Congressmen grumpy about ambush interviews

“I’ve not seen the totality of [the Etheridge] film, but it looks to me that they’ve cut out any antagonism and just gone to the response of what might have been antagonism,” said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). “I don’t say that to defend him. What any member of Congress ought to know is these people operate in teams. There’s a guy that sticks the camera in your face and makes insulting statements. And there’s a guy standing back filming the incident.”…

Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) said he wasn’t aware of Etheridge’s situation, but after hearing about the video he wanted to know the circumstances.

“What I think a lot of people don’t appreciate is the extent to which members of Congress are approached in some sort of adversarial way,” Davis said. “I’m certain that Congressman Etheridge, [like other] members of Congress, [has] been approached in a confrontational way. And that very well may have been in the back of his mind.”