Columbus GOP heckler (Chris Reichert) of man w Parkinson's apologizes , says he's scared

[mod mom]

Health-reform rally heckler says he's sorry and scared
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 12:19 PM
BY CATHERINE CANDISKY
Columbus Dispatch


The man who berated and tossed dollar bills at a man with Parkinson's disease during a health care protest last week says he is remorseful and scared.
"I snapped. I absolutely snapped and I can't explain it any other way," said Chris Reichert of Victorian Village, in a Dispatch interview.

In his first comments on an incident that went viral across the Internet and was repeatedly played on cable television news shows, Reichert said he is sorry about his confrontation with Robert A. Letcher, 60, of the North Side. Letcher, a former nuclear engineer who suffers from Parkinson's, was verbally attacked as he sat before anti-health care demonstrators in front of Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy's district office last week.

"He's got every right to do what he did and some may say I did too, but what I did was shameful," Reichert said. "I haven't slept since that day."

"I made a donation (to a local Parkinson's disease group) and that starts the healing process."

-snip

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/03/24/dollar-bill-throw.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101

Scared? a little bad karma, hey?

[brooklynite]

1. Just another RINO Liberal.....

He'll be drummed out of the Tea Party by 5 PM

[ecstatic]

2. He's just sad that he was caught on cam nt

[Cronus Protagonist]

22. Ding Ding Ding

I doubt he would be anywhere contrite at all if he hadn't been exposed. It's the Republican way.

[izzybeans]

59. Hopefully he looked at it and realized he was acting like a Dick.

A little shame never hurt anyone when caught on the wrong end of right. He's still a dick, btw.

[leeroysphitz]

68. Exactly. n/t

[enki23]

3. scared? probably. embarassed? certainly.

at least he has the decency to be embarassed when he gets caught on tape. some teabagger fucks don't even reach that high.

[REP]

4. He recognizes what he did was shameful? Wow.

Good first step. Now apologize to Mr Lechter and prove you mean it.

[mod mom]

7. Where he lives is very heavily democratic. I hope he is incurring a few taunts, himself.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

27. As a former Columbus-ite I totally agree. nt

[reflection]

5. What he did was reprehensible

but I do believe in redemption. I really hope that he is sincere, because he's right. What he did was just shameful.

[Berry Cool]

40. Yes, perhaps the shame will help him turn his ideas around.

Maybe he's just ashamed to be caught and fears an ass kicking, but at least he feels shame. That's a good sign. Most of these jerks feel no shame at all. When caught doing something reprehensible, they manage to find a way to deny, deflect, minimize, blame others, and move on. They don't actually admit they feel they did the wrong thing.

This guy might be salvageable.

[ljm2002]

51. +100 n/t

[bullwinkle428]

6. I hope karma is sending an ass-kicking his way...VERY SOON.

[demigoddess]

50. rush limbaugh is going to be a very ugly woman in his next life, guess what this guy

is going to be??

[Mojeoux]

64. Rush Will Re-incarnate as a Slug

And then he will crawl into a pile of salt.
Karma's a bitch.

[walldude]

8. Oh FUCK YOU you fucking asshole. Admit it, you are an asshole

and you got caught on video being an asshole and the whole world saw you. THen you find out the guy is a nuclear engineer and now you are remorseful? FUCK YOU. You are also a liar.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

24. Ok ok I'll admit it. he's an asshole ;-)

[walldude]

30. Wow a consensus on DU... I'll alert the mods

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[troubledamerican]

55. Maybe we should tentatively support those who repent of Mob Violence

and the lunacy of crowds.

[hfojvt]

35. inject the venom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du1GpAPFcpk

Matthew 6: 15

[cynatnite]

9. I hope he is sorry. n/t

[lunatica]

10. Lots of people regret their actions after being in the mob mentality

That was a mob. I hope he has trouble sleeping for a very long time. And I wonder if he'll go follow the angry mob again.

[Frank Cannon]

62. Ha. Only because his asshattery was captured on video for all to see.

If that hadn't happened, he'd STILL be high-fiving his douchebag friends and laughing over it.

[riderinthestorm]

63. Reminds me of the old morality: judge a man's character by what he does when nobody's looking

Chris Reichert's only embarrassed now because his despicable behavior was caught on tape.

[bluestateguy]

11. Apology denied

Only supporting Obama and this HCR bill will be accepted.

[Chipper Chat]

12. I call bull hockey.

He would have "snapped" Letcher's neck if they had been alone in the woods together.
I say he is a thug and is not sorry.

[PA Democrat]

13. It was reported he was in sales (medical equipment?)

I'll bet his employer didn't like the bad press.

[Blue_Tires]

29. +1

He probably has a lot of face time in front of potential customers and buyers...Good luck trying to sell anything now...

[meegbear]

14. No sympathy from me FUCKER

[rgbecker]

15. His girl friend saw the tape.

[bluestateguy]

18. So he's not getting laid anymore? Is that it?

??

[NJmaverick]

16. There was nothing in the article to indicate that he apologized to the man he verbally abused

just a lot of talk about how it's had a negative impact on himself.

[Warpy]

17. What he needs to do is block Pox News and shut off his AM radio

because they're obviously driving him crazy.

Of course, nobody's going to tell him that and he's too dumb to believe them if they did.

Expect him to "just snap" again.

[county worker]

19. Just like most bullies, if you single them out, take them away from the support they are really

cowards. It's my guess that if you singled out all the tea party people, got them alone they would shit their pants! That use to happen a lot when I was in the army. We had a large group of racists and as a group they were tough but yank one of them out of the pack and they cried like babies!

[arcane1]

20. "...said he is not politically active"

In other words, he was out there shouting and protesting and harassing without a fucking clue. Imagine that.

The good news:

"That was my first time at any political rally and I'm never going to another one," Reichert said.

"I will never ever, ever go to another one."

[mod mom]

26. "not politically active" then why was he holding an Americans for Prosperity sign

He was holding a sign that said "I Am AFP" - which is these people:

http://www.americansforprosperity.org/national-site

[Matariki]

21. If he's being sincere - well good for him

maybe it'll be a wake up call for at least one of these thoughtless fools.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. I know the area where he lives well. I used to live nearby. he's probably one out of 5 pukes

in the entire neighborhood. What a douche.

[Dappleganger]

25. I hope he dies of a horrible, painful

skin-wasting disease. The man deserves to be haunted in his sleep the rest of his life for being such an overt asshole to Mr. Letcher.

[rhett o rick]

28. There is a problem here that should be underestimated. These people are scared

They have been told 24/7 to be afraid that the horrible socialist monster is coming to do something terrible to them. It's not even clear what they think will happen. These are the gullibles. They are easy to lead and have been whipped into a frenzy by the reich-wing as an arm of the corporate-cabal. They will commit acts of violence in their frenzy. But the scariest part is that their actions make a good cover for actions by agents like the CIA or Blackwater or whoever might want to change the leadership of this country. I fear for the safety of our president.

[Enrique]

31. 'I made a donation to a Parkinson's group'

I hope he wrote a check this time.

[mod mom]

32. Local comments:

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/columbus-dispatch/TP7B1I7S9LBP65EP6

[global1]

33. What Scares Me Is His Quote About Snapping.......

"I snapped. I absolutely snapped and I can't explain it any other way"

So many people are at that snapping point these days and given the right situation - they are subject to snapping as well. Fortunately this guy was only throwing dollar bills and wasn't throwing rocks or bottles or worse yet have a gun strapped to his body like some of the other 'nuts' we've seen pictured.

I'm really fearful of what this may become - if not quelled right now - and by the very people that are using the MSM to incite this type of behavior. It appears that we are being set up for a major confrontation - that if it happens will be catastrophic.

Again - given past such incidents - we won't be proactive in stopping this - but we'll wind up having to be reactive - after maybe somebody/ies get hurt.

[DearAbby]

48. It's going to take the said MSM

And the GOP leadership, to take this back down...And with clear terms, this is violent behavior, and should be stated as such, with no excuses.

Cooler heads need to come forward in the Media and GOP..They are here to inform and lead us, not lead us in mob mentality.

I am afraid what the GOP did last weekend, standing on the balcony of the Capitol, cheering this on was in very poor judgement. It is like giving permission.

[Froward69]

34. Still an asswipe...

[seabeyond]

36. i am going to give it to the man. let this be a moment of self awareness for him

i will take him at his word, that once cooled down, he saw something he really didnt like and will be a better person for it

[HippieCowgirl]

37. I'm impressed - he sacked up and apologized.

and didn't make a standard, "I'm sorry that you were offended" BS apology.

Looks like he learned from the experience, and that makes a difference.

[alcibiades_mystery]

45. I completely agree...it sounds genuine

[Vinnie From Indy]

66. I applaud people when they do the right thing

Sure, this guy may be an asshole and may only be sorry he got caught, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt. If he hasn't already done it, he should reach out to the guy he insulted and apologize personally.

[tallahasseedem]

38. No he's not...

he's just upset that his stupidity was caught on camera.

[devilgrrl]

39. Pussy.

What more can be said?

[Jennicut]

41. Many teabaggers are ready to snap at any moment. Just be glad no one was shot ...yet.

[SoCalDem]

42. Yep.. he's scared & sorry NOW.. sorry there was a camera & microphone near him that day..n/t

[hatrack]

43. "I'm really sorry I got caught and that there were video cameras there . . "

:puke:

[Blue-Jay]

44. Sorry you got caught being an asshole, asshole.

[TwilightGardener]

46. He got caught up in the overheated schoolyard bullyfest, acted like an ass,

realizes it now--and expressed sincere remorse and made a donation. Assuming he's being truthful, that oughta end it. Good of him to own up to his behavior.

[Maru Kitteh]

47. GOOD. I hope he goes to his grave haunted by the specter of his cruelty.

[proud2BlibKansan]

49. And if this video had not gone viral

would he have apologized?

Somehow I doubt it.

[Enthusiast]

52. Chris Reichert is typical of these

GOP/Teabaggers. They HATE people that are on disability. But....they believe themselves to be Christians.

[mod mom]

54. and yet their the 1st to say the Dems want "death panels"

[lpbk2713]

53. Another RW "macaca moment" .

George Allen had no remorse either until he and everyone else in the world saw the video tape.

[Mr. Sparkle]

56. "made a donation" FFS, if you had a shred of decency you wouldn't have done it in the 1st place.

Christians my ass.

[RagAss]

57. I'm not buying a word of this fucking shit !

[NNN0LHI]

58. Does Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky still think we have something in common with this scum?

[chrisa]

60. He's not sorry at all.

The bully just got hit back. Now, he'll be a typical bully, and try to make it seem like he's the one being persecuted. :nopity:

I also don't buy that he's "not political," and "this is his first protest." Total crap. If it was, he wouldn't have been so arrogant and show-offy.

[BurtWorm]

61. Scared of 'me'

It's like von Trier's Antichrist, for anyone who saw it. I wonder if he's going to take some scissors to himself.

[scorpiogirl]

65. He got caught with his Christian pants down around his ankles.

Screw him. Mob mentality is the reason and it's not an acceptable excuse.

[graywarrior]

67. What is he scared of? He's not a democrat.

[Kablooie]

69. Oh the tears they cry when they can't hide in anonymity.