# 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:** 25
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/481 "2010-06-17T17:42:22Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > For a minute I thought you wrote “shatter his old man-bone”. > > You now owe me for keyboard vomit removal. Man-bone man-bone where have you been? All 'round the world and back again! _\\\_ ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/482 "2010-06-17T17:44:41Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > He does repeatedly ask “Who are you?” and mentions that he has a right to know, but _again_ with the implication that someone expecting him to answer questions should tell him to whom he’s speaking. It’s the same thing. And before you even start - yes, it is. > [@](#): > > Would you simply answer any question put to you by anyone just randomly walking up to you on the street, especially someone with a microphone and a camera, not knowing who they were, what entity they were possibly representing or what motives they have for accosting you unexpectedly? If I were a politician, you are damn right I would. He is a public figure, and answerable to his constituency. American citizens have every right in the world to ask questions of their elected representatives - remember that part about “petitioning the government for redress of grievances”? And if he is such a pussy, or too mentally unstable, to think up a politician’s answer to an open-ended question like that, he can keep walking. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/483 "2010-06-17T17:57:00Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It’s the same thing. And before you even start - yes, it is. No, it is not. “Tell me who you are,” requests that the person to provide an answer by speaking. “Show me some ID,” asks for some physical indication of who you are. See the difference? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/484 "2010-06-17T18:01:35Z")
> [@descamisado](#): > > What else (old) is there against him? Sorry, I didn’t mean old evidence of arrogance and instability, just previously existing reasons people may have for opposing him politically. > [@Shodan](#): > > This guy is a politician. Right. Congressmen should _expect_ to be approached with questions and challenges over their political actions. They should expect that a subset of these will be stupid, and an overlapping subset will be posed by political opponents with the hope of making them look bad. This isn’t a “dirty trick,” this is kind of how it’s supposed to work. > [@descamisado](#): > > Would you simply answer any question put to you by anyone just randomly walking up to you on the street, especially someone with a microphone and a camera, not knowing who they were, what entity they were possibly representing or what motives they have for accosting you unexpectedly? If I were the holder of an elected public office, and had no reason to doubt that the questioner was a citizen of that public, then yes, I’d certainly make an effort to give an answer that was both honest and politic (tricky, I know). If it seemed that such an answer might take more time than I could spare at the moment, deferring the questions to a later appointment at my office would be fine. But in all cases I would make a point of showing that I was happy to engage the public I represent in discussion of policy. Any other kind of response is _legitimate_ ammunition for political opponents. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/485 "2010-06-17T18:12:32Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > If I were the holder of an elected public office, and had no reason to doubt that the questioner was a citizen of that public, then yes, I’d certainly make an effort to give an answer that was both honest and politic (tricky, I know). If it seemed that such an answer might take more time than I could spare at the moment, deferring the questions to a later appointment at my office would be fine. But in all cases I would make a point of showing that I was happy to engage the public I represent in discussion of policy. > > Any other kind of response is _legitimate_ ammunition for political opponents. I mostly agree with this, _except_ would a constituent citizen approach you with a microphone and a camera, and upon seeing those, isn’t reasonable to wonder about who they represented and why they needed to tape, especially in light of the fact that the accosters were not willing to identify themselves even as one of his constituent (if that had been the case)? Why do you think reporters, etc. are issued credentials such as press passes and the like? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/486 "2010-06-17T18:44:25Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Posting about Dio’s daughters was a personal attack on Dio, not his daughters. It’s nonsensical to say that I personally attacked someone who doesn’t post here. > > By that logic, many SDMB members have personally attacked Palin and Bush and Obama etc etc–you’d be hard-pressed to find a poster who hasn’t personally attacked someone. Dude, I don’t like **Dio.** He’s obnoxious, stupid, stubborn, and frequently talks out of his ass on subjects he knows absolutely nothing about. But posting about his children is way out of line. Man up, apologize for that, and then continue to argue or not as you wish. But argue with **Dio**. Leave his kids, family, and personal work situation out of it. This is a fucking message board, not a Thunderdome Cage Fight to the death. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/487 "2010-06-17T19:10:39Z")
_Bust a deal, face the Wheel!_ ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/488 "2010-06-17T19:24:33Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > He is a public figure, and answerable to his constituency. American citizens have every right in the world to ask questions of their elected representatives - remember that part about “petitioning the government for redress of grievances”? “His constituency” is in the second Congressional district of North Carolina. If they were constituents of his, all they had to do was identify themselves and say where they lived. But given that this encounter took place in what looks like a residential neighborhood of DC, there was certainly no reason for Etheridge to believe they were constituents of his. ETA. Maybe that’s why he was asking. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/489 "2010-06-17T19:26:03Z")
Judge Kozinski of the 9th circuit once gave a lecture on the legal implications of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. It’s the same speech where he explains how Total Recall plagiarized his novel, even though it has a different plot, different characters, and different dialogue, and he never finished or published the novel. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/490 "2010-06-17T20:02:58Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > “His constituency” is in the second Congressional district of North Carolina. > > If they were constituents of his, all they had to do was identify themselves and say where they lived. No, they didn’t have to do that. Citizens of the United States have no moral or legal obligation to identify themselves to members of Congress. He said they did, but he is an over-entitled asshole with delusions about who has rights and who has obligations. Congress is a national deliberative body. If this clown ever gave an interview to any newspaper from outside his district, or answered a question from someone who lived in DC, he has given up any basis to complain when people ask him questions about his political actions. He works for us. We, the citizens of the USA, are his boss. Apparently he has spent a little too much time in the hallowed halls of Congress thinking he is Hot Shit. Perhaps a return to private life might assist him in re-arranging his thinking. If any. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/491 "2010-06-17T21:08:15Z")
I’ve been going nuts whenever I see that video trying to figure out who Etheridge reminds me of, then it hit me. [This clip but not Johnny Depp.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5PWbTseMx0) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/492 "2010-06-17T22:33:02Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > While the image of Charlie Gibson sneering down his glasses at poor Sarah Palin is a memorable one… I realized just now that **Starving Artist** wasn’t necessarily referring to a candidates’ debate. [He was talking about Gibson’s interview of Palin in September 2008.](http://www.clipsandcomment.com/2008/09/12/transcript-sarah-palin-interview-with-charles-gibson-part-i/) He did ask her about the Bush doctrine. Just for the record, right before this he asked her why she thought the September 11th attacks happened. Here is their exchange about the Bush doctrine. She doesn’t appear to know what he means - and I remember people making fun of her for that - even though it does have a defined meaning that is much more precise than “the Obama agenda.” He then explains what it is, which in theory gave her a chance to make a more informed comment. So believe it or not she did something Etheridge should have done. > [@](#): > > GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine? > > PALIN: In what respect, Charlie? > > GIBSON: Well, what do you interpret it to be? > > PALIN: His world view? > > GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated in September 2002, before the Iraq war. > > PALIN: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell-bent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made, and with new leadership, and that’s the beauty of American elections, of course, and democracy, is with new leadership comes opportunity to do things better. > > GIBSON: The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that? > > PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. > > GIBSON: Do we have the right to be making cross-border attacks into Pakistan, from Afghanistan, with or without the approval of the Pakistani government? > > PALIN: As for our right to invade, we’re going to work with these countries, building new relationships, working with existing allies, but forging new also in order to, Charlie, get to a point in this world, where war is not going to be a first option. In fact, war has got to be, and military strike, a last option. > > GIBSON: But Governor, I’m asking you, do we have the right, in your mind, to go across the border, with or without the approval of the Pakastani government? > > PALIN: In order to stop Islamic extremists, those terrorists who would seek to destroy America, and our allies, we must do whatever it takes, and we must not blink, Charlie, in making the tough decisions of where we go, and even who we target. > > GIBSON: And let me finish with this. I got lost in a blizzard of words there. Is that a yes, that you think we have the right to go across the border, with or without the approval of the Pakistani government to go after terrorists who are in the Waziristan area? > > PALIN: I believe that America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists who are hell-bent on destroying America, and our allies. We have got to have all options out there on the table. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/493 "2010-06-18T00:49:35Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > You first started attacking me before I’d ever said a word to you on this board. I’m guessing I’m not the only one. I don’t actually care, though. Attack me all you want. This status/class one-upsmanship game you try to play with me (and everyone else) on this board is not something I care about, and I am not wounded by what you seem to imagine are devastating shots to my manhood. Fire away, if that makes you feel good about yourself. It doesn’t do me any harm. What “status/class one-upsmanship”? I know I’m widely known as an asshole so everything I do is assholish by definition, but I didn’t mean anything as one-upsmanship. I just meant to illustrate why it is ridiculous that you call me and other people with my world-view selfish when the exact opposite is actually the case. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/494 "2010-06-18T01:10:12Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > I know I’m widely known as an asshole so everything I do is assholish by definition No, you moron, the stuff you do on this board, such as openly bragging about trolling and making sexual comments about other posters’ children, IS assholish. If anybody else had done that, it would have been assholish, regardless of who they were. It’s amazing how in the course of this thread you’ve disgusted every last person here, even people who agree with you, and you’re still going around whining that “nobody understands my worldview.” Fuck that, nobody WANTS to understand your worldview. Nobody gives a shit about what someone too cowardly to man up for his own actions thinks. All I want to know is, whose dick are you sucking to stay on this board, **Rand**? I can think of dozens of people who have been banned from here for trolling. You go around fucking _admitting_ to trolling, and you’re still here. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/495 "2010-06-18T01:25:48Z")
Duke, your record of misrepresenting something I’ve said in every single post you direct towards me remains unbroken. I counted at least 5 misrepresentations in that one post alone. So, nice job! ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/496 "2010-06-18T02:04:10Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Duke, your record of misrepresenting something I’ve said in every single post you direct towards me remains unbroken. I counted at least 5 misrepresentations in that one post alone. So, nice job! OK, let’s go over these one by one. 1. You’ve openly admitted to trolling. [Cite](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11386445&highlight=troll#post11386445) > [@Rand Rover](#): > > I dunno. I like to get my troll on sometimes, I guess. 1. You’ve made perverted comments about other posters’ children. **Starving Artist** made that accusation, **Diogenes the Cynic** agreed that it happened. I know you claim to have lurked here for eight years (which is a bald lie, but I’ll let it pass here), but let me refresh your memory: this is the first time in recorded history that **SA** and **Dio** have agreed on anything. Ever. 2. You’ve disgusted everyone on this board. OK, maybe not everybody. Just **magellan01** and **Starving Artist** and **Jack Batty** and **Diogenes** and **Czarcasm** …not a single person has defended you in this thread. Not one. I’m going to let **Oakminster** have the last word, because he said it better than I could, and you haven’t had the balls to respond to him. > [@](#): > > Dude, I don’t like Dio. He’s obnoxious, stupid, stubborn, and frequently talks out of his ass on subjects he knows absolutely nothing about. > > But posting about his children is way out of line. Man up, apologize for that, and then continue to argue or not as you wish. 1. Nobody likes you here. It’s almost impossible to make an argument on these boards without somebody agreeing…hell, just last week there was a guy on here suggesting that killing 5 billion people was a swell idea, and he had people falling all over him in agreement. But, you, **Rand Rover** , are so useless at building a coherent argument (where the fuck _did_ you learn to write anyway? Big Al’s School of Law Talkin’?) that even posters like **magellan01** , as straightforward conservative as they come around here, won’t bother to defend you any more. And why is that? Because you are a disgusting person in general (Cite: points 1 through 3) who thinks they’re above the rules of this board, and so nobody listens to you anymore. Tell me again, did you actually lurk here for eight years without learning rules #1 and #2 about this place–don’t be a jerk and don’t troll? 2. You are the biggest fucking whiner on these boards. Every damn post of yours contains some version of “nobody understands meeeeeee!” Fuck that. We don’t think you’re an asshole because of your “views” (which have nothing to do with Rand or Friedman and everything to do with me-first posturing), we think you’re an asshole because you do asshole things–for example, making sexual comments about posters’ underage daughters (which you STILL won’t admit to, you coward) and openly trolling (again, see point 1 above). So, in summation, you deserve every damn word I type, and every word everyone else has typed here. Your accusations of “misrepresentation” are laughable. I could copy and paste one of your own posts and you would call it misrepresentation. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/497 "2010-06-18T02:11:01Z")
Duke, I’m straight. I will not have sex with you. I realize that you very much want my dick in your ass, but it isn’t going to happen. So please just stop. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/498 "2010-06-18T02:13:07Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Duke, I’m straight. I will not have sex with you. I realize that you very much want my dick in your ass, but it isn’t going to happen. So please just stop. Hey, you’re the guy who’s obsessed with knowing whether men on this board are growers or showers. I’ll just leave that there. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/499 "2010-06-18T02:24:41Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Dude, I don’t like **Dio.** He’s obnoxious, stupid, stubborn, and frequently talks out of his ass on subjects he knows absolutely nothing about. > > But posting about his children is way out of line. Man up, apologize for that, and then continue to argue or not as you wish. But argue with **Dio**. Leave his kids, family, and personal work situation out of it. This is a fucking message board, not a **Thunderdome Cage Fight to the death**. (my bolding) NOW you tell me. What do I do with my spiky gloves and serrated double-axe? ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227/500 "2010-06-18T02:25:07Z")
Yeah, let’s talk about “obsessed.” You follow me around from thread to thread. I never see your posts unless they are directed at me. And in every single one of your posts directed at me, you apply your own special Dooky spin on everything I’ve said. You are obsessed. You are an idiot. You are a failure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congressman-attacks-student-for-daring-to-ask-him-a-question/543227.md?page=26)