Meet Congressman Bob Etheridge, Democrat from North Carolina’s Second CD. Rep. Etheridge doesn’t much like people asking him whether he supports Barack Obama’s agenda, as a student camera crew on the street discovered when asking this elected official about his political positions. Etheridge interrupts his journey to a fundraiser thrown by Nancy Pelosi to assault the young reporter, first by grabbing the hand that holds the microphone and then by horse-collaring him, all the while demanding, “Who are you? I have a right to know who you are.” Big Government reports (via Power Line):

Expect more of this. A hard, progressive left captured the Democrat majority in Congress and forced them to enact a fantasy grab-bag of legislation that is increasingly unpopular with the American public. We’re on the cusp of a deeper recession, millions of unemployed Americans have no prospect for work, taxes are about to spike higher and we’ve maxed out the national credit card. The Democrats were given a chance to run government and they’ve only succeeded in running it into the ground. …

Fortunately, Rep. Etheridge isn’t one of those gerry-mandered political welfare queens. According to the Cook Report, his district is an R+2 district.  He has a credible opponent. Check her out here.

Let’s recap what we saw on this video. A sitting Congressman–a presumed living extension of James Madison and other founding fathers–was asked on a public street whether he supported the President’s agenda. His response was to hit away a video camera and assault a student. The age of Pericles this ain’t.

His opponent is Renee Ellmers, who works in the health-care industry and is a staunch opponent of ObamaCare, opposes the bailouts and Obamanomics, is pro-life, wants to try terrorists in military courts, and demands immigration enforcement.  It doesn’t appear that Ellmers is a big fan of assaulting students on the street, either.  Perhaps this R+2 district might be ready to exchange their current Congressman for someone who understands the proper relationship between elected officials and their constituents — and the laws regarding assault and battery.

Update: YouTube pulled the video, apparently, but The Right Scoop has it up at Eyeblast, which I’ve embedded here.

Update II: I’ve uploaded it to my Dailymotion account to get a cleaner look:

Update III: I received a note from Breitbart TV noting that YouTube didn’t pull the video; Breitbart pulled it because it spotted an error in one of the titles.  The new video, once again at YouTube, can be seen here: