As a keynote speaker at a conference on homelessness last July, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker urged advocates to press Congress to address the problem.

"That's my call to action here," Booker, D-N.J., told the audience at the annual lobby day of the National Alliance on Ending Homelessness' annual lobby day. "Please don't just come here today and then go home. Go to the Hill today. Please get up in the face of some congresspeople and tell them, 'Look, I'm advocating for some easy stuff.'"

Now the wife of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who has worked closely with Booker on criminal justice issues in an unusual pairing, is claiming the Democrat's call to lobby against homelessness caused opponents of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to go after GOP senators.

"Earlier this week, Rand was besieged in the airport by activists 'getting up in his face,' as you, Senator Booker, encouraged them to do a few months ago," wrote Kelley Paul said in an "open letter" to Booker posted on CNN's website.

"If you listen to more than the deceptively-edited 18-second clip of the speech Ms. Paul references, Senator Booker's enduring commitment to decency is clear," Booker spokesman Jeff Gietz said. "To think Senator Booker is somehow urging violent confrontation with these words requires you to ignore all context."

In the speech, Booker clearly was talking about the need to push Congress to end homelessness and how it cost taxpayers more to have a family on the street than in an apartment.

"It is expensive to be homeless," Booker told the group. "We have this nation that seems to want to pay more on the back end of problems, than making smart investments on the front end."

The confrontation with Paul came at a Washington-area airport by Kavanaugh opponents. The Center for Popular Democracy released a video of the event, which featured women who said they were sexually assaulted.

A letter from my wife, @KelleyAshbyPaul “My husband, Rand Paul, and our family have suffered intimidation and threats...@CNN https://t.co/qQZn0nQB5y — Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) October 4, 2018

"Preventing someone from moving forward, thrusting your middle finger in their face, screaming vitriol -- is this the way to express concern or enact change?" Kelley Paul wrote. "Or does it only incite unstable people to violence, making them feel that assaulting a person is somehow politically justifiable?"

She also said that someone posted the Pauls' home address on the Internet and local police have increased patrols, which she also blamed on Booker.

"I would call on you to retract your statement," she wrote. "I would call on you to condemn violence, the leaking of elected officials' personal addresses (our address was leaked from a Senate directory given only to senators), and the intimidation and threats that are being hurled at them and their families."

Such is life in today's "hyperpartisan, supercharged environment," said Tobe Berkovitz, a professor of advertising at Boston University and an expert on political communication.

"Everybody takes everything out of context and uses the snippet the way and how they want," Berkovitz said.

Senator Paul is not the only Republican to be confronted by activists opposed to Kavanaugh and other GOP policies.

Others, including White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, recently have been harassed at restaurants.

Booker last month acknowledged that his earlier statement calling supporters of Kavanaugh "complicit in evil" may have been over the top.

"I know that I have not been as precise and allowed my comments to be mischaracterized," he said. "I don't blame those people mischaracterizing my comments. I take responsibility and have learned to be more precise."

In this case, Giertz said Booker was following the path trod by the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Giertz quoted Booker as referencing King this summer when the senator said, "You should confront injustice but while "recognizing the dignity of even those who you oppose."

"Violence against anyone because of their political beliefs is unquestionably wrong and deserves condemnation," Giertz said. "Senator Booker wishes both Senator and Ms. Paul well and looks forward to continuing their important work together."

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.