I'm tired of arguing about objective reality with conservative Republicans. One blizzard and they crow they've debunked climate change (Enjoying your summer Sean and Rush?). With straight faces they claim that financial regulation will actually cause more misery than the rapacious larceny they oversaw. Tax cuts to the rich actually decrease the deficit. Pork crackling actually lowers your cholesterol.
And now they're trying to claim that racists in the Tea Party movement are just a few bad apples (if by a few they mean not only now former Tea Party Express spokesman Mark Williams but also former national coordinator of the Tea Party movement Amy Kremer and the dozens and dozens of well-photographed knuckleheads hoisting offensive and often misspelled placards).
But hey, I'm black. I'm especially sensitive when white people affect an antebellum Negro dialect or depict any guy who vaguely looks like me with a bone in his nose. Maybe the Tea Party's problems aren't systemic. Oh, but wait, remember that poll from The New York Times last April?
"More than half [the surveyed tea partiers] say the policies of the administration favor the poor, and 25 percent think that the administration favors blacks over whites -- compared with 11 percent of the general public. They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people."
Of course not all Tea Partiers are racists. The Tea Party is a rich stew, a melting pot if you will. But it is undeniable that one of the dish's signature spices is an especially energized hatred of the president of the United States because of the color of his skin. Sure some of the same types of folks got out their pitch forks for Clinton and would go after any Democrat, but there is especially creative vitriol aimed at Obama and all of us, especially the non-racist leaders of the Tea Party and the Republican establishment, know exactly why.
Racists are a key, vocal and energized color in the spectrum of all tea partiers. They're like gay people to Democrats. Without them the Tea Party wouldn't have the vigor that it has had to date. That's why the leaders of it who aren't racists themselves and the self-serving politicians who kowtow to them have shrugged off the posters of the leader of the free world eating watermelon.
Look, Republican race-bating isn't new. And neither is their claiming that they have no idea what you're talking about. If it weren't for their vile southern strategy they'd barely have any strategy at all.
The GOP's advice to it's Tea Party little brother reminds me of the protagonist of Shaggy's classic, "It Wasn't Me." Even though his friend's caught redhanded with another woman, Shaggy's advice is to ignore all observable reality and just keep repeating to his irate wife, "Wasn't me."
"But she caught me on the counter (It wasn't me)
Saw me bangin' on the sofa (It wasn't me)
I even had her in the shower (It wasn't me)
She even caught me on camera (It wasn't me)"
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Racists are a key, vocal and energized color in the spectrum of all tea partiers. They're like gay people to Democrats. Without them the Tea Party wouldn't have the vigor that it has had to date.
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I have to confess, this sentence pushes something so far that I can't determine if it is offensive or hilarious. Hilensive? Offarious?
If your typical racist ( who is unlikely to tolerate homosexuality either ) were to read it would he be more or less offended by the comparison than your typical LGBT would be offended to be compared to a hater? If I ever need a sentence to piss off both groups at the same time I now have it.
( hey, getting two angry parties mad at me instead of each other gives them a common ground, this could legitimately be useful )
Do they actually have an organization with elected officers and dues paying members?
We do have some organizations that are racist in the US. Even to the point they believe certain people should be killed and their children as well.
So how exactly do we criticize a non existent party and say they are for or against anything based on their membership. In reality there are no members because there is no such organization. Just a bunch of people fed up with the status quo.
Should the tea partiers actually become a political organization what group of people would benefit the most. Hint the republicans would be siphoned off into the party yet the republican party would still stand
To answer your question "How can we say just who is in the tea party and what they believe?": We have these things called "cameras". These "cameras" take pictures of real things and people. When they bring these "cameras" show up at Tea Party rallies, the things and people they find to take pictures of, are usually white people with often-misspelled racist signes, moaning about the glory days when the president was white, or portraying our first black president as a witch-doctor. When these "cameras" find Tea Party people who are not stupid, they employ code-language such as "states-rights", much as they did during the 60's. But people who aren't desperately trying to convince themselves that there is no such thing as racism, can see pretty clearly who is in the Tea Party, and what they believe.
Far rather a bone through my nose.
Thank you Mr Trey Ellis for your accurate and factual article!