There’s quite a bit of this going around lately. Richard Adams in the Guardian’s blog is quite happy to carry water for all kinds of bad behaviour by politicians, so long as they are on the right political side:
As seen in the video above: someone, we don't know who, approaches North Carolina Democratic representative Bob Etheridge and shouts a question: "Do you fully support the Obama agenda?" Etheridge then grabs one of the anonymous camera persons and demands to know who they are. The encounter lasts about 30 seconds and no harm appears to have been done to persons or cameras.It’s still assault, though.
Oh, here we go…Etheridge, who should know better, has apologised in a statement:
"I deeply and profoundly regret my reaction and I apologise to all involved. No matter how intrusive and partisan our politics can become, this does not justify a poor response."Quite so. But questions remain about who the pair of videographers were, and why they were filming Etheridge. On the footage the faces of those involved are blanked out to hide their identity.
Obviously, Etheridge was a fool to boorishly manhandle someone in the street, especially if they were filming it. But the deliberate anonymity of the film-makers makes one wonder what their motivation was. They were people who know enough about politics to recognise an obscure Tar Heel state congressman on the street.And now, thanks to the video, so do a lot of people!
The key fact may be that Etheridge was filmed outside a fundraising event for Speaker Nancy Pelosi – so the video-kiddies could have been "trackers" for the Republican party or its allies, filming footage to record the fact or were looking for a reaction…Ah, the usual cry of the person defending those caught out behaving badly: “We were set up!”
The video was uploaded to Youtube last week but only started getting attention after it was posted on conservative activist Andrew Breitbart's website.And now, by linking to it on the Guardian’s site, you’ve given it an even bigger audience.
So even more people can see what happens when you try to hold a leftist politician to account.
Good job, Richard!
Not just politicians moaning. The whole socialist movement is in whinge mode.
ReplyDeleteTelling people to move their behinds to find work, oh dear no, we can't have that. Making all those poor immigrants in cities move, leaving their family and friends, the kids schools.. behind.
What do they think Londoners had to do when they invaded our boroughs?
This is appeared a couple of weeks ago and was filmed as part of a high school project by the kids interviewing. Typical lefty beating up on those smaller than themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhen you look at his behaviour in the video, at no time does he spend a moment contemplating his next move to establish physical dominance over his victim in classic primate style, and when his attempts don't work, he cranks up the level with another 'trick'.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, this is a well-practiced routine and this guy has clearly been a serial bully from childhood onwards.
Also, the fact that he erupts casually like that over a triviality shows that this is quite normal behaviour for him.
I think that there is more 'rich picking' is someone was only bored enough to shine a light on his affairs...
I'm not a Constitutional scholar, being a Brit and all, but isn't there something about the right of people in the U.S. to peaceably assemble and petition the Government for redress of grievances? I'm sure I read that somewhere. And these guys were peaceably assembled, Etheridge is part of the government, and he never even let them get to the petitioning of redress part. He just gave them a big ol' Dave Weigel 'hug', stole their phone, and flounced off.
ReplyDeleteAh well, being a Rep, not a Senator, he'll find out how well that flies with the voters sooner rather than later.
"The whole socialist movement is in whinge mode. "
ReplyDeleteMmm, good, isn't it? ;)
"...filmed as part of a high school project by the kids interviewing."
You're sure it wasn't the junior section of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy..? ;)
"In other words, this is a well-practiced routine and this guy has clearly been a serial bully from childhood onwards."
Clearly, politics is his dream career then..!
"...being a Rep, not a Senator, he'll find out how well that flies with the voters sooner rather than later."
Let's hope so.