Reginald Denny unavailable for comment...

"The Tea Party emerges as not only outrageous, but they have turned up the volume in ways that even Code Pink have not been able to do," Rep. Maxine Waters said the other day on MSNBC. A video (warning: some adult language) from Breitbart.tvhas been making the rounds interspersing quotes from that MSNBC interview with clips from a 2007 "antiwar" rally where Waters fulminated about then-President Bush and other members of his administration.

The Breitbart video very effectively makes the case that Waters is guilty of hypocrisy. Her behavior at the rally is at least as unattractive as her description of the tea partiers' conduct. On the other hand, so what? When has a politician ever complained about the other side's incivility without being guilty of hypocrisy?

But a look further back into Waters's history reveals her hypocrisy to be far worse than is typical. The last time America experienced political mob violence--the Los Angeles riots of 1992--Waters was there offering excuses and justifications.

Maxine Waters was a freshman representative from California's 29th Congressional District (now the 35th), which covers areas of southern Los Angeles where the rioting was centered. Her own district office was burned to the ground. She quickly emerged as an advocate on behalf of the rioters.

"I accept the responsibility of asking people not to endanger their lives," the Associated Press quoted her as saying on April 30. "I'm not asking people not to be angry. . . . I have a right to be angry."

The same day, in an interview with Katie Couric on NBC's "Today" show, she described the rioting as "a spontaneous reaction to inequality and injustice." She added: "I am extremely . . . angry, and I have no problems with saying that. You know, there comes a time when it's all right to be angry, when it's all right to say this is absolutely unbelievable. That's how I feel. And I'm sure that the people that you see, no matter what you think about what they're doing, and no matter how we would not like to see that kind of violence, you can understand the anger."