Rep. Walsh admits to going ‘over the line’

Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), who appeared to snap at constituents over the weekend, admitted to going “over the line” but blamed too much coffee and too little food for making him more “enthusiastic” than usual.

“I made the mistake of doing this on an empty stomach and with a little too much coffee,” Walsh told Fox News on Wednesday, explaining it got him “a little too fired up.”

{mosads}Walsh is known for being a feisty freshman, but on Sunday during a regular meeting with constituents in his district, he was taped yelling in response to questions. 

“Don’t blame banks and don’t blame the marketplace for the mess we’re in right now,” he said, among other things. “I am tired of hearing that crap.”

Walsh’s Democratic opponents are not likely to give Walsh a pass. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said Thursday on MSNBC that it was an example of “the Tea Party unhinged.”

Wasserman Schultz slammed Walsh for a lack of experience but egged him on, saying Walsh was helping the Democratic Party.

“I’ve been in office 19 years; plenty of people show up to my town halls who don’t agree iwth me. I don’t rip their heads off,” Wasserman Schultz said. “It shows a lack of respect.”

Walsh admitted he was “a little too wound up” at the event, but added that by the end of the event he was “laughing” with constituents with whom he’d “tussled.”

“I guess this was just a nerve that was pushed in me, that the private sector has caused this mess we’re in. I just see everybody creeping back into wanting more regulation. And that just sort of sets me off,” he said.