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Nothing drives conservatives around the bend like a speech by Barack Obama. So, thanks to the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, there’s no shortage of wingnuttery this week.

A Grimm Encounter

The most unhinged moment on the right this week was when Rep. Michael Grimm (R, NY) physically threatened a New York television reporter. Grimm walked away from an interview about the State of the Union address, when the reporter started to question him about campaign finance violations related to his campaign.

It’s hard to hear, but Grimm threatened to throw NY1 reporter Michael Sotto off the Capital rotunda balcony. “You're not man enough. I'll break you in half. Like a boy,” Rep. Grimm added before walking away from the interview a second time.

In a press statement following the incident, Grimm made it clear that he was not sorry for his behavior. That’s not surprising. Grimm has done this sort of thing before. In fact, Grimm has a long history of being a violent hot-head, going all the way back to his days as an undercover FBI agent. (That last link is to a long article from The New Yorker about some highlights of Grimm’s FBI career, and well worth a read.)

Realizing that threatening a reporter with violence — on camera, no less — Grimm apologized. By then, an interview that would have been forgotten after the local 11 o’clock news, had gone viral.

The Craziest Things Conservatives Said This Week

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