Media can’t get its story straight on bullet through Rep. Eric Cantor’s Richmond office window
Update: Richmond police clarify case, see below
When word first broke to me on Twitter via my friend Allahpundit that Rep. Eric Cantor was stating that a bullet had been shot through a window at the House Minority Whip’s Richmond, Virginia campaign office, I decided to go beyond the Fox News report he was linking to in order to find some local news coverage of the story. An hour ago, I couldn’t find it.
It’s always a little odd to me when a story with local roots is broken via the Washington, DC bureaus of major national news outlets like Fox News and CNN. When that happens, the story feels like it comes from the top, as part of a strategy. And given the stem-winder of an anti-Democrat speech in which it was delivered from Cantor, according to Greg Sargent, the political utility of this charge in the current climate of broken windows and possibly slashed gas lines is obvious.
That said, if anyone shot at Rep. Cantor’s office, they deserve the harshest treatment possible under law enforcement. Our lawmakers Republican and Democrat alike need to be free from fear in order to do their jobs.
But you can see some problems in the reporting of this story, and as I noted yesterday when referring to the case of Census worker Bill Sparkman, these stories at a second look tend not to work out the way they may have appeared to at first glance.
For instance, Fox News said the incident happened last night when they first reported the story, but now report the following:
Cantor said “a bullet was shot through the window” of his campaign office. The incident happened Monday, Fox News has learned, the latest in a rash of apparent threats and acts of intimidation against members of Congress. Most of the threats so far have been reported by Democrats, but Cantor — the No. 2 Republican in the House — is one of about 10 lawmakers who has asked for increased security protection, Fox News has learned.
If it happened Monday, it clearly can’t be “the latest in a rash” of threats or acts of intimidation because others have subsequently occurred. But what’s worse, the Richmond Times-Dispatch is reporting a Tuesday or Wednesday incident instead of Monday:
Rep. Eric Cantor says this afternoon that a gunshot was fired through a window of his downtown Richmond campaign office building either last night or two nights ago.
There were no injuries or other details immediately reported. Cantor, in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, said he doesn’t know whether the shot was random or aimed at the building.
Oh, and a late entry – CNN’s Peter Hamby tweets that it happened “over the weekend.”
Meanwhile, in classic ‘if it bleeds it leads’ fashion, Richmond TV news outlets are reporting ’shots fired’ on their homepages as though this was a live incident. Sargent adds that the Richmond police were investigating an act of vandalism committed on Cantor’s office. So, we’ve gone from bullets last night to maybe Tuesday or Wednesday to Monday night to over the weekend to an act of vandalism in the span of about an hour. And until this story broke in Cantor’s speech today, apparently no one in Richmond knew about it.
So what’s going on? Was a kid having fun with a bibi gun? Did a member of ACORN decide to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights? Was some Neo Nazi anti-Semite in a rage over the comparison of Obamacare to Hitler’s program of eugenics? Etc.
My point is not that the Department of Homeland Security shouldn’t be taking a threat against a senior Republican lawmaker seriously. Absolutely, they should. But when it gets delivered in a press conference to sensationalistic 24 hour cable news networks, some questions need to be raised by fair-minded observers.
Update:
3:39 pm – The Richmond Police Department published a blog post stating that a bullet was fired in the air outside the building housing Cantor’s campaign office at 1 am on Tuesday – not Monday or earlier like Fox and CNN reported, and also not last night or Tuesday night like the Richmond Times-Dispatch stated.
On its way down, the bullet went through Cantor’s office window, and landed on the floor while no one was in the office. The police statement offers no indication of who fired the shot, or what their motivation was.
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This bogus crap orchestrated from Pelosi is going to run it’s course and the media will move on to the next talking point handed to it….
…this guy is a republican….wait until the democrats go on the campaign trail later this year…hopefully they will all get heckled down….americans have a right to go to campaign rallies and shout down turdballs and actual real life teabaggers like barney frank
You mean like how they can’t find video or audio of anyone yelling slurs at members of Congress even though that’s being reported every where and there were cameras and microphones all over the place? Just sayin’.
I am very concerned about the Rainbow Shooter Threat, and about Congressman Cantor’s safety.
I live far away, so perhaps someone in DC or Congressman Cantor’s district could help?
You see, we should be work to keep him safe at all times. Perhaps folks could keep handing him a hard hat, or a football helmet, or perhaps a Great War doughboy helmet? Perhaps when a photographer is present?
Safety first!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michael Roston, Michael Roston. Michael Roston said: Police say Cantor office bullet incident was early Tuesday morning, bullet fired in air and went through window http://bit.ly/ahrQVs [...]
Oh, come on. The bullet went into the air and somehow made a right angle? This is a result of their investigation? that’s laughable.
Umm, does it take a right angle to travel in an arc?
Do you recall that their initial investigation showed that the bullet penetrated the window but not the venetian blinds?
Would you rather believe the police report or Eric Cantor, proven liar?
In response to another comment. See in context »I eagerly await your offering of your credentials on ballistics.
In response to another comment. See in context »Better than credentials – I can offer you the results of 20 minutes of research that a, well, journalist or well-respected blogger might have done before posting.
Here’s a calculator for the trajectories that result from varying the launch angle of a various types of ammunition (pistol round, NATO round, etc.).http://www.tinafad.com/projectile/index.php
Many combinations can produce the results the police observed.
I might also add that those well-known liberals in the the Richmond Police Department have confirmed that there was no evidence that anyone intended to fire at Congressman Cantor’s office, and that it was a “stray bullet.” http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/richmond_police_say_shot_into_cantor_building_was_random/333188/
I think the story is now “straight.” On yet another issue, Congressman Cantor is engaging in deliberate disinformation.
In response to another comment. See in context »Sorry for the misunderstanding, my comment was in response to the previous commenter, not you. Sometimes this nested comment system can look the wrong way. I salute your research.
In response to another comment. See in context »