constituents! Warp Speed ahead!” are over. The Bob Etheridges have already experienced the adrenaline rush of flaunting the wishes of their constituents.
From Salon, Rep. Bob Etheridge should be arrested for assault:
…That’s a clear case of assault and battery (the unedited video from the first camera is here). There is some speculation that the individuals questioning him have some connection to the right-wing organization of Andrew Breitbart. I hope it goes without saying how irrelevant that is. The only reason I think this is worth noting is this: imagine what would have happened to those students if this situation had been reversed, and it was them who had physically assaulted Rep. Etheridge, rather than the other way around. How quickly would they have been arrested and prosecuted? The application of our laws isn’t supposed to depend upon who is perpetrating the crime and who the victim is. Obviously, there are few principles, if there are any, more discarded than that one in Washington, but it would be nice to see its being applied in this instance by having this Congressman, obviously inebriated with an extreme sense of entitlement, arrested and charged.
UPDATE… looks like some of the mainstream media decided to cover, and not bury, this story after all… how very unexpectedly “high-road journalistic” of them.
From CBS News, Bob Etheridge Altercation With “Student” Caught on Tape, Goes Viral:
Democratic Rep. Bob Ethridge of North Carolina lost his cool on camera in a video that is making the rounds of the conservative blogosphere today.
[...]
“Bob Etheridge has lost it,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Jon Thompson said in a statement. “His conduct is unbecoming of a member of Congress. It’s bad enough that he’s joined Obama’s assault on North Carolina jobs, but his physical assault on a college student goes beyond the pale.”
The person who posted the video goes by the name “DCCameraGuy” on YouTube but is not identified beyond that. Ethridge’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment, but is expected to release a statement later today.
The video garnered attention after being posted on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website, which first posted the undercover videos of ACORN employees that resulted in significant damage to the community group.
Maybe Pres. Obama could do a little a$$ kicking about now…
UPDATE: Etheridge sees the writing on the wall and has issued a weak apology for his thuggery… hmm… not sure this will cut it, Mr. “GoodFellas Congressman.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Word out on the blogosphere is that YouTube has yanked this video. Not this version of the video, not yet, anyway… freedom of speech in America, unless it embarrasses a Democrat.
Related:
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Cowards: Democrat Politicians Hiding Out from Town Halls This Summer to Avoid Angry Voters (video)
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Elected Thug: NC Dem Congressman Etheridge Loses Cool, Assaults ……
Isn’t it scary that all it took was one single question to set this guy off? What kind of edge are these pols living on if this is all it takes to make them become aggressive?
Scary.
Dress up that thug in an SS uniform and you get a preview of what Nazi Germany was like in the 1930′s – is our nation headed this direction?
This guy is as conservative as a Democrat comes. He was obviously drunk. If he was a street thug, I’m sure he would have stolen their cameras and wallets too. Besides, “thug” is a word that only stupid people use anyways & Nazi SS analogies are almost as bad.
If the tables were reversed, I am absolutely sure the same people criticizing him would defend him if he was some talk radio hero. After all, they love soldiers so much and the SS were the best.
HE WAS DRUNK? ROFL… yes, that makes his deplorable behavior – as a congressman – so much better. I call him a thug, as has HuffPo and other liberal publications. Defend him all you want and call him whatever you want. His career is just about toast now, if you’ve been following the political polls.