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.
Ethridge was walking down the street when he was approached by a pair of camera-wielding questioners.
As one asks if Ethridge "fully supports the Obama agenda," a visibly agitated Ethridge asks, "Who are you?" He repeats the question and appears to slam the camera with his hand.
In the edited video, which you can watch above, Ethridge is then shown holding the wrist of one of the questioners and repeatedly asking him to identify himself.
The two people will only identify as students and say they are "just here for a project." In the video, the face of the student in the shot with Ethridge is blurred.
"I have a right to know who you are," the congressman says, holding one man's arm. The pair refuse to tell him where they are from and repeat that "all we are is students."
Ethridge then grabs one of the self-identified students by the neck and pulls him next to him, apparently so that his face will appear on camera.
You can see what appear to be the two unedited videos here. In comments on that site and others, commenters are calling on Ethridge to be charged with assault.
"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.
No comments:
Post a Comment