Today, on the eve of historic health care reform, something truly shocking happened on Capitol Hill. Tea Party protestors shouted "ni**er" at a black congressman who was a Civil Rights hero, spit in the face of another black congressman and called a gay congressman "f*****," prompting laughter and cheers from the crowd. This happened several hours ago and was posted here almost immediately. Not one single right-leaning poster has expressed the least bit of disapproval or disappointment at the incidents. What the ****, you guys? I made this thread for you. Post here to register your disapproval and disappointment of these heinous acts committed in your name.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...-frank-ft-at-capitol-hill-protest.php?ref=fpb Tea Partiers Call Lewis 'N****r', Frank 'F****t', At Capitol Hill Protest Brian Beutler | March 20, 2010, 5:41PM Tea partiers and other anti-health care activists are known to get rowdy, but today's protest on Capitol Hill--the day before the House is set to vote on historic health care legislation--went beyond the usual chanting and controversial signs, and veered into ugly bigotry and intimidation. Civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and fellow Congressional Black Caucus member Andre Carson (D-IN) related a particularly jarring encounter with a large crowd of protesters screaming "kill the bill"... and punctuating their chants with the word "******." Standing next to Lewis, emerging from a Democratic caucus meeting with President Obama, Carson said people in the crowd yelled, "kill the bill and then the N-word" several times, while he and Lewis were exiting the Cannon House office building. "People have been just downright mean," Lewis added. And that wasn't an isolated incident. Early this afternoon, standing outside a Democratic whip meeting in the Longworth House office building, I watched Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) make his way out the door, en route to the neighboring Rayburn building. As he rounded the corner toward the exit, wading through a huge crowd of tea partiers and other health care protesters, an elderly white man screamed "Barney, you f*****"--a line that caused dozens of his confederates to erupt in laughter. After that incident, Capitol police threatened to expel the protesters from the building, but were outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed. Tea party protesters equipped with high-end video cameras were summoned to film the encounter and the officers ultimately relented. After the caucus meeting, TPMDC's Evan McMorris-Santoro caught up with Frank, who reflected on the incident. "I'm disappointed at a unwillingness to be just civil," Frank said. "[T]he objection to the health care bill has become a proxy for other sentiments." "Obviously there are perfectly reasonable people that are against this, but the people out there today on the whole--many of them were hateful and abusive," Frank added. Asked by TPMDC whether today's protesters were more hateful than at other rallies, Frank took issue with party leaders for aligning themselves with the movement. "I do think the leaders of the movement, and this was true of some of the Republicans last year, that they think they are benefiting from this rancor. I mean there are a couple who--you know, Michele Bachmann's rhetoric is inflamatory as well as wholly baseless. And I think there are people there, a few that encourage it. "If this was my cause, and I saw this angry group yelling and shouting and being so abusive to people, I would ask them to please stop it," Frank concluded. "I think they do more harm than good." Shortly thereafter, the same group of people surrounded Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) as he entered a first-floor elevator. Above the cacophony, I heard one man call Waxman a "crook" and a "liar." "This is incredible," House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) told reporters of the slurs. "It's shocking to me." He said he hadn't heard such vitriol since March 15, 1960 when he was protesting segregation laws that forced him to sit in the back of buses. "A lot of us have been saying for a long time that much of this, much of this, is not about health care at all," Clyburn said. "I think a lot of those people today demonstrated this is not about health care." What is it about, a reporter asked? "It's about trying to extend a basic fundamental right to people who are less powerful."
^ It doesn't make you angry when people call black people "ni**ers" or gay people "faggots?" That's weird.
normal conservatives will of course wouldnt condone that. but the teaparty people obviously have a little inbreeding going on. and are overall not the smartest group in the world.
It really is sickening. It does not matter which side of the isle you stand on.....there is no place for this type of hostility and anger. I highly doubt the Republicans will say anything about this......a majority have stayed away from the whole tea-party movement (who can blame them). I doubt Bachman/Beck/Palin will step in to quiet the masses.........they instigate this mess knowing these nut jobs pay their salary.
Since the Tea Party is a fringe group of conservatives and not the Republican Party, I did not feel the need to police "my own" since they are not my own as I am not a member of the Tea Party.
Why is it that only people on the left seem bothered by this? It's 2010. I thought we were past this kind of stuff.
Sad, but not unexpected. Speaking of sad, this thread is the closest thing I've seen to Trader_Jorge or bigtexxx posting in a long time. Very much their style. 1) Blaming an entire party for the actions of a handful of anonymous people 2) Shoving guilt by association onto conservative posters here 3) Assuming that conservative posters' silence implies approval or consent (if that is the case, then hell, everyone is guilty) BMJ, I know you believe strongly in your convictions and that is fine, but the premise of this thread is fail and makes you and those convictions the worse for it.
So national parties and/or figures need to "step up" to apologize for a few idiots who spout filth? Really? Gotta spread rep before giving it to Donny again.
Well, I have to say I strongly disagree. The Republican Party and its leadership has spent the last year or more working its constituents into a lather over HCR, virtually creating the tea party in the process, almost entirely with incendiary lies and half-truths. And they have welcomed and capitalized upon that anger. They certainly own some responsibility for it. Much worse than the fact that no righties have denounced it here though is the fact that not a single elected Republican said boo about such horrible and well-publicized acts of bigotry from their own side. Tea partiers might not all be registered Republicans, but they certainly share common cause. Guilt by association is, in this case, entirely appropriate. Also, you've developed a taste for thread policing lately that is no more attractive to me than my posting style is to you. I find it pretty annoying actually. So I guess we're even.
OF COURSE I am bothered by it. Most people, regardless of political affiliation are. I choose not to opine on it because I cannot articulate anything other than "wow, that was wrong" and shaking my head at the wingnuts. I simply do not know what to do about it other than arrest anybody that actually spat on somebody for assault. As for epithets, while shameful, aren't illegal. I just do not know what should be done about it. I would love for the Tea Party organizers and their messiah, Sarah Palin to denounce this behavior. They won't, but they should. The Tea Party comprises a small percentage of conservatives in this country. They are a splinter group. They no more represent all conservatives than the Moonies represent all of world religion.
First, I said the Republican Party has......for the most part.....stayed above the fray. (Which is smart and pretty much absolves them from this issue). Second, the figureheads that I named....that attended the 'tea party convention'.....spoke at the convention and fueled the fire of these people need to speak up. It is one thing to be angry.....another to push it to this level. So in other words, your damn right Palin/Bachman/Beck need to calm the rhetoric a notch. Third. You really think this is 'a few idiots'? Ever go to youtube and type in tea party rally? This is not a few hundred throwing slurs. This is the buildup of the same jackasses that hung a paper machete look-alike of our president at a rally.....had signs comparing him to Hitler/Stalin etc. This movement is 10's of thousands deep. If not more. I think the Repubs are in the clear on this for the most part. Not too many side with these people. But a certain few that are the 'talking heads' in the media need to confront this.
Of course it is detestable, but your attempt to lay it at the feet of Republicans en toto is inappropriate. Should we blame you for bad community theatre in Warsaw, Indiana?
Terrible analogy, but I think you know that. As per DaleDoback's post, while I don't lay any of the hateful nonsense at the feet of most conservative posters here, the beck/limbaugh/bachman/palin crowd has a bigtime responsibility for the shameful display. They stoke the worst in the their followers for their own gain, period. Bachman's crazy, but the other three aren't so I don't understand how any decency in their hearts lives on -- I doubt it does. So to return to your analogy. If Batman was known to post here defending some of the ideas of a vocal and sometimes racist movement that supports bad white-only community theater nation wide, then yeah, we could call him out for bad white-only community theatre in Warsaw, Indiana that expressly sprang from that movement.
Batman I personally think that the people who said this are despicable hateful people. There are bad actors on both sides of the political spectrum but people like this are ridiculous. When people resort to this kind of crap it really hurts the platform they they pose to represent and unfortunately these few idiots end making an entire movement look bad. There are a lot of people who oppose this bill for various reasons. The people who are against it should let their positions speak for itself.
I don't know that and I think it is a fine analogy. I can no longer control what some individual numbnut does at a Tea Party event four states away than Batman can improve someone's theatrical performance four states away-- maybe one that he is not even aware of...
I actually don't agree with the overall premise of this thread, okay? But it is a terrible analogy. Not to call you out, giddy, but you've been one to chime in with "Well, if you listen to Rush carefully...," or "he's an entertainer and...," or "is what he's saying really racist?" (not exact quotes at all but the spirit, according to my memory). Batman has never come to the defense of a movement that promotes bad community theatre (that I know of). So NO, you have NO control over numbnuts hurling insults in DC. But neither have you ever admitted (that I know of) that Limbaugh/Beck/Bachman/Palin overdrive is obviously a big part of the growing anger in the world of numbnutia.
I have a hard time believing the N word one. Can anyone vouch for that other than the one politician who said it was directed at him? As what was said about Frank, pretty crappy. He'll get the last laugh when he gets to pass the bill that the individual is so angry about. What do you mean by police your own though?
I don't understand, Thumbs made it perfectly clear that the tea partiers were just a bunch of well-intentioned non-partisan "good" guys. I'm just shocked I tell you that he was lying. Shocked.
