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| English: Michael Grimm, member of the United States House of Representatives. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
From Denny: OK, did anyone else find it disturbing to view a thuggish lunge attack and hear on air a series of death threats to a guy giving that Congressman some air time? Rep. Michael Grimm of New York thought it appropriate to threaten to kill a reporter on air while the cameras were rolling.
From Reuters: Grimm abruptly collared Scotto and told him, "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this fucking balcony." When Scotto protested that it was a "valid question," (about an ethics investigation) Grimm replied, "No, no, you're not man enough, you're not man enough. I'll break you in half. Like a boy."
And this guy thought a mere apology was acceptable? It was a chilling display of someone completely out of control. Is this the kind of person we want in Congress?
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) is an attorney, an ex-Marine who served in Iraq and an ex-FBI agent who was undercover infiltrating the famous wise guy Gambino Crime Family of New York before he ran for Congress.
In typical political clean-up after this weird oh, too public encounter, Grimm claimed he was upset he was not getting respect. So, now a news interview is playing out more like an episode of The Sopranos? It would be funny if this situation was not so very serious because it really was a display of the creepy ridiculous...
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Thinking about this incident for a few days and researching Grimm a bit more before commenting, it's still time to register some serious outrage at this public bullying and death threats. I called down the Republicans, mostly the Tea Party Sarah Palin followers who were issuing death threats on a regular basis to President Obama and several high ranking Democrats in both the House and the Senate. This incident is just as wrong.
There are many things that chap my progressive Cajun a$$ about this President's policies and decisions but that never calls for death threats. Maybe booing and hissing - and a few well aimed rotten tomatoes - from the peanut gallery but never death threats.
Why is Rep. Michael Grimm a poster boy for what's wrong in America? Are you kidding? This Thug Culture has taken over since this country started chasing terrorists. It's permeated the entire society. Republicans like to place thuggery only in the African-American community but, come on, really? There are plenty of whites acting like out of control thugs. Just check out the rape epidemic in the military where women and men are raped every day. In Afghanistan American soldiers participated in rape rallies of local women. That's thuggery if ever we wanted to ever so clearly define it.
So, fast forward to this week's threatened reporter incident and it really makes you think about what has happened to American society that has deteriorated into this mass ugliness of pushing around everyone in sight. Grimm threatened to kill, throw over the upstairs balcony, and break in half one smaller man who, frankly, looked like a wet puppy, hardly any threat to any one.
Grimm is lucky he didn't try that with someone like me who hates bullies. Had he lunged at me in such a threatening manner like that I might not have been able to stop from punching him back. If he wanted someone to go over that balcony so badly, then I would have taken him with me. "You land first, jerk wad, 'cause I'm gonna get up and walk away without a scratch." And this is what our country has come to: trading trash talk and body blows?
The reality is that Grimm is an attorney. He knows what he did was wrong. Grimm is an ex-FBI agent. He knows what he did was wrong. Yet, Grimm continues to whine about how he was blindsided by this reporter. Well, if Grimm thinks a wet puppy reporter was ambush interviewing him then Grimm clearly overreacted.
But, that overreaction is what concerns us all. Grimm's complaint is he doesn't feel respected. Are you kidding me? As a former Marine he is of the opinion that all civilians do not deserve equal respect as he expects for himself? As a former FBI agent does he think - like many in law enforcement - that civilians are the enemy? Did Grimm really spend far too much mental time in the wise guy culture while undercover?
Both military and law enforcement culture share one attitude and strong training: control the person in front of you at all costs. After this kind of empowering training many military and law enforcement can never quite learn the trick of how to turn it off. They do it to their spouses, their children, people at the grocery store, you name it. Clearly, Grimm can no longer tell the difference between the battlefield and mere civilian life while being questioned in an interview. In this death threat incident Grimm's behavior depicted battlefield tactics and body language.
And is this where Grimm's story comes to a fork in the road in his life? He cannot continue as he has been doing since returning from war and leaving undercover work. Grimm is in dire need of serious counseling for many years in order to get his mindset back to a healthy balance. It's far too obvious Grimm absorbed too much of the wise guy culture and has continued to internalize it for years later. It's not a skill set that is smart to use in civilian society.
For too long since this war on terrorism began, the Pentagon has not properly taught the returning troops how to power down from war service. These men need years of constant counseling in order to know the boundaries of how to live in a civilian atmosphere where not everything is life and death on a moment's notice.
And the FBI? I'd like to pull out a can of Cajun Whoop A$$ on the new Director no matter how good a guy he seems to be. The FBI owes Grimm those years of counseling to straighten him out. Right now Grimm is really not functioning well.
The GOP? Is it any wonder why women want nothing to do with the party when they act like total thugs? This is just the one time that thuggery was caught on camera for all to see. If the Republicans are serious about trying to attract female voters then the first thing they can do is remove Grimm from office. Yes, remove him from office.
This man is not ready for politics - not in the long term. He certainly is in bed with some questionable donors. Right now, the ethics violations are about small monies. Are we going to let this slide, allow the Republican leaders to cover it up, only to find he will escalate over time to more serious violations? Why wait for him to completely destroy himself? Doesn't anyone in his party care about the guy?
No one is doing Grimm any favors by allowing this bad attitude to continue as it is always on the edge of exploding to harm someone. Sure, it's difficult to be so tough with the guy considering his service to his country, but it has to be done. It's far better to do something now than to read a news story years from now when another police officer will gun him down for behaving like a rabid dog that is a danger to society.
If the GOP is so fond of Grimm then remove him from office immediately. Get him the years of counseling he so desperately needs. Find a behind the scenes job for him in the party while he learns to power down his internal stress. See how he does, and, in a few years, try to run him again for office. Anything less than that solution is a disservice to a man who has served his country well.
Do I forgive him for issuing death threats to that mild-mannered reporter? Sure, no problem. But I'd still punch him out if he attacked me.
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