Marathon Pundit: What "n" word? And a brick through a window

An establishment media outlet is claiming that a tea party activist shouted the "n" word at Rep. John Lewis. If it indeed happened, I denounce it. But what if it didn't?

From McClatchey:

Demonstrators outside the U.S. Capitol, angry over the proposed health care bill, shouted "nigger" (McClatchey put that in, not me) Saturday at U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia congressman and civil rights icon who was nearly beaten to death during an Alabama march in the 1960s…

"They were shouting, sort of harassing," Lewis said. "But, it's okay, I've faced this before. It reminded me of the 60s. It was a lot of downright hate and anger and people being downright mean."

Lewis said he was leaving the Cannon office building across from the Capitol when protesters shouted "Kill the bill, kill the bill," Lewis said.

"I said 'I'm for the bill, I support the bill, I'm voting for the bill'," Lewis said.

A colleague who was accompanying Lewis said people in the crowd responded by saying "Kill the bill, then the n-word."

Which leads the Daily Caller to write:

Did you catch that last part? As Jack Cashill at the American Thinker points out, there’s some sleight of hand going on here. Lewis himself isn't quoted as saying he heard it. The "n-word" claim is attributed to an unnamed colleague. Who? Apparently it doesn't matter who.

Here two video clips. I hear a lot of booing, and chants of "Kill the bill."

But no "n" word.

As I write this, Rep. Steny Hoyer is claiming that some House Democrats have received death threats for voting "yes" on ObamaCare. If that is true, I denounce it. Secondly, I do not advocate illegal actions, including throwing bricks through local Congressional offices, which did happen in Niagra Falls, New York. The front window of the office of Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), of "Slaughter Rule" fame, was shattered.

Time for some hypocrisy:

Niagara County Democratic Party Chairman Dan Rivera has a short memory, but blogger Niagara Times has a better one:

From a Riviera press release:

"I am calling on...elected Republicans from the local to the national level to publicly repudiate the use of intimidation and violence in politics," Rivera said. "One thing that's clear is that attempts at physical intimidation have no place in our democratic system. For over 200 years we have built a democratic political system based on the right of everyone to express their views free of fear of physical intimidation from anyone. If there are some who are now violating those principles, certainly I am willing to publicly repudiate them."

From Niagara Times:

Rivera has obviously got an extremely selective memory. It was less than two years ago that the Lewiston Dem Chairwoman tendered her resignation from the Dems county executive committee for what she described as "physical and verbal abuse" from Rivera.

The allegations made such a splash that the New York State Senate Minority Leader at the time, Malcolm Smith, refused to cross a picket line of Rivera protesters outside of a Niagara County Democratic Party fundraiser at The Red Coach Inn in Niagara Falls.

Now, less than two years later, Rivera has the audacity to spew rhetoric about a "political system based on the right of everyone to express their views free of fear of physical intimidation". Obviously that view does not apply to members of his own party who question his failed methods and strategies.