Democrat Operatives Engaging in Stalking and Intimidation?

We’ve know for some time that a favorite tactic of democrats is to stalk the homes of their opponents.  The intent is simple, ranging from the typical, “that’s a nice house you have there-be a shame if something were to happen to it,” to the more ominous, thinly veiled, “now people will come to harass your kids.”  Now, it appears that this tactic is being used on a much larger scale.  Politico has more…

Politicians recognize they give up a degree of privacy when they run for office.

But Democrats are testing the outer limits of that understanding with a practice that raises questions about when campaign tracking becomes something more like stalking.

While most serious campaigns on both sides use campaign trackers — staffers whose job is to record on video every public appearance and statement by an opponent — House Democrats are taking it to another level. They’re now recording video of the homes of GOP congressmen and candidates and posting the raw footage on the Internet for all to see.

Once again, this isn’t about trying to catch a candidate saying something stupid, like suggesting that there are 57 states.  This is  about sending a message.  Come to think of it, it’s like sending more of a threat.

Allahpundit has more, and some interpretation…

But no. Turns out they knew, and they’re totally fine with it.

That ratcheting up of the video surveillance game is unnerving Republicans who insist that even by political standards, it’s a gross invasion of privacy. Worse, they say, it creates a safety risk for members of Congress and their families at a time when they are already on edge after a deranged gunman shot former Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords 18 months ago…

In [Reid] Ribble’s case, a clip of his northeastern Wisconsin home appeared online June 18. The soundless video — which lasts 38 seconds — is taken from a car sitting just outside the house. The shot pans across the large home, showing it from several different angles…

“House Republicans have spent this entire Congress trying to hide that they’re protecting benefits for millionaires and perks for themselves instead of protecting the middle class, but we won’t let them keep it secret any longer,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Jesse Ferguson wrote in an email.

Democratic officials said placing the videos on the DCCC’s website and YouTube serve a useful purpose, most notably making the footage available to friendly outside groups for use in TV commercials. That way, they don’t violate laws against coordinating with those groups.

Says New York mag, “So it’s creepy and undermining-campaign-finance-laws-y. Impressive.” I’m not posting the vids but you’ll find links at the Politico piece up top if you’re curious. The one of Ribble’s place does indeed look like stalker video, something you’d shoot if you were casing a place; the home itself is nice but not especially large or impressive, which tells you how seriously you should take the “exposing Republican wealth” excuse. (If they’re intent on crude panders aimed at class resentment, they could have stuck with publicizing their opponents’ estimated net worth.) The goal in posting this, obviously, is to intimidate, notwithstanding all the precious rhetoric devoted last January to “tone” after a horrible incident that actually had nothing to do with tone. I’m tempted to accuse them of hypocrisy, but that would require believing that the “tone” nonsense was ever meant as anything more than an opportunistic political bludgeon. Oh well.

While I would guess that Allahpundit is being a tad bit sarcastic when stating that the democrats are “totally fine with it,” it seems, like in all things, there is a double standard.  Here is how democrat/regressive characters react to cameras…

Yep, camera’s are great, depending on who is holding them, I guess.