October 18, 2010

Congressman Perlmutter impetuously, petulantly slaps the hand of his challenger during a debate.

The challenger, Ryan Frazier, is being pretty annoying and keeps waggling his finger in what I would say was Perlmutter's air space. This makes me laugh every time I watch:



Poor Perlmutter! He's behaving in an instinctive and not genuinely violent way. It's actually pretty friendly, and Frazier had to know he was wielding that finger annoyingly. But Perlmutter touched! Do not touch! And Frazier does such a perfect "Don’t hit me man. Come on."

To help you organize your reaction to the incident: Perlmutter's the Democrat, Frazier is the Republican.

CORRECTION: I typo'd "laps" for "slaps." Ha ha. What a picture!

44 comments:

Opus One Media said...

Let me get this straight. Perlmutter is the democrat and Frazier is the rude guy on the right?

TWM said...

I'm loath to defend any Democrat but it was just a slight batting away of a hand that was pointing at him. Give me a call when someone really slaps someone. Especially if it's two women politicians.

PatHMV said...

I thought they both handled it well. Pelmutter shouldn't have touched him. If Frazier made a big huge deal about it, that would be wrong, too, given Perlmutter's immediate apology. But Frazier didn't push the issue after Perlmutter apologized, so no big deal on either side. It was a vibrant, heated debate.

Now, what would the national reaction be if a white Republican had slapped the hand of a black Democrat for "wielding that finger annoyingly"?

Scott M said...

Isn't a white politician striking a black one pretty much one of those proverbial third rails?

Fen said...

TRO: I'm loath to defend any Democrat but it was just a slight batting away of a hand that was pointing at him.

If you had done it to your Democrat, he would have charged you with felony assault.

I think the law should apply equally, even to Congress-critters.

Fen said...

Now, what would the national reaction be if a white Republican had slapped the hand of a black Democrat for "wielding that finger annoyingly"?

Thats easy, his campaign would be over and his life ruined.

Fen said...

Isn't a white politician striking a black one pretty much one of those proverbial third rails?

Not for Democrats. They get to live by a different set of rules because they "care" about people...

bagoh20 said...

This is so silly that I refuse to comment on it..........Doh!

TWM said...

"If you had done it to your Democrat, he would have charged you with felony assault.

I think the law should apply equally, even to Congress-critters."

Agreed, but that doesn't change my opinion that this is much ado about nothing.

Rialby said...

Fen... absolutely. He would never be able to show his face in public again.

When I watched it I was thinking the D was the black man. I was thinking, oh well the white guy is waving his hands around a lot, I can imagine why the black guy knocked his hand down.

Scott M said...

Agreed, but that doesn't change my opinion that this is much ado about nothing.

Agreed to your agreed. This is as much ado as the Capital steps spitting "incident". Excepting, of course, that there's actual video evidence that this happened...

Fen said...

Agreed, but that doesn't change my opinion that this is much ado about nothing.

Rgr that. I'm just pointing out the double standard. The media has memory-holed the racially motivated beat down of Kenneth Gladney at the hands of SEIU goons.

The Left doesn't really believe in the things they lecture us about.

Phil 314 said...

I agree with Pat; they handled it well. But I must admit my first reaction was to recall this historic slap

Anonymous said...

I didn't think either one was out of line. The pointer didn't really have his finger in his face, just sort of in his personal space. It seemed like the congressman was doing the same thing a few seconds before. But calling the congressman's actions a slap seems like a pretty silly exaggeration- it was barely a bat away.

Silly, silly issue.

- Lyssa

Fen said...

But calling the congressman's actions a slap seems like a pretty silly exaggeration- it was barely a bat away.

Yes, but the same folks who count spittle from a shouting protestor as "spitting on" are staring down at their shoelaces over this one.

I think Democrats should be held to their own rules. Even their Mentor, Alinksy, agrees.

Fen said...

But I barely touched the policemen! It was just a friendly swat! as she is led away in handcuffs.

LL said...

Really no big deal and both guys handled it very well. With that said, if a Republican slapped a black Democrat then I'm not sure the press and fellow Democrats would be so understanding.

Famous Original Mike said...

Unquestionably, unaccountably racist. Perlmutter must - MUST! - resign his candidacy immediately. We have such a long way to go as a country in terms of race relations.

What's that? The black guy's the Republican??

Oh, then self-hating Uncle Tom was acting out of place and deserved it.

Trooper York said...

If Mort was awake he would say that a white guy slapping a black guy is racist.

Just sayn'

Kensington said...

"To help you organize your reaction to the incident: Perlmutter's the Democrat, Frazier is the Republican."

Ah, okay; thanks for that.

My principled reaction is this: the Democrat was wrong.

AlphaLiberal said...

Gee, no coverage by Ann Althouse of Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller having a security detail who put a journalist in handcuffs for asking Miller about his record!

No doubt this practice will be defended by hypocritical Tea Partiers who claim to give as damn about freedom.

Unknown said...

The Demos are getting very frustrated. It wasn't supposed to work this way. The media was supposed to make all the Republicans go away.

HDHouse said...

Let me get this straight. Perlmutter is the democrat and Frazier is the rude guy on the right?

No, Frazier is the guy fed up with Demo lies on the right.

Scott M said...

Woe to feed the troll, but there's more to that story than the man just asking about a record, if I read the article correctly.

In any case, I'm very weary of private security details, of any stripe, "arresting" people for any reason. Apparently the cops didn't have too great a problem with it because they told them to let the guy go and that was that...so far. If a private security firm "arrests" someone improperly, I'm sure the lawsuits will fly. Given that, though, one would think that goons in a private security firm would have standing policies about such occurrences.

ricpic said...

Democrats own, er...love blacks, so it's no big deal.

TWM said...

"Gee, no coverage by Ann Althouse of Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller having a security detail who put a journalist in handcuffs for asking Miller about his record!"

Two issues here. One, private security firms cannot arrest people. They can detain them - much like store security detains shoplifters - but arrest they cannot (assuming Alaska doesn't have some weird law that gives them arrest powers). Secondly, my understanding was that he pushed someone and that was why he was detained, not for asking questions.

Fen said...

Alpha, are you at all shamed that everytime you lift a story off some Libtard website, it turns to shit in your hands when you submit it to a venue that allows for feedback?

Thats like 3 times in a week that you've caught blowback from DNC propaganda.

Try to gain some self-respect. Please.

traditionalguy said...

Another example of Tea Party violence...no that's is backwards. What if they did allow boxing and wrestling in debates. That Could help in the need for money raising...the TV guys would then start paying them to come on and win a champion's Belt.

Phil 314 said...

AL shouts:

squirrel

Original Mike said...

"Gee, no coverage by Ann Althouse of Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller having a security detail who put a journalist in handcuffs for asking Miller about his record!"

Yeah, right. I'm going to need a lot more than an Alpha Liberal assertion before I believe this.

traditionalguy said...

The shocking reaction to a black man up against a white man is muted here because of the Party labels. But that remains one of the big reasons why conservative white women can attack Obama all out, while conservative white men are afraid to be seen doing it. I know what...let's nominate Palin against Obama in 2012.

AlphaLiberal said...

Two issues here. One, private security firms cannot arrest people. They can detain them - much like store security detains shoplifters - but arrest they cannot (assuming Alaska doesn't have some weird law that gives them arrest powers). Secondly, my understanding was that he pushed someone and that was why he was detained, not for asking questions.

We're agreed they cannot arrest anyone, including and especially a journalist. Joe Miller, though, seems to think he has that power.

Your second point is the excuse being used, which seems awfully weak in any event. Because they were interfering with a journalist and threatening him and getting in his face, he says, he finally responded in kind. I wouldn't defend a security force for a candidate throwing a reporter in handcuffs this under any circumstances.

It is a sad day in America, though, when one political party - the Republicans and their supporters - defend throwing a reporter in handcuffs for asking difficult questions of candidates for public office.

We expect that behavior in Red China. Not here under any circumstances. Clearly, Republicans no longer believe in American freedoms, like freedom of the press.

I hope the reporter sues their asses off.

Fuck you, Fen.

AlphaLiberal said...

I very much doubt FauxNews is covering a Republican candidate throwing a reporter in shackles for asking difficult question.

However, that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

http://www.google.com/search?q=JOe+Miller+handcuff

AlphaLiberal said...

Adding... what sort of paranoid candidate needs three security guards anyway? That is highly unusual and bizarre.

What a prima donna.

Bruce Hayden said...

This is where the Democratic blowout due to ObamaCare votes comes home to me. I vaguely know Ed (Permutter) from swim team back in the 1960s. I was a bit older, and he was the younger kid whom we allowed to hang around with us. And, my parents know his from the country club that they belonged to back then.

Ed was fairly moderate when he was in the CO legislature, and ran for Congress as a moderate. After all, his family has a very successful small business in the area west of Denver. And, my mother knew him from when she worked as a lobbyist at the legislature. Plus, my father, a life long Republican, voted for him the last two elections.

But, he followed orders, and voted for ObamaCare and the "Stimulus" bill. And, last I know, was running behind, despite having won decisively the last time around.

Let me note that when I grew up in that area, likely in that District as it now sits, it was fairly strongly Republican. But, it has moved fairly strongly towards the Democrats as Hispanics, in particular, have moved out of Denver into the nearer suburbs.

blake said...

Adding... what sort of paranoid candidate needs three security guards anyway? That is highly unusual and bizarre.

Obama?

Meade said...

Don’t hit me, man. Come on.

Subtext: "You voted for ObamaCare, man! Come on!"

Now THAT is what deserves an apology from Perlmutter (along with 218 apologies from the other Democrat Congressmen).

You may have been the ones YOU were waiting for, guys, but now you're the ones WE'VE been waiting for... to leave... Nov. 2... you, and the Bush Derangement Syndrome you rode in on.

(Oh, and don't let your DADT hit you on your way out.)

Freeman Hunt said...

This interaction seems perfectly friendly and normal.

Opus One Media said...

hey meade....why don't you tell us what parts of obamacare you don't like instead of doing the generalities horeshit.

you don't like the pre-existing condition part? or what? what part/parts bother you - and is your health care off ann's university state employee or are you paying for that out of your own pocket at full rate? just curious meade...

Scott M said...

why don't you tell us what parts of obamacare you don't like instead of doing the generalities horeshit

1) The federal government imposing an individual mandate on something I'm already taking care of myself. 2) Increased costs for HSA participants.
3) Wholly inaccurate promises/statements made by politicians selling the bill which are contradicted by the legislation itself.
4) The process of arm-twisting/backroom dealing to get it passed in direct contradiction to the President's campaign promises.

Meade said...

Hey HDHouse ....why don't you tell us what parts of ObamaCare you think Democrats should be campaigning on? Is there a Democrat anywhere campaigning on the success of passing their historic bill? Just curious, HDHouse.

Revenant said...

I'm amused that AlphaLiberal is bringing up the Alaska arrest incident, considering the reporter in question has already admitted he was handcuffed after shoving another man.

Methadras said...

BFD!!!

The Crack Emcee said...

This may be but one example, but, to me, it speaks volumes about black Republicans.

shana said...

AlphaLiberal said..Adding... what sort of paranoid candidate needs three security guards anyway? That is highly unusual and bizarre.

I remember seeing then-candidate Obama, running for Senate, during the 2004 Democratic convention. He had four plainclothes security guards in his entourage.