Congressman apologizes for behavior caught on video : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis

RALEIGH (AP) — A Democratic congressman apologized Monday after a video posted online showed him swatting at the camera, demanding that two men taping him identify themselves and grabbing one of them by the wrist and neck.

"I deeply and profoundly regret my reaction, and I apologize to all involved," Rep. Bob Etheridge of North Carolina said in a statement. "No matter how intrusive and partisan our politics can become, this does not justify a poor response." (Written statement; video statement)

The video was posted on websites owned by Andrew Breitbart, the conservative Web entrepreneur who previously released a video of workers for the group ACORN counseling actors to pose as a pimp and prostitute.

The video of Etheridge shows two men approaching him with a camera on a Washington street. He swats at the camera and repeatedly asks the men who they are. When they say they are students, he grabs one by the wrist and then by the back of the neck before pulling him against his side.

Etheridge, a congressman since 1997, reiterated his apology at a hastily called news conference Monday afternoon.

"The truth is, I had a long day," he said. "I've had bad days many times. It's not a good crutch to lean on, and I won't use that."

The video is interspersed with several screens of text, including: "What happens when a U.S. congressman meets a college kid on a street in Washington?" and a few frames later, "He goes BERSERK!"

In a telephone interview from London, Breitbart declined to name the students who recorded the video, saying he wanted to protect them. The two do not work for Breitbart and were not paid, he said.

A Breitbart employee found the video online, edited it and posted it, he said. A story accompanying the video on a Breitbart website says the video was recorded last week. Etheridge declined to say when the encounter occurred.

A Breitbart website later posted what it described as unedited video of the encounter taken from two camera angles.

Etheridge's Republican opponent in the November election, Renee Ellmers, said at a news conference that the apology was not enough but that Etheridge deserved the benefit of the doubt.

"As a mom, I am very concerned about what happened to those college kids," said Ellmers, 46, a registered nurse who decided to run for office after speaking out against the federal health care overhaul at tea party events.

State GOP Chairman Tom Fetzer, though, predicted the matter would be "devastating" to Etheridge's re-election bid.

"This is an angry man who behaved very inappropriately," Fetzer said.

Associated Press writers Gary D. Robertson and Tom Breen contributed to this report.

Yoda

June 15, 2010 - 6:50 am EDT

They need to be asking for his job, there is no excuse's. If it had been a Republican the Democrats would have scream to the top of their lungs until he or she resign their position. This shows the Dems are running scared, they know their days are numbered in office. Look who's the violent one's it isn't the Tea party protester and never was.

CityDispatch

June 15, 2010 - 7:54 am EDT

How would you feel if someone walked up to you with a cell phone recording and started asking you questions as you walk down the street in Greensboro. So you ask him who he is. Not once, not twice, but several tikmes and he refuses to answer.

Whatever happened to simple respect and courtesy. If the young man had explained who he was and who he represented, I am sure the Congressman.s response would have been different.

Brekka

June 15, 2010 - 8:04 am EDT

I agree with you. But our representative was obviously upset with something and these 'kids' pushed him over the edge. I don't think we have heard the entire story. My main question is the same as Representative Etheridge, "Who were these 'kids'?" My second question is, "How many other senators or representatives did they confront?" My last question is, "Why did this get posted to You-Tube so quickly?" Is this all a set-up?

Where are the investigative reporters to find this out?

mom4

June 15, 2010 - 11:36 am EDT

It looked to me like the kids where trying to say they were doing a project but in typical politician fashion, he kept interrupting them to continue his scene. What would I do if someone put a camera in my face and asked a question....walk away! I hold an elected official a little higher than the common citizen though. He should have stayed calm, asked who they were, or listened to their question, or just told them to contact his office to setup a proper interview. This guy is just a typical politician who is power hungry and thinks everyone answers to HIM, rather than the other way around. However, those kids were also a couple of trouble makers. It's ashamed that this kind of crap makes the news...where's the real issues?

Panacea

June 15, 2010 - 8:00 am EDT

There's no question that putting hands on those "students" was inappropriate and a bad move.

But this video looks and feels like an ambush. I don't buy the "students" thing. I think this was a setup. If it wasn't these students should be disciplined by their instructors for violating their Student Code of Conduct (these codes universally demand courteous and respectful behavior from students at all times).

bswag

June 15, 2010 - 8:26 am EDT

Although I am a solid Republican, I have no problem whatsoever with the Congressman's reaction. Yes, he could have handled the situation better, but none of us always react to provocation in the best posible way, all the time. I do not think swatting a camera or pushing someone away who is confronting and provoking at one's self constitutes assault. It's really sad to see his Republican opponent saying "as a mom, I hate to see this happen to college students" - First, I doubt they are truly students on a project, more likely political plants. Second, college students are supposed to be ADULTS who can treat others respectfully. What kind of reaction do you expect when you get in someone's face, refusing to identify yourself, aggressively antagonizing them! Perhaps their Moms should have taught them more about manners and less about how much of an a$$ they can be and still remain legal!
While I certainly want to see a more Conservative congress in the fall, it should be on the real issues, not on this crappy attempt so smear the man.

CherylP25

June 15, 2010 - 8:52 am EDT

bswag - what a refreshingly intelligent point of view!

purplevoter

June 15, 2010 - 9:07 am EDT

Couldn't agree more, and thanks for your comments. There is such a thing as a right way and a wrong way to do things, and that applies to these students as well as to the Congressman.

Citizen Bing

June 15, 2010 - 11:30 am EDT

Sounds to me like political dirty tricks to me. It is this kind of stuff that turn voters against the electoral process. Thanks for speaking up. This should not be a partisan issue. There are already way too many of those.

casper

You Liberals are sickening hypocrites. If this had been a Republican you would have been calling for his resignation. You justify violence. You justify horrible Presidential leadership. You justify congressional trashing of the constitution. I will say it again, you are SICKENING HYPOCRITES!!!!

June 15, 2010 - 9:03 am EDT

If people I didn't know had approached me on the street as these people did, I probably would have reacted in a similar fashion. With all due respect to the Congressman, he isn't exactly one of the better known and recognized figures on the Hill. It makes me wonder why he was singled out. In any case, if these students had just identified themselves and asked, politely, for an interview things probably wouldn't have gotten out of hand. But, then again, that wouldn't have made nearly as interesting a youtube video, which appears to be the whole point of this confrontation. How pathetic.

By the way, Happy Separation Day to anyone who may come from my home state of Delaware!

June 15, 2010 - 9:20 am EDT

BTW, N-R, it would have been nice if you had seen fit to show both the video of the confrontation AND the Congressman's apology. Just sayin.

General Greensboro

June 15, 2010 - 9:33 am EDT

I'm missing your point, PV.

We've got a link to the video and to Etheridge's written statement in this story as well as in the story that was on the site yesterday.

If there's video of Etheridge apologizing, send us a link. I haven't seen it. Then again, I haven't looked for it today, either.

June 15, 2010 - 10:10 am EDT

Never mind, PV. I was looking for something else on the N&O site and saw the video.

It's linked above.

June 15, 2010 - 10:58 am EDT

Thanks, General. I was just about to post that link.

wscbd

June 15, 2010 - 10:23 am EDT

To the crowd who, as expected, keep polluting intelligent discussion with nonsense like "Liberals would be calling for his resignation if he were Republican," please put some thought into your comments before making them.
If this were a Republican, with no history of such actions, then the majority of moderate and liberal folks would be asking for more information (as they are now). If it were revealed that these 2 were just students, with no backing by an entity like Breitbart's organization, then the majority would likely expect a resignation. Otherwise, they'd suspend judgment based on the fact that, as of this moment, it still appears to be a case of an irritated (and possibly drunk) politician being harassed on the street and responding in an irresponsible and unwarranted manner.
Our elected officials need to be held to a higher standard, and I expect my representatives to always behave as if they are in public and on camera. But so far, there's nothing to support Etheridge relinquishing his post.

news-record.com

NEWS