UPDATE: Quoth Grimm later on: "I verbally took the reporter to task and told him off, because I expect a certain level of professionalism and respect, especially when I go out of my way to do that reporter a favor. I doubt that I am the first Member of Congress to tell off a reporter, and I am sure I won’t be the last."
Memo to Rep. Grimm: Threatening to throw someone off a balcony, physically overbearing them, and saying you'll tear them in half is not "telling someone off." Nor does it show "professionalism" on your part. And "fear" is not the same thing as "respect". Just saying.
Reshared post from +Randy Patton
NY Congressman Michael Grimm (R) threatened Reporter Mike Scotto with bodily harm on camera. The actual video is available in the article below.
Mr. Scotto asked Congressman Grimm to address allegations about his campaign finances during an interview about the President's SOTU Address. Congressman Grimm ended the interview at that point by stating that those allegations were "off topic" and walked away.
He then returned to the reporter and threatened to "break him in half" and "throw him off the balcony."
Now that's statesmanship! Thank you, Congressman Grimm, for demonstrating the Republican Party's stand on Freedom of the Press.
Embedded Link
‘I will break you in half,’ Republican Congressman threatens to throw reporter off balcony during interview
It started out like dozens of other interviews after Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. But when NY1 reporter Mike Scotto decided to press Rep. Michael Grimm on his personal campaign finances, the Republican congressman abruptly ended the interview, with a violent threat.
It's one thing to shoot your mouth off in anger, and subsequently either (a) apologize, or (b) pretend to apologize. It's another thing to compound the issue with your subsequent statements.
Unlike +Randy Patton, however, I do not believe this behavior is limited to the Republican Party…or that it even specifically relates to freedom of the press. (Now if Grimm had called NY1 and threatened to close a bridge near its headquarters, that might be a different story.)
More background on Rep. Grimm:
http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/01/meet-michael-grimm-ex-fbi-congressman-who-will-break-reporters-half/357496/
+John E. Bredehoft Grimm seems determined to be an alpha dog. You don't apologize when you're an alpha dog — you double down.
I don't know that this is a Republican thing per se (though it seems to resemble Neo-Con foreign policy), nor is it specifically a freedom of the press thing. It's just rude and threatening — indeed, in another context (and another state), the reporter might have been justified in pulling out a gun and shooting Grimm.
Sounds like a Scientologist: "Never defend, always attack."
The problem is that politicians have grown up in an era where reporters are nothing more than a microphone that throws them a few softballs and never follows up (or worse…guys who “owe you a favor” for letting them talk to you). I’ll bet half of Congress has never faced an actual reporter asking real questions in their entire career. So, instead of doing what politicians throughout history would have done–smile and chuckle “no comment”–they are shocked and have knee-jerk reactions.
@Solonor – Well, you are right about the “jerk” part, at least. 🙂
I don’t know — I’ve seen conflicting reports about reporter behavior in general, and how much is softball and how much is hardball. The nature of this conflict, at least, feels less like surprise and more like a personality issue.
Or a sociopath.
Yes, well, one is a subset of the other.
Haha, perhaps. But I meant that he may in fact qualify as a Sociopath. Or perhaps just the closely related anti social personality disorder.
He's certainly a bully (not just in his words but in his body language, too).