NC Rep. Bob Etheridge (D) Batters a Student in DC

Two young men, claiming to be students working on a project, approached North Carolina Democrat Rep. Bob Etheridge on the streets of Washington DC, on his way to a Nancy Pelosi fundraiser last week. They asked if he fully supported “the Obama agenda,” and he responded by repeatedly asking, “Who are you,” while grabbing and holding one of the young men’s wrist. Toward the end of the video, he grabs the young man’s collar and yanks him to his side, holding him there tightly before finally acquiescing to the young man’s request to “please let go.” See video below:

The Representative from North Carolina apologized yesterday. “‘I apologize for my actions,’ Etheridge said during a news conference Monday afternoon. ‘They were unacceptable.’” – The Washington Post And I’m sure he is sorry. This is awful publicity.

Etheridge could certainly be charged with battery, possibly assault. But Democrats are circling the wagons on this one, trying to shift focus onto video and who the young men were. Ben Smith, with Politico, says, “Democrats are seeking to raise questions about the video, which first appeared on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government, because of what’s widely viewed as the media’s mishandling of the ACORN story, which emerged without context from edited videos.” He goes on to list the Democrats’ talking points:

“1. There is always the part of the story that you can’t see in these gotcha style videos — what were these folks doing, how did they approach him, how were the cameraman and/or others off camera acting?

2. Why would any legitimate student doing a project or a journalist shagging a story not identify themselves. Motives matter — what was the motivation here? To incite this very type of reaction?

3. This is clearly the work of the Republican Party and the “interviewer” is clearly a low level staffer or intern. That’s what explains blurring the face of the “interviewer” and refusing to identify the entity this was done for. The Republicans know if they were caught engaging in this type of gotcha tactic it would undermine their own credibility — yet if it was an individual acting on his own there is no reason that person would have blurred themselves out of the video — and if it was the work of a right wing blog they would have their logo on the video and be shouting their involvement from the roof top.

4. This was a purposefully partisan hit job designed to incite a reaction for political reasons — but it is a tactic so low — the parties involved are remaining anonymous.

5. The fact that no one wants to take credit for this should raise real questions in the minds of voters and the press.

6. Push hard w/ blogs the lack of credibility inherent to anything Breitbart does/posts, given its role in the debunked ACORN videos:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21pubed.html?src=twrhttp://mediamatters.org/research/201006010001

http://gawker.com/5508190/okeefe-and-breitbart-acorn-videos-severely-edited“

I agree it’s odd that the face of the victim is blurred out, but I don’t think it necessarily follows that this is because it was a Republican “hit-job,” and they’re trying to get away with it. It is possible, but I think it’s just as likely that this young guy was actually scared by Etheridge’s actions, and fears reprisal with a real hit-job. I’m sure he knows, or at least suspects, that Etheridge could summon the power of the Democrats and tear his life apart. Even more frighting is the fear of how the Democrat base would react. North Carolina Democrats seem to have a problem with controlling their violent tendencies on the street. If you haven’t seen the video where an Obama supporter attacks Tea Party protesters, take a look at this: Tea Party Protesters Attacked by Obama Supporter. Judging from that, and other recent incidents, this guy would be perfectly rational in fearing some attack by a die-hard Democrat who saw the video and didn’t like what he exposed. Another thought is that he was just traumatized by the incident, and just wants the whole thing to be over. We see it in victims of rape, and other horrible crimes, where instead of trying to bring their assailant to justice, they’d rather just forget it all. If that’s the case, I hope this guy can get past that and come forward. Either way, it would be nice to have a full account of what happened, and I think he ought to press charges.

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