Actually, these college students need to learn how to approach someone politely and respectfully. You're a student, or a constituent, and you wish to speak with a Congressman. For "a project." You can call and make an appointment. Or you can approach him outside a fundraiser, introduce yourself and explain what you want to do. If you do this, people will almost always respond politely. But if you ambush someone with a video camera, refuse to identify yourself when asked repeatedly, and ask obviously slanted political questions, you are being rude and confrontational, and there is no surprise if the subject of your ambush responds rudely as well. The Congressman has apologized. The students should do the same.

You're far from a violent man? Really? And you say that if you accosted a stranger on the street in a confrontational style and refused to identify yourself, and he responded by grabbing your wrist as he tried to get past you, that you would respond by physically attacking him?

If that's true, you are a violent man.

Yes, it is a politician's responsibility to answer to his or her constituents. But there needs to be civility. If these students truly wanted to talk to him, they would approch him, introduce themselves, explain their purpose and ask if he would be willing to talk on camera. That's how you approach someone civilly, and I would guess that if they did this, he would have stopped and spoken with them. But that's not what they did. They approached him cold, stuck a running camera in his face, refused to identify themselves, and asked questions in an obviously slanted way (the reference to "the Obama Agenda," rather than asking about some specific policy or piece of legislation). Clearly they were trying to provoke him into doing something stupid, and they succeeded. Congratulations.

When you confront someone rudely on the street, you should expect to be treated rudely in return. The Congressman has apologized. The guys with the camera should do the same. And then we should move on and forget about this non-story.

This is much ado about nothing. These "students" were rude and confrontational with the Congressman. He reacted badly, by pushing his way past them, but it was hardly an assault or anything like that. He has apologized. Have the "students" apologized?