# Congressman attacks student for daring to ask him a question **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 15, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227 "2010-06-15T00:25:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/321 "2010-06-16T18:17:40Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > This particular drop-out from Anger Management class kept saying 'Ah have a rot to knaow hoo yu ur". That’s what I am asking - does he think he has police powers over random strangers who ask him questions on the street, or is he batshit insane? > > The two are not exclusive, of course. Still going with the tired “insanity” meme as directed, I see. You are such a good little puppy when it comes to doing what you are told, aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/322 "2010-06-16T18:18:21Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Coincidentally, that’s about when I started my long lurk before deciding to share my wisdom with the undeserving. We are still waiting. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/323 "2010-06-16T18:20:10Z")
**Czarcasm** , you’re an idiot. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/324 "2010-06-16T18:20:59Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Cops break up little mini-scuffles all the time without making arrests. One person assaulting another is not how I’d define _scuffle_. > [@](#): > > They’re not going to haul in an old man for grabbing some college kid’s arm and trying to spin him around to face a camera. It’s useless trying to discuss this with someone that continuously lies about the series of events. Ya know, like not mentioning grabbing the kid by the throat? > [@Czarcasm](#): > > I would assume that the police had witnessed the _whole_ exchange and weren’t agents of the person who says he was attacked, right? > Try again. Try again? How would you like me to rephrase? I already said the officers witnessed the event. _Agents_ of the person that said he was attacked? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/325 "2010-06-16T18:24:04Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > **Czarcasm** , you’re an idiot. Again with that “insanity” schtick, I see. [My Name]Stick to what you know, I guess, because it certainly works.[/My Name] ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/326 "2010-06-16T18:27:31Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > You do know “If you’re going to expect me to answer any of your questions,” was implied, right? > > Right? Do you have a cite where this Congressman said this about people asking him questions on the street, or are you just making things up? [boy](http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/09/13/maureen-dowd-joe-wilsons-you-lie-outburst-all-about-racism) What I am asking for is a link where he asked some cameraman to identify himself, or where people who approach him on the street are legally obligated to show ID before asking him anything. Got anything like that? I don’t recall him saying so in his apology. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/327 "2010-06-16T18:30:56Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Do you have a cite where this Congressman said this about people asking him questions on the street, or are you just making things up? [boy](http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/09/13/maureen-dowd-joe-wilsons-you-lie-outburst-all-about-racism) > > What I am asking for is a link where he asked some cameraman to identify himself, or where people who approach him on the street are legally obligated to show ID before asking him anything. > > Got anything like that? I don’t recall him saying so in his apology. > > Regards, > Shodan Now you’re changing your argument. Before, you argued that he had no right to ask people who they were. Now you’re trying to argue that people MUST identify themselves. How strong you must be, like bull, to move those goal posts so far all by yourself like that. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/328 "2010-06-16T18:31:56Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Try again? How would you like me to rephrase? I already said the officers witnessed the event. _Agents_ of the person that said he was attacked? Yup, it’s really too bad we didn’t have officers there, because things certainly would have been different. The _whole_ exchange would have been witnessed, and those two “students” wouldn’t be anonymous, would they? Y’see, there’s the rub concerning your “Police Scenario”-For the police to do anything, those two “victims” would have to stick around and give statements, which would totally screw up their plan to anonymously smear the congressman. My guess is that the two would have refused to press charges. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/329 "2010-06-16T18:33:21Z")
First of all, I didn’t write that Dowd article (here’s a hint, have you Mom read it to you: My last name is not Dowd.). Whatever Dowd is reaching for in her comments are considerably open to interpretation. Beside wondering what he said in his apology has to do with this question, I have to ask you: you’ve heard of clearly identifiable context, right? Right? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/330 "2010-06-16T18:37:39Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > How about if it happened with on-duty police officers witnessing the event? If I, John Doe, was confronted by Richard Roe and friend with a camera in the same exact way and in the same exact way as the Congressman I continued to hold onto Richard’s wrist and then grabbed him across his throat, what do you think the police officers would do about it? Let’s assume the officers don’t reach me until I let go and begin to walk away. Give you a stern talking-yo and let you walk away. If your target insisted on pressing charges, they would probably do their best to talk him out of it. And if he continued to insist, even if a warrant for battery was sworn out and you were arrested, the prosecutors would likely decline to prosecute. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/331 "2010-06-16T18:38:28Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Technically he didn’t have a legal “right,” to grab the kid, but so what? Who gives a shit? What’s the big fucking deal? He didn’t hurt the little gaywad, and the kid fucking wanted it anyway. > > I don’t hear the kids themselves complaining, so why do so many other people have red rimmed eyes from cying about them three days later? > > There are a lot worse things going on the world than a cranky old man grabbing some punk’s arm. Why do we have to be so PC all the time? It’s not the worst thing in the world but it’s still wrong. I don’t get why people seem to think it’s OK for people to physically grab or manhandle others. It’s reminding me of another thread we had about abortion protesters where another poster thought it was no big deal for a woman going into a clinic to get grabbed a little. Maybe I’m an oversensitive crying pussy (or, um, “gaywad,” to put it more eloquently), but I don’t care who you are–you don’t have the right to touch me and I’m going to make a really big deal out of it if you do it without my permission. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/332 "2010-06-16T18:40:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Yup, it’s really too bad we didn’t have officers there, because things certainly would have been different. Well, if the Congressman was aware there were police officers witnessing the event, yeah, things would have probably went down differently as he most likely wouldn’t have assaulted someone. But we’re not talking about the Congressman in **Bricker** ’s scenario so I have no idea why you asked me to “try again”. > [@](#): > > The _whole_ exchange would have been witnessed, and those two “students” wouldn’t be anonymous, would they? What’s with the quotes around students? They certainly look young enough to be students; what’s with the disbelief that they are? > [@](#): > > Y’see, there’s the rub concerning your “Police Scenario”-For the police to do anything, those two “victims” would have to stick around and give statements, which would totally screw up their plan to anonymously smear the congressman. Irrelevant to the scenario that **Bricker** brought up. But why do you think this was a plan to smear the congressman? Do you think they knew asking that question with a camera present was going to give them this sort of nationwide publicity? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/333 "2010-06-16T18:41:22Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > It’s not the worst thing in the world but it’s still wrong. Who is arguing it’s not wrong? I’m saying it’s _de minimis_. It’s tiny. It’s technically illegal, but a trifle, something the law should not need to get involved in. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/334 "2010-06-16T18:41:27Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Obviously he didn’t have the legal right to physically attack anyone. > > Equally obviously, this isn’t a case where he did any kind of physical harm to anyone. This is, in my opinion, the sort of _de minimis_ conduct that the law ought to avoid dealing with: technically a battery; realistically a brief and undamaging physical contact. I am in complete agreement with friend **Bricker** on this issue. Wait, **Bricker** is in complete agreement with me on this issue. That’s not so scary. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/335 "2010-06-16T18:42:13Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Who is arguing it’s not wrong? That’s the impression I’m getting from **Dio**. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/336 "2010-06-16T18:43:31Z")
There is a considerable amount of room between “not OK” and “worth giving a shit about.” ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/337 "2010-06-16T18:43:55Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Give you a stern talking-yo and let you walk away. If your target insisted on pressing charges, they would probably do their best to talk him out of it. I doubt police officers would witness someone grabbing someone like this for several seconds by the wrist and then by the throat and then let him walk away unless the victim “insisted” on pressing charges. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/338 "2010-06-16T18:48:46Z")
“by the throat”? Here, have a nice cuppa chill. Take it easy. Put your feet up. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/339 "2010-06-16T18:53:22Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > “by the throat”? Here, have a nice cuppa chill. Take it easy. Put your feet up. I just watched it again and see I’ve remembered it incorrectly. Change that to “by the back of the neck.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/340 "2010-06-16T18:53:42Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Well, if the Congressman was aware there were police officers witnessing the event, yeah, things would have probably went down differently as he most likely wouldn’t have assaulted someone. But we’re not talking about the Congressman in **Bricker** ’s scenario so I have no idea why you asked me to “try again”. If the cops were there, the kids would never have tried to harass the Congresman in the first place, but, for the sake of argument, if the cops had witnessed the incidently going down exactly as on the video (which is still edited and incomplete, so not really acceptable as evidence, but just to humor the hyothetical…), theey would have told the kids to fuck off down the road, ask the Congressman if he was ok, and that would have been the end of it. > [@](#): > > What’s with the quotes around students? They certainly look young enough to be students; what’s with the disbelief that they are? It is not a fact in evidnce that they were students. We don’t have the slightest idea what they were. For all we know they were sexual predators with a yen for old Congressmen. > [@](#): > > Irrelevant to the scenario that **Bricker** brought up. But why do you think this was a plan to smear the congressman? Do you think they knew asking that question with a camera present was going to give them this sort of nationwide publicity? They probably hope. If their intent was anything serious or legitimate, they would have identified themselves and explained what they were doing. There wasn’t any “project.” There isn’t any college “project” that requires students to go around baiting politicians with stupid questions and refusing to explain themselves. Any college project involving filmaking or interviews always requires the studnts to clearly explain the project and get permission from the subjects. Those kids may or may not have been students, but they most definitely were not working on any kind of assigned “project.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227.md?page=18)