Greg Sargent reminds us of the exact words used by Eric Cantor earlier today when he claimed his office had been the target of a shooting incident:
"Just recently I have been directly threatened. A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week."
Compare what Cantor claimed happened to this statement (also posted by Greg) from the Richmond Police Department:
The Richmond Police Department is investigating an act of vandalism at the Reagan Building, 25 E. Main St., Richmond, Virginia. A first floor window was struck by a bullet at approximately 1 a.m. on Tuesday, March 23. The building, which has several tenants including an office used by Congressman Eric Cantor, was unoccupied at the time.
A Richmond Police detective was assigned to the case. A preliminary investigation shows that a bullet was fired into the air and struck the window in a downward direction, landing on the floor about a foot from the window. The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds. There was no other damage to the room, which is used occasionally for meetings by the congressman.
The Richmond Police Department is sharing information about the incident with appropriate law enforcement agencies.
At this time there are no suspects.
It's clear from the Richmond police statement that Cantor's office was not directly targeted. Rather, an office that he has used in the past (but not his main campaign office) was randomly struck by a bullet that had been fired into the sky.
I'm not minimizing the dangers of randomly shooting bullets into the air, but for Eric Cantor to describe this as an attack targeting his campaign office is supremely dishonest, an obvious attempt to deflect attention from Republican Party's violent and extreme rhetoric in recent days.
Next thing you know, Cantor will be claiming a backwards B was carved in his face.
