Representative attacks college student

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Dave

Dave

Staff member
Is this totally unedited? That response seems...extreme.

I don't know. Maybe I'm jaded but I keep thinking like there is more to the story than 1 crazy dude.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Dave said:
Is this totally unedited? That response seems...extreme.

I don't know. Maybe I'm jaded but I keep thinking like there is more to the story than 1 crazy dude.
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Could be, but unless they physically threatened him, his response is completely unwarranted, to say nothing of illegal.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
That's what I thought. Same guys who did the ACORN thing, which blew up big on initial reactions and then we found out that through editing and bullshit tactics (not to mention illegal) ACORN was in the right and the Conservatives doing the video were scumbags. It worked, but only because people don't stop and question.

We'll probably find out that they'd been following him around all day heckling and this was just the last straw or something like that.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Dave said:
We'll probably find out that they'd been following him around all day heckling and this was just the last straw or something like that.
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It really needs to be more than that to forgive his behavior, like physically harassing him or his staff or something like that. He may have had a bad day, but one thing we elect public representatives to do is deal with the public.
 
C

Chibibar

You know... the students could have said, we are <insert names> and from <school> doing a project and probably could have avoided the whole situation.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
How is this unedited if it puts words & shit on the screen all the time?

---------- Post added at 03:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 PM ----------

Never mind. Scroll down, Dave...

---------- Post added at 03:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:05 PM ----------

Doesn't change my views. This is all suddenly on STRICT conservative blogging sites. Something smells to me.
 
tegid

tegid

Dave said:
That's what I thought. Same guys who did the ACORN thing, which blew up big on initial reactions and then we found out that through editing and bullshit tactics (not to mention illegal) ACORN was in the right and the Conservatives doing the video were scumbags. It worked, but only because people don't stop and question.

We'll probably find out that they'd been following him around all day heckling and this was just the last straw or something like that.
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Yeah... Holding off on this.
 
Krisken

Krisken

Yeah, he reacted very poorly. It will probably ruin him.

On another note, this Geraldo journalistic sniping style really has gotten old. I would have assaulted one of these assholes long ago if I was in their shoes.

---------- Post added at 03:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:28 PM ----------
tegid;399332][QUOTE=Dave said:
That's what I thought. Same guys who did the ACORN thing, which blew up big on initial reactions and then we found out that through editing and bullshit tactics (not to mention illegal) ACORN was in the right and the Conservatives doing the video were scumbags. It worked, but only because people don't stop and question.

We'll probably find out that they'd been following him around all day heckling and this was just the last straw or something like that.
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Yeah... Holding off on this.[/QUOTE]
By all means, say what is on your mind. Make sure to back it up with facts, though.
 
Fun Size

Fun Size

Honestly, I think its appearance on conservative blogs might be meaningless. If Palin got caught on camera kicking a puppy, it would be on Maddow that night, and I wouldn't suspect the puppy of having an agenda. They might have just caught him at a bad moment. I'm a peaceful guy, and there are days where some unidentified schmuck jamming a couple of cameras in my face would cause a hostile response. Most of the time actually. Maybe the kids were egging him on, but it seems like the dude had an inappropriate response, and the conservatives are just glomming onto it as something to talk about.
 
tegid

tegid

I meant I agreed with Dave! I mean, it all seemed very clear with the Acorn thing, but it wasn't. At all.
 
Fun Size

Fun Size

Krisken said:
My only question is: Why is the college student's face blurred out?
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See, that at least seems suspicious to me, or that they remain unidentified to anyone. The fact that it's on conservative blogs is a no-brainer: we need something to talk about, and this dude on the other side made a mistake.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Krisken said:
My only question is: Why is the college student's face blurred out?
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Because it's important to Breitbart's narrative that Right-thinking journalists are under attack by the liberal media elite and that the identities of such people need to be protected.
 
Krisken

Krisken

SpecialKO;399350][QUOTE=Krisken said:
My only question is: Why is the college student's face blurred out?
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Because it's important to Breitbart's narrative that Right-thinking journalists are under attack by the liberal media elite and that the identities of such people need to be protected.[/QUOTE]
I guess since i don't read Breitbart, this seems silly to me. There is just as much right narrative as left narrative on the news. While in the past news organizations may have had a left leaning bias, they have swung way to the right to try to not seem biased. Overcompensating, as it were.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Krisken;399354][QUOTE=SpecialKO;399350][QUOTE=Krisken said:
My only question is: Why is the college student's face blurred out?
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Because it's important to Breitbart's narrative that Right-thinking journalists are under attack by the liberal media elite and that the identities of such people need to be protected.[/QUOTE]
I guess since i don't read Breitbart, this seems silly to me. There is just as much right narrative as left narrative on the news. While in the past news organizations may have had a left leaning bias, they have swung way to the right to try to not seem biased. Overcompensating, as it were.[/QUOTE]

What do you expect from the guy who runs Big Hollywood? His whole schtick is based on that idea.
 
R

RealBigNuke

I was rooting for the student to punch the guy...

And then when I read it was the ACORN scammers, I watched it again hoping maybe this time the congressman would punch the kid. Some people basically got fired and demonized for outright heroics on that bullshit.

Ah, but seriously though, he probably deserves the negative coverage from this one.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

Glenn Greenwald's take.

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 they 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.
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Lots more at the link.
 
Krisken

Krisken

I certainly don't excuse what Rep. Etheridge did. He was a jackass and would be held accountable for his actions. Preferable, as Greenwald says, through the letter of the law.

Of course, at least Senators don't get in pistol fights anymore.
 
D

Dubyamn

SpecialKO said:
Glenn Greenwald's take.

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 they 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.
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Lots more at the link.
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How quickly would they be arrested and prosecuted without a complaining witness? My money would be on never.

Of course since the congressman is a public official he would have to make an official report to the police but as it is the congressman hasn't been charged because there is no complaining witness and no chain of custody on the video.
 
C

Chibibar

You know, I just had a thought. Why didn't the "student" ID themselves when asked? the more time I watch this video, the less I believe they are students ;)
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
I agree. And as to why it matters whether or not they were related to this website, of course it makes a difference! They've already been known for Gotcha! techniques and LYING about things that are supported by their videos. Does it matter if these two were associated with the same group who pulled the ACORN stunt? Of course it does! It shows a way of doing things that are underhanded and skewed/edited/spun so that the truth is obscured behind layers of bullshit tactics.

Having made that point, am I sticking up for the congressman? Nope. It could very well be as cut & dried as it seems and he could be a loony tunes. In fact, he would not comment on the video which may be giving it more validity.

I'm just saying that taking these things immediately at face value is very, very naive and is one of the problems we have with the media-run public opinion these days.
 
C

Chibibar

Dave said:
I agree. And as to why it matters whether or not they were related to this website, of course it makes a difference! They've already been known for Gotcha! techniques and LYING about things that are supported by their videos. Does it matter if these two were associated with the same group who pulled the ACORN stunt? Of course it does! It shows a way of doing things that are underhanded and skewed/edited/spun so that the truth is obscured behind layers of bullshit tactics.

Having made that point, am I sticking up for the congressman? Nope. It could very well be as cut & dried as it seems and he could be a loony tunes. In fact, he would not comment on the video which may be giving it more validity.

I'm just saying that taking these things immediately at face value is very, very naive and is one of the problems we have with the media-run public opinion these days.
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I have to agree. The Congressman's action is not appropriate and could be consider criminal. Wouldn't congressman's hitting consider battery? (especially grabbing the neck part) but also the "students" keep egging him on by NOT answering the simple question on "who are you" a name (even a fake one) and a school (pick a local college) would have been suffice and the congressman move on.

Also, I wonder how many of these congressman/women, these kids try to ask before they get their one "gotcha"
 
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