Conservative blogger Ann Althouse reacts to a report that “Members of the Congressional Black Caucus said that racial epithets were hurled at them Saturday... by angry protesters who had gathered at the Capitol to protest health-care legislation, and one congressman said he was spit upon”:

It's also important to distinguish “angry protesters” from particular individuals who cross the line into the kind real ugliness or violence that should be condemned. There's nothing wrong with showing anger at the thing that motivates you to protest. That's what protests are for! The members of Congress have a lot of power, and they ought to have to hear the anger their exercise of that power is causing. It's outrageous for them to pose as victims without very good cause. So what if some idiot said a bad word? That's a trivial distraction compared to the power they are about to exercise in the face of such strong opposition to what they are about to do.

I expected some conservatives to deny that Congressman John Lewis, a hero of the civli rights movement was called [the N word] by opponents of health care reform, and to deny that another African American member of Congress, Emanuel Cleaver, was spat on. But I'll confess to some surprise that Althouse would stipulate to those actions, but dismiss them with a simple “so what?”

UPDATE: “Instapundit” Glenn Reynolds wants an apology from Rep. James Clyburn. Why? Because Clyburn said of yesterday's protests, “I have heard things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to get off the back of the bus.” Unclear whether Reynolds thinks Clyburn should apologize to the people who hurled epithets at Lewis and Barney Frank, or to the person who spit on Cleaver.