More Republican thuggery

Feder trackers assaulted and beaten by Wolf staffers, with Wolf watching and not intervening.

Trackers for the Judy Feder campaign trying to ask a question of Congressman Frank Wolf are assaulted and beaten by Wolf’s people one of them using a cane, which in most states counts as a deadly weapon, making a simple A&B into aggravated assault, a felony.

The editors of the Washington Post seem unconcerned; apparently pork for Northern Virginia is more important than political violence, or for that matter Feder’s superb qualifications as a genuine expert on health care.

Of course, since this was actual violence rather than made-up violence, CNN isn’t likely to carry it. Bonus fact: Wolf used to chair the House Human Rights Caucus. I guess free speech doesn’t count.

If watching the video makes you angry, here’s a good vent for that anger.

Note to Democrats: Send the trackers out in pairs, so that one tracker can point a camera to record the violence against the other. And when this sort of crap happens, go straight to the cops and file charges.

h/t Matt Stoller, via Matt Yglesias.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com