The Lesson of Bob Etheridge

North Carolina Rep. Bob Etheridge’s confrontation with someone — the identity and affiliation of the questioner has yet to be determined — on a sidewalk in Washington should serve as a reminder to all politicians: anything you say (or do) can be used against you.

In the past five years (or so) technology regarding video (and audio) has advanced exponentially — from the flip cams that are ubiquitous (including in the Etheridge incident) to the ability to quickly post clips to the Internet — and, in so doing, has changed the calculus for politicians.

For Etheridge, who hasn’t had a real race in more than a decade — and almost certainly won’t have one this November either — the idea that this dust-up could become national news was probably unimaginable.

But, once Andrew Breitbart posted the link to his BigGovernment.com site this morning, a national news story quickly developed as Republicans worked to publicize the incident.

“Bob Etheridge has lost it,” said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Jon Thompson. “His conduct is unbecoming of a member of Congress.”

Democrats sought to rally behind Etheridge, casting the interview — and Breitbart’s involvement in publicizing it — as a “partisan hit job”, according to talking points obtained by Politico’s Ben Smith.

Amid the partisan bickering, Etheridge quickly bowed to political reality — issuing an apology for the incident; “I have seen the video posted on several blogs,” he said. “I deeply and profoundly regret my reaction, and I apologize to all involved.”

(The simple political fact is that as a Member of Congress, you can’t grab people on the street — no matter the context.)

Read more: (Chris Cilizza, “The Lesson of Bob Etheridge,” The Washington Post’s “The Fix” blog, 06/14/2010)