On Thursday, conservative Ann Althouse unloaded on Democrats for trying to make political hay out of the recent rash of violence and incidents of threats and intimidation unleashed by conservatives in the wake of the health care vote. Althouse was quite clear that Democrats were guilty of “self-victimization.” And no, to be honest, she didn't really believe the stories she was hearing about threats and violence were true.

Althouse issued this warning:

[W]e should all be vigilant about the way the Democrats and their friends in the press are leveraging these stories for political purposes, exaggerating and failing to check facts.

As I noted yesterday though, that was before Republican Eric Cantor, perhaps trying to deflect the story, stepped forward and claimed on Thursday he had been the target of violence because somebody had shot a bullet into his Richard campaign office.

But uh-oh, based on Althouse's definition, wouldn't that qualify as “self-victimization”? And wouldn't Althouse have to condemn Cantor, too?

It turns out it's even more awkward: Richmond police announced the bullet that hit Cantor's office had "been randomly fired skyward," and the GOP Congressman -- unlike Democrats in the wake of the health care vote -- was not the target of the attack. (First clue: the bullet struck an office window on the way down.)

So now it appears that a Republican leader in Congress was guilty of trying to fudge the facts in order to use an act of violence for purely partisan reasons; to portray himself as the victim.

Ann must be fuming.

UPDATED: Surprise! Althouse now covering for Cantor:

His point is that violence is serious, but it's random and somehow separate from the real political debate and should be dealt with in a neutral way, not exploited to make rhetorical points.