The Racist Tea Party

Pretty much, yeah. If Obama was a white guy who spent part of his younger years in England or somewhere like that no way this birth certificate bullshit would still be being talked about, if it had ever been in the first place.

[O]nce we dismiss the ridiculous and contradictory political positions as merely cosmetic horseshit, all that’s left is white conservative fear of a brown president and a browning nation.

Let me preface this by saying that it’s absurd to deny the racism inherent in that image. It’s absurd to deny that there are racists in the TP.However, I still think that race is a secondary consideration; seasoning for the stew, where the stew is a more generalized hatred and fear of Democrats, “liberals,” “the Left,” and anyone else who doesn’t swallow the GOP/RW/TP/FNC/Cato/Heritage propaganda narrative whole.The “birther” bullshit, and the undeniable racism that accompanies same, is a means to an end; an arrow in the quiver, a way of justifying and validating the broader hate/fear they’ve been conditioned to feel with respect to non-Republicans and non-Republican constituencies. To use a somewhat clumsy analogy, Red Sox fans don’t hate Derek Jeter because he, like Obama, is half-black, and they don’t hate him because they’re racists. They hate him because he’s a Yankee.The GOP/RW/TP/FNC cohort has been programmed to hate Democrats for a long time, and even more intensely so since 2000. The race/birth issue just gives that hate its own unique flavor.As I said before, it’s true that they would not be questioning the birthplace of a white Democrat named Dave Smith, a black Democrat named Dave Smith, or a black Republican named Raheem Mustafa. There’s no question that race is a factor. I just don’t think it’s the primary motivator; I don’t think it’s the but-for cause of this over-the-top rhetorical awfulness we’ve been hearing and seeing since 2008.

@GrafZ I don’t necessarily disagree but I think it still helps to point it out. Independents and Tea Party Members who aren’t prejudiced who see this will be repulsed. I don’t think it’s wrong to point out the racism. Your argument is a lot more subtle and quite frankly too much for most Americans to absorb.

And Marilyn’s response?

Oh, come on! Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a racist. It was a joke. I have friends who are black. Besides, I only sent it to a few people–mostly people I didn’t think would be upset by it.

This shit writes itself.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/16/marilyn-davenports-racist_n_850063.html

I disagree. I think the racism is the first and foremost and the fear of liberals, Democrats, etc is secondary.

@Diane,I might think so if I had any reason to believe we wouldn’t be subjected to some variety of rhetorical awfulness of equal degree but a different nature, if a Hillary Clinton, a John Edwards, a John Kerry or an Al Gore was POTUS.The GOP/RW/TP/FNC cohort’s hatred of Democrats and whomever they consider to be “liberals” or “the Left” is so grotesquely out of proportion to what any real Democrat or “liberal” has ever actually done, said, proposed, thought, believed or wanted, that they don’t even know or understand what actual Democrats and actual “liberals” actually do, say, propose, think, believe and want. The entire GOP/RW/TP/FNC worldview [G-d I hate that word, but I can't think of a better one to use here] completely collapses if you so much as allow for the possibility that Democrats and “liberals” are basically decent people with good intentions.In short, I’d believe that racism was first and “Democrat-ism” second if I thought they wouldn’t hate and rhetorically assault, with equal intensity, a white Democrat with an Anglo-Saxon name.

How was it that wrote an article portraying Bush as a Chimp? Freakin’ hypocrite.

once we dismiss the ridiculous and contradictory political positions as merely cosmetic horseshit, all that’s left is white conservative fear of a brown president and a browning nation.

Nailed it, Bob.Lenny C…….last time I looked, Bush was white.

@LennyC Ummmm, Bush is white so using a chimp was meant to show he was stupid. There’s nothing racist about that. However the use of apes, monkeys, etc. has ALWAYS been used in caricatures of blacks as a racial insult. Combine that with the actual picture above that implies his parents were chimps, then you have an obviously racist image. Get a clue if you are going to post here, otherwise go back to the land of the clueless.

Not sure but it may be a chicken/egg thing. Remember, the right savaged Hillary Clinton for the better part of 2 decades. Only when presented with the choice of a Woman or a Black President did they decide that maybe Hillary wasn’t so bad after all. So while they right is, I think, programmed to hate (not just disagree with, but actually violently HATE) liberals, add a black man to the mix and they simply boil over into irrational (well, MORE irrational) freaks.Interesting that one of their assaults on President Obama is to call him ‘Barry’, a decidedly Anglo-Saxon name. I think it’s as close to ‘Boy’ as some of them are willing to go, but every time I see Barry I read ‘Boy.’

@DianeTotally agree.more proof from Madison

I tried very hard to be objective and not assume race has been the issue behind all this birther madness/Tea Party bullshit. I listened to the wackadoodle arguments of the birthers and came to the conclusion they are just fucking batshit crazy. Listened to the Teaparty folks, and realize that they are just slightly less batshit crazy with all their moronic rhetoric. I refuse to paint all Republicans and Teapartiers as racist; however, I do strongly believe that there is a racist element that has attached itself to the organization. I think to a certain degree the racist element is accepted and only chastised when emails, memos and other items are bought to the light. That is why you hear the bullshit excuses, that the media is blowing things way out of proportion.We would not be seeing this level of insanity if the President name was Thurston Howell 3rd, and he spent his summers as a youth backpacking in Europe.

Oops, let’s try this againmore proof from Madison

@Davidgs “Barry > Boy”Totally agree. It is also what I hear.

The Tea Party is a movement that supports and defends Mankind’s single greatest attempt at Human Rights, the United States and her founding documents.The Republican Party is the only of our two major parties to ever have done likewise. However, one of the reasons why our nation is in such deep distress is that the Republican Party ceased to represent those principles a generation ago and part of what the Tea Party is about is invading, seizing control of and banishing from the Grand Old Party of Lincoln and Reagan those who have betrayed and are betraying their sacred duty and using the party again as the tool for right that it was founded to beMark Williams, Former Chairman The Tea Party ExpressRead more about the Tea Party here: http://tinyurl.com/62x5l4cRead about our designs on the GOP here: http://www.marktalk.com/2011/03/27/tea-party-must-take-over-gop/http://www.marktalk.com/2011/03/30/dem-leaders-its-the-tea-partys-fault-tea-party-yeah-so-whats-your-point/

The Republican Party is the only of our two major parties to ever have done likewise.

False. But we all know that.

Mark Williams in the house ladies and gents.H/T Google Alert

^^^^ (@Williams)bullshit.

And who uses the tired old line “I have black friends” in this day and age unless they are spectacularly stupid.

The Tea Party caucus in Congress is getting a lot of credit for doing what I believe most Conservatives saw the role of the Tea Party to be – grappling with over-sized government and nipping at the heals of other less enthusiastic Rupublicans.You can rail all you want about a few racist idiots here and there who have attached themselves to the movement, but the real action is what’s happening in Congress. Don’t miss that point. Right now the Republicans have the Democrats by the balls in that they are the only ones at least making overt challenges to Washington’s profligacy, and they’re doing a great job of letting the country know.Today S&P announced that the US’s debt rating, while still AAA, could over the next couple years be reduced if our so-called leaders don’t get serious before the 2012 elections and do something about spending. The “Tea Party” candidates such as Alan West believe they were elected specifically to reduce the size of government before it is too late.

One thing the TP has yet to explain is why it would be a good idea to have “small government” (whatever that means; I don’t think even they know) in a big country. Why it would be a good idea to reduce the federal government to what it was 220 years ago when we had 13 states, fewer than 4 million people, no electricity, no cars, no telecommunications, practically no long-distance transportation, no heavy industry, minimal international relations, etc.? Government has grown along with the country, its needs, and its place in the broader world. Why should we arbitrarily make “government” “smaller” when everything else about the country is getting bigger?Forget the specifics of what they want to cut. I’ll start taking the TP’s “small government” meme seriously when they start answering these questions, and start acknowledging some of the risks and inevitable negative consequences of arbitrarily making “government” “smaller.”

GZ, that’s gold! Gold!By their reasoning, the military should be content with flintlock smoothbores. Good enough for the Founders!Chris

@GrafZ I think that (some… many?) Republicans hate Democrats because Democrats are generally perceived to be the party of blacks and other people of color. It’s racism, plain and simple.

I’m sorry Graf, but you’re going a hell of a long way to explain away the racism that IS behind this birther nonsense.

@Williams”The Tea Party is a movement that supports and defends Mankind’s single greatest attempt at Human Rights, the United States and her founding documents.”That’s subjective and a lie and a terrible way to rewrite reality.When I think about “separation of church and state,” or Article 1 Section 8, or the actual Boston Tea Party, or Democracy, I don’t think of today’s Tea Party at all and it’s not my fault.Our country, our founding documents, are evolving. The constitution is a living document! When was the last time a Tea Party leader acknowledged that? In fact, you’re programmed to disagree with very little force of logic and it’s not a matter of opinion, or dueling ideologies.You people are in direct defiance of reason and evolution– critical thinking– and you’re always getting caught up, making no apologies for faulty logic, and let’s not forget– you’re the same people who voted for George W. Bush twice!So don’t be giving out lectures on what real leadership looks like. You people have no idea.You’re liars and frauds and a little/lot psychotic.Deregulation and trickle down economics is a scam you’ve managed to sell like a monogrammed Bible to people who need to believe you’re all about the debt and the fallacy of smaller government.But The Tea Party is a re-brand, like New and Improved liquid soap for billionaires, masking the stench of ripened, ‘unlearned-crank’ at the heart of your down-punching bused-in “movement,” cleansing individual thought like market researched products of fear.And as far as the debt, we’re on about a 20 year payment plan, now. Like a home mortgage your deregulation sold in very fine print, then bundled, then resold enough times to crash the economy. Like a credit card tab with nothing to show for it but some war crimes, a handout to to drug companies, and unprecedented concentrated wealth dragging down the country like cement shoes in a Chris Christie torture-fantasy– All thanks to debunked part-time conservatives like yourself who have no idea what the founding documents imply, talking out of turn, while your idea of America is a place where freedom means slavery to the whims of back door religious decrees and the continuation of the concentrated wealth epidemic.Great place, asshole.

@Graf- The argument isn’t that government should be reduced to city council size. It’s that it’s too big, with bloated beauracracies, redundant, corrupt, wasteful of my tax dollars in so many ways, and so on. One can disagree, but that’s the argument.

@Squarepeg -I’m not “explaining away” anything. There’s a difference between explaining and “explaining away.”My only point is that racism validates the TP’s hatred of the President, it doesn’t inform it. They would hate him just as much, and subject the rest of us to equally-intense rhetorical awfulness, no matter what color he was. Racism only affects the nature of their rhetoric, not its degree, and is not the determining factor by which it exists at all.

The argument isn’t that government should be reduced to city council size. It’s that it’s too big, with bloated beauracracies, redundant, corrupt, wasteful of my tax dollars in so many ways, and so on.

Easy to say; harder to define, and impossible to measure. “Too big” is purely subjective and arbitrary, because it’s not grounded in any concrete concept of, inter alia what would be the proper “size” and why. “Bloated,” “corrupt” and “wasteful” are also subjective terms. As anyone who lives in New York state, particularly Long Island, can tell you, state and local governments can be just as, if not more, bloated, corrupt and wasteful. It’s too easy to just say that “the government” is bloated, corrupt and wasteful, let alone to say it only when one party and not the other holds the presidency.To the extent that I have heard specifics from TPers, they add up to a tiny, bare fraction of what the federal government does, and what it spends.I’m reminded of all those students of mine who were Yankees fans who told me, “The Mets suck!” but couldn’t name any of their players and didn’t know what an RBI was. Complaining that the government is “too big,” and that it’s “bloated, corrupt and wasteful” is far too easy; it requires no knowledge, no research, no actual understanding of what government does and why, let alone how it came to be the way it is across 220+ years of history. The so-called “growth” of government has not been arbitrary; it has been the result of history and the development of society demonstrating a need for it. The TP’s professed desire to make it “smaller,” on the other hand, is arbitrary. I will believe otherwise when I hear more than just vague, subjective rhetorical complaints.

A little off topic, but I find it hysterical that the bible-beating right wants less government, but they LOVE the fact that the government shut down online gambling. They love big government when it suits them, but they hate it to suit anyone else. They can fuck off and take their GOD damn bible bullshit and their “morals” with them.

@likalaThe Donald has “a great relationship with the blacks.”And he is “spectacularly stupid.” I love that phrase, especially when it’s applied to The Donald.

@outoflineRight on :>)As you may know, the Donald was in FL. Saturday at a tea party with none other than Allen West, you know the guy who got drummed out of the military for abusing an Iraqi detainee and firing a pistol near his head and who also proclaimed he has a higher security clearance than the POTUS. Now there’s “a black” he can have a great relationship with.

From the Williams comment above:

Mark Williams, Former Chairman The Tea Party Express

Former as in ‘got his ass fired’ for publishing the racist letter Bob linked to at the top.And even more spectacularly stupid is the fact the letter was in response to the tea party being called racist.LMAO

Oh c’mon Graf…..the Mets do suck.

@Alex:Well, yes, but that’s hardly the point, is it?

People like Marilyn and the other verbal gaffers in Orange County drift further from reality daily. In Costa Mesa, there’s a revolt against four city councilmen. The councilmen got “a taste of Wisconsin” and decided to cut half the city workforce. One worker jumped to his death the day that he received his notice. What did the Councilmen do? Party at one of their buddy’s Irish bars on St. Patrick’s Day!Demography and stupidity like this is going to come crashing down hard on the local GOP here, and they are going to flip the freak out.