Congressman Assaults Student Journalist

Congressman Bob Etheridge (D-SC2) assaults a student journalist on the sidewalk in Washington. Posted on June 14th,2010 after the incident occurred the previous week.

It is no doubt that journalists can be obnoxious and it probably happens to congressmen often. I can understand being annoyed by their questions,but it is no excuse for such conduct. In this case a simple “no comment”would have been appropriate. This is an outrageous abuse of power and authority and should result in criminal charges. This sort of action has no place in a democratic society and especially from someone who is supposed to be one of our representatives.

Etheridge did issue an apology on Monday after the video “went viral”on the internet. However,it is not enough for our representatives to apologize for their mistakes once they realize they have been “caught on camera.”His apology can be found here:http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20007604-503544.html

We should expect and demand better from our representatives. I sincerely doubt that his colleagues will hold him to task for this as they have stacked their ethics panel with people who regularly ignore ethics violations even among their leadership. Since congress likely will do nothing at the very least this guy should be fired by the good people of South Carolina’s 2nd district.