Rep Etheridge Flips Out on Video, Shoulda Kept Walking

[tomm2thumbs]

Run time: 00:49 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byjt19pHW4Q   Posted on YouTube: June 14, 2010 By YouTube Member: FixedNewsChannel Views on YouTube: 4   Posted on DU: June 14, 2010 By DU Member: tomm2thumbs Views on DU: 3445

 

I think this is going to get some play today. He's Congressman Bob Etheridge from North Carolina. The original was pulled from the Huffington Post but posting alternate video here.

In the video, the NC lawmaker is seen approaching the camera, while asked, "Hi, Congressman. How are you? Do you fully support the Obama agenda?" Etheridge, instead of continuing by, stops and immediately asks, "who are you?" before knocking the interviewer's camera to the ground.

In the next shot, Etheridge grabs the first interviewer's wrist and peppers him repeatedly to identify himself. The cameraman holding the 2nd camera replies, "we're just here for a project...we're just students."

_____

Posting without comment.

[Ian David]

1. Hewww are yewww? Hewww are yewww? What a douchebag. Assault and false arrest. n/t

[AndyA]

2. Asshole. That looked like battery to me.

Call the police and haul his sorry ass in. Press charges, it's all on video. The students weren't threatening him in any way, just asking questions.

Shows how out of touch and superior these people are. Asshole!

[notesdev]

7. That it is

and murder-1 against his political career... public servants ought to know not to treat the public that way.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted sub-thread

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[zeemike]

3. What an arrogant asshole.

Demanding to know who someone is on a public street....done I suppose to intimidate.

[RufusTFirefly]

4. Too bad it wasn't Arizona

He could've asked him to produce his passport.

[otohara]

5. Not Cool Congressman

not cool at all.

[HopeHoops]

6. I hope the press every charge they can find against the arrogant bastard.

He has no right to demand identification, even verbal, from ANYONE!

[fascisthunter]

8. very stupid... never ever put your hands on someone

unless you are defending yourself from a physical attack, especially when you are in a position of power. He's done...

[bitchkitty]

9. That man is drunk. n/t

[gateley]

35. It could be -- I don't understand why he would act that way otherwise.

I'm sorry to see this happened. :(

[lumpy]

48. Yes, he does look smashed. He should be put out to pasture.

No excuse for that kind of behavior.

[zazen]

10. CRAP!!! Repubs are gunning for his long-held seat since his pro-HCR vote

We were already at risk of losing it because his district includes a lot of rural, right-wing voters, though it also includes a chunk of the more liberal Triangle.

He held off voting for HCR until the last minute because of fears for his seat, but ultimately did the right thing. Now this?

I'm sorry, but the John Locke Foundation and Fox News use a lot of "students" to do their dirty work for them. I don't blame him for assuming these were more right-wing plants, but obviously that doesn't excuse his behavior.

Yes, he has a very thick Southern accent, but by all accounts (from people who know him a lot better than I do) he's a very decent guy. He seemed very down to earth and decent the few times I've met him, anyway. Maybe the heat (the "real feel" was 110 yesterday) started to get to him!

Damn, damn, damn. I don't want a Republican representative here. Ugh.

[asdjrocky]

12. At this point I have to ask-

Do you really think there is a difference?

[zazen]

27. we learned the hard way that there is

Would I rather have a progressive in Etheridge's seat? Absolutely.

But in Wake County, many liberals were fed up with some of the stupid decisions of the school board, Wake County's famously successful school system aside. So, they thought, why not let new voices take over for a change?

The supposed mainstream Republicans who won were anything but mainstream, unlike decent Republicans from a generation ago like former Governor Jim Martin, and they've become a stand-in, a vehicle, a symbol, a foothold, whatever, for the radical right wing. They'll take any person who gets into office with an R next to their name and push them more and more to the Far Right.

"Bobby" is a conservative by any contemporary civilized, non-American standard, but any Republican they put in there will help to galvanize the really scary elements around here in a way that he doesn't.

[asdjrocky]

11. Drunk stupid and mean.

Typical American politician.

[zazen]

15. he's had a drawl like that for three decades

This is a _deep_ Eastern NC accent. It's hard for _me_ to understand, and I grew up around it. So unless he's been drunk 24/7 for 30 years (which is always a possibility, but I doubt it), it's just a combination of his personal articulation and a strong accent.

He could have been drinking that day, however. Which might explain his behavior. But really, this is how he's always sounded. He used to be the NC State Superintendent in the 80s, and sounded that way then.

[asdjrocky]

21. I worked in bars for more than 20 years of my life.

I base my observation on a number of things, and very little of it is his voice, watch his motions, his attitude. The guy is nine sheets and would have been tossed out on his head at most places.

Just the fact that he so casually and callously places his hands on another is a real indicator of his drunkenness. I have one of two ways of looking at this incident, he is either drunk or he seems to feel he is entitled to act and behave however he wants, of course, I'm sure it could be a combination of the two as well.

[zazen]

24. I was responding more to others' comments about his accent--my bad

I shouldn't have written this just as a response to you. I was responding to others' posts about his accent that seemed to interpret his naturally sloppy drawl with drunkenness, and stupidly posted my comments as if they were addressed to you.

You make good points, and he does seem intoxicated. He really isn't the grossly entitled type, from what I know about him, so the too-many-drinks-at-the-fundraiser makes a lot more sense.

[asdjrocky]

25. Not your bad at all.

Not arguing with you, I just spent years dealing with that type, you know, bullies who have had one too many.

As far as not being the grossly entitled type, his behavior says something different here, but I like others would hate to be held to one or two moments in my life. Not very bright of him to act like that while a camera is present though.

[KurtNYC]

43. I think we have to ask why the face of one of the camera guys

is blurred? And why not press charges if this is really "students" in suits waiting outside of a fundraiser?

Etheridge is not drunk at all. Watch how he walks away at the end. He wants the first guy in the shot from camera 2 because he strongly suspects that these guys are GOP Ops, stalking him to get something usable.

So let's say these are just students "on a project" (for summer school I suppose since college is out), why not do the talk shows and faux news and all. One would think they could get paid right now to go on O'Reilly or one of those shows (or ALL of those shows). But they didn't. And they blurred the face that Etheridge's quick thinking put on camera. Again the GOP Op thing fits and little else does.

[lumpy]

49. Looks like he is a 'mean drunk'.

x

[YouGotRondod]

13. I would of hit that guy in the kisser

if he put his hand around the back of my neck like that. Congressman or not, grabbing someone like that is uncalled for and I give props to those kids for restraining themselves.

[zazen]

14. in DC they're not normally followed and harassed like that--and the "student" was a Repub plant

Any student who was first and foremost a student would have immediately said where they were from.

The streets around the Capitol are filled with reps and senators and cabinet members a lot more famous than he is, and he knows it. So the only reason they'd be following him down the street like that would be to drum up something for his opponents _in_ North Carolina--no one up there would give a shit whether he "supported the Obama agenda." So it's local NC people trying to get dirt on him.

Doesn't excuse his behavior. Mostly, it's just stupid. He played right into their hands.

[Grassy Knoll]

18. This was first reported for BREITBART....

Yes siry bob, the same scum that damaged ACORN,
though violence is not the answer, he figured out it was a set up.

[golfguru]

51. Set up in what sense? The question asked him a straight forward question..

"Do you support Obama agenda"?

All he had to say was hell yes and keep walking. Why grab the questioner who
is not threatening the congressman in any way? He was behind the congressman
Etheridge, not in his way!

I think the congressman is under stress due to fear of the coming election.
And he snapped.

Another reason might be, the 535 elected to congress have the power going to
their head in a lot of cases.

[Xipe Totec]

16. Smooth move, Ex-Lax

:eyes:

[Webster Green]

17. What an asshole!

I would have kicked him in the nuts.

[skeptical cynic]

19. Arrogant politicians defy party boundaries

Doesn't say much about a government of, by and for the people.

Unless you're one of a very select group of people.

[golfguru]

52. +1000

[burnsei sensei]

20. I have no idea why such a question

amounts to an attack on Etheridge.
He should be arrested and face the charge, assault and battery.
This was a purposeless, stupid attack. If anything it tells us about the vacuousness of Etheridge.

[Hoopla Phil]

41. Yep, he should have answered: "YES ABSOLUTELY" And kept on walking.

[mzteris]

22. is he the one

who switched seats with his wife during a campaign so he wouldn't be caught driving? This would be about 15 years ago. . .

[abbeyco]

23. The 'interviewer' was a Breitbart plant

This is now on Politico:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0610/Breitbart_strikes_again_Catches_lawmaker_assault_on_cameraman.html

[CLANG]

33. Some activists in Washington DC should expose this fuck

Turn the table on this piece of human excrement.

[awoke_in_2003]

39. doesn't excuse

what the congressmen did. He should have kept walking, instead he gave dumbbart ammunition

[KurtNYC]

44. what is shown on camera 2 during the first 20 seconds?

I don't think we know what the stalkers were doing without that. And if it shows nothing, then why edit it down to the last 40 seconds?

Our candidates, unfortunately, need to be prepared for this kind of crap. And we need to respond quickly. As Churchill said "A lie can get half way round the world before the truth can get its pants on."

[abbeyco]

45. I agree - I'd like to see the whole video

I don't excuse what he did at all; however, we're not being shown the whole video for a reason (including the blurring of the student's faces) and I think seeing the start of it could be rather illuminating, don't you think?

[golfguru]

53. Even if the questioner was Palin's husband,

there is absolutely no justification in grabbing the questioner by his collar
in a threatening manner, UNLESS the questioner was physically assaulting
the congressman. The video clearly shows just the opposite.

If I was the congressman, I would have said "Heck yes I support the president's agenda"
and keep walking.

[Name removed]

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[90-percent]

28. If I were a Congressman

And I was approached in such a manner I would of course be very apprehensive about the possibility of James O'Keefe/Breitbart brand of intellectually dishonest extremely edited ambush journalism. And I would not answer any questions if the interviewer did not specifically identify themselves and what organization they are working for.

But, the physical grabbing is way over the line.

-90% Jimmy

[KansDem]

30. The "students" would not reveal who they were and had their faces blurred out...

...while asking a loaded question like "Do you support the Obama agenda."

Says it all right there...

Looked like an "O'Keefe wannabee."

[awoke_in_2003]

40. They are Andrew Dumbbart plants...

that does not excuse physical assault. If this guy was a republican we would be jumping all over him.

[peacetalksforall]

31. He was wrong to touch the young man, but he is absolutely right. That young man

starts off with a How Are You and won't say who he is with - it's like getting one of the MARKETING CALLS and the only thing they will tell you is that they are not selling anything. That kid was wrong, wrong, wrong. The Congressman had a right to not be stopped on a narrow street in what looks like a commercial area. It is vastly different from the walk to or from a government building.

That guy should have blurted it all out so that the Congressman could make a fast decision. Who knows whether he was late for an appointment. He had to know up front whether he could or wanted to invertvies with the implitie young man.

It appears the Congressman was tired of that ploy. The young guy was absolutely in the wrong. And the Congressman handled it terribly.

This is not a one-sided scene.

When I get a call or am stopped by someone who asks how I am, I am immediately put off.

[amyrose2712]

32. Square in the nuts. I don't care what letter is in front of his name. nt

[gateley]

34. Holy shit! That was downright scary! nt

[awoke_in_2003]

36. dumb, dumb, dumb...

this video shows what our elected "representatives" really think about us. With the exception of a very few, we are nothing but proles- and thought thought is share by reps on both sides of the aisle, this one just couldn't control that thought.

[Aaria]

37. This will cost him. .

[Hoopla Phil]

42. And cost all of us. He could loose his seat over this.

[lib2DaBone]

38. I think the good Congressman may have been consuming some Alcohol???

[alp227]

46. Really classy right there.

However, this is yet another silly Breitbart trick it seems...once again the American vast right-wing conspiracy screws up politics. (But I wonder if Etheridge asked "who are you" in awareness of ambush journalism).

Mr. Etheridge, I'd recommend this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn94R7pJHAI

[SunDrop23]

47. Doesn't bother me one bit. Was a setup.

i'm tired of douchebags like the two "college students" in the video feeling like they can say and do whatever they want.
etheridge should have said, i fully support the obama platform of kicking ass, then punched the "college student" in the face repeatedly.
jmo.

[donheld]

50. Don't you just love a little violence?

You are some piece of work

[Name removed]

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