and that is one of my primary points: though I'm not one, the tea partiers are people like you and me who have no leverage over what anyone else does. Frankly, I doubt that you or I know what some TP afficionados are doing to improve their public perception. What are you doing to prevent other teachers from abusing their teaching contract like "Crash the Tea Party" did? Nothing? Why not?
What am I doing? I'm electing union leaders who will help to make sure members follow the rules. I don't need to do more because action is being taken. The tea baggers have made other efforts of theirs known. They haven't made anything known about trying to get of racists. They have made it known that they are trying to deny the racism. The tea baggers do have leverage. They can make it plain they don't approve of the racism. So far they haven't done that. I've made it plain I don't approve of teachers using resources and time of the school's for their own political agendas. The schools have also made that plain. Again action was actually taken in that case. The tea parties have taken no action, none, zero to address their problems. Why don't you quit making excuses for them?
I seriously doubt you even thought of this issue regarding teachers until I brought it up.... How long have the teacher's unions been around? They are more about protecting teachers' rights and getting more for teachers than they are about keeping teachers on task. Get real.... yourself! Are you saying that all tea baggers have not expressed a disapproval of racism? What action should they take over another over whom they have no control? You are setting up a lose-lose expectation.... which is delightful to your intent.
Next time you are in a teacher's union let me know. The teacher's union I'm part of does both. They protect teachers and work to ensure the work force is at it's best. The union here even proposed standards that teachers have to follow and can be evaluated on. All I'm doing is stating the known facts. The tea party groups have organized for several things. They haven't organized or come out in opposition to the racism within the group in any meaningful or public way. If you have proof that shows something different please provide it. There are a number of actions they could take to rid their groups of racism. The next time they send e-mails and organizational materials for the next rally or function they could state that racism, racist signs, and racist behavior will not be welcome or tolerated. Instead of forming a Tea Party Federation to spin a public image after having yelled racial slurs, the Federation could actually work on making sure racism should not be a part of any tea party gatherings. When they are doing one of their many TV appearances they could discuss it. They could not endorse racist candidates and once a candidate that they did endorse is shown to be racist they could publicly withdraw their support. So far they haven't. They could not invite speakers to give racist speeches. When speakers do, they could publicly denounce those speeches instead of saying that the speaker is a "great politician". Those are a number of things that could be done. So far they have done none of them. I would love to be wrong. If I am, please show me some of what they are doing. Otherwise you should admit that they either approve of the racism, or don't care enough to try and do anything to stop it.
A black tea partier in MD: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35697.html Endorsing a Democratic candidate: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/04/16/1154934/do-tea-partyers-really-want-rep.html Not much racism here: http://taxdayteaparty.com/2010/01/adam-kinzinger-a-tea-party-candidate-for-illinois/ Here are the chief criteria sought in this version of tea party candidates: -Aligned with the basic principles of liberty -Feel that states should trump the fed in power -Believe that liberty should come first and foremost in any political decision -Are not a part of the old establishment -Would represent Americans well in Congress -Have a very decent chance of winning -Are running against incumbents who clearly do not place liberty first Irritating the Republicans in Ohio: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100419/NEWS0108/4180395/Tea+party+activists+call+foul+on+GOP
What does any of this have to do with the tea party taking a stand against the racism within the tea party's ranks? You keep showing that they aren't all racists. Nobody is arguing that they are.
Ever heard the expression, "herding cats?" You keep asking for something that doesn't exist-- not because of a lack of concern-- but due to a lack of authority and opportunity. Even the teacher's union failed in it's mission to keep the tea party crasher under control and the school district for which he worked failed to stop him until well after the abuse seems to have gone on for quite a while...
Giddy you keep using the lack of central authority or organization to excuse the racism. Shame on you. I've pointed out that lack of central organization and authority did not prevent them from organizing for other purposes. The one purpose they haven't organized for has been to weed out the racism. Again with the teacher thing, that is a weak point. Someone borke the standards of acceptability, was got, and action was taken. That is not at all what happened with the tea party. I'm not saying they can be 100% successful in getting rid of racists. I am saying they could at least try. The more you keep trying to bring up the teacher the more lame the tea baggers look for not doing anything while the schools did indeed do something about the problem at hand.
Wasn't this whole ridiculous argument about your double-standard of expecting Muslims to "herd cats" aka radical Muslims who engage in terrorism? Kind of like how Christians were able to stop that guy from shooting that doctor in his church................
My dad forwards many of these to me daily. A bunch of my Socialist America hating friends and I are going to perform some of them in May at the Houston Fringe Festival.
1. I didn't say it excused the racism. I said there is no controlling authority over the racism. 2. Our teacher friend had a contract which had clauses which were enforceable. No such thing exists for these tea partiers on the lawns and the street corners and the town halls. That was not a weak example; it proved that **** happens... even when there are tried and true safeguards. 3. I'm saying that they are trying but you will only be satisfied by some clumsy, overt effort which will then be interpreted as admitting to a tea party wide problem which I think is not accurate and is very undesirable for them. 4. The teachers' unions have had multiple decades to anticipate problems and set up systems to deal with them as they arose. Quite the opposite, you just look unreasonable and demanding for putting the same expectation on a fleldgling, far-flung organization like tea parties.
The herding cats image was offered up to describe tea parties not Muslim terrorists, but the description is somewhat pertinent to them. Most domestic, Muslim radicals have been shown to have ties to local, radical mosques that are well-known. That's where and why there is a demand for Muslims to "control their own." I'm much more concerned about people who intend to kill innocents than I am about someone who caves in to name-calling when they get angry, aren't you?
Most tea bagger racists have ties to one of the local tea party chapters. In addition individual groups of tea party chapters have been known to organize together if they feel something is important enough. That's why there's a call for them to at least make an effort to stop the racism.
Eleventy-billion negative reps to FranchiseBlade for continuing to pollute the internets with posts in this thread.
3. You are saying they are trying, but have not shown one example of them trying to rid themselves of the racists. You saying they are trying is nothing more than you making the claim. I have seen nothing. A publicized effort wouldn't admit that it's a universal tea party problem, but it would show they are serious rather than a mob.
I know it won't satisfy you, but here goes: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/04/...rs-surprised-to-find-theyre-not-really-black/
