Rep. Bob Etheridge, NC-02, North Carolina, Swamp List

Rep. Bob Etheridge (D – N.C.) has apologized for resorting to violence after two self-identified students approached the congressman on a D.C. sidewalk and asked if he supported “the Obama agenda.”

The students caught Etheridge’s rowdy reaction on camera, and before long, the video was prominently featured on conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website. From there, it went viral.

The congressman can be seen grabbing the wrist of one of the students and then holding his body in a move fellow Surge Desker Paul Wachter called evocative of a quarter nelson. “Tell me who you are!” Etheridge demands on the video.

“Tell me who you are!” Now Etheridge says he is very sorry for what transpired.

Read more: (Mara Gay, “Bob Etheridge Apologizes for On-Camera Confrontation,” Politics Daily, 06/14/2010)