Virginia Republican calls union members 'terrorists,' citing O'Keefe-style video

Terrorists? Find me a crowd this size where there isn't someone who'll respond to being knocked down by getting up and punching the person who did it. Republican poutrage over alleged violence at protests against the passage of Michigan's new anti-union law continues unabated, and with exactly the sense of proportion you'd expect:

Shawn Kenney, who formerly served as the communications director for the state GOP and is now the chairman of the Fluvanna Co. Board of Supervisors, posted an entry on his blog titled, 'We Don't Negotiate With (Union) Terrorists.' The post features a video of a brief fight that occurred outside the Michigan state capitol. Before the video, Kenney writes: ''and these people are terrorists.'

Yes, terrorists. Because in a heated protest involving as many as 15,000 people, a Fox News provocateur managed to find one guy who could be provoked'through violence, if necessary'into hitting him and then made a Breitbart-O'Keefe-style edited video of it. Eclectablog dissects that video at some length, and the New York Times elaborates a key point:

Unfortunately for Mr. Crowder, a look at the video broadcast on the Sean Hannity show appears to show quite clearly that he left out an important section of the footage when he put together his edit. A section of the Fox News broadcast preserved by the Web site Mediaite shows that Mr. Hannity's producers at Fox News started the clip five seconds earlier than Mr. Crowder did. What the extra footage reveals is the man who punched Mr. Crowder being knocked to the ground seconds before and then getting up and taking a swing at the comedian.

So Steven Crowder, victim of multiple punches to the face by a union thug, was hiding the fact that the guy who punched him did so after having been knocked down himself (and who knows what else). That's just one of Crowder's misleading edits, and he's not showing the footage that would make things more clear. Gosh, do you think it could be because it doesn't support the version of the story he's pushing?

In every crowd of 15,000 people, there are more than a few dumbasses. There are also even more people who, if you get in their face and then you or one of your friends knock them down, will get back up and punch you. (Realistically, I can't guarantee I wouldn't do the same. Can you?)

Virginia Republican Shawn Kenney isn't saying this is terrorism because he thinks anytime someone overreacts in a fight, it's terrorism. He's saying it because he's actively in search of reasons to demonize union members, just as Crowder was when he walked through a crowd of union members insulting them, and again when he edited his video. It's a concerted attempt to make bad policy look good by making the people it targets look bad.