Matt Yglesias

Apr 15th, 2009 at 4:55 pm

Racist Signs at Tea Parties

I mentioned this the other day, but one of the hallmarks of contemporary American conservatism is that while it’s no longer a white supremacist movement, it is a movement marked by a combination of tolerance for racism with massive oversensitivity about the idea that “PC” forces are stifling freedom. Thus it’s no surprise to me that Dave Weigel’s photo essay from today’s tea party included this sign:

3444736449_a55b5c6067.jpg

Meanwhile, on Fox News today I saw about a million hours of Tea Party coverage, plus a little coverage of Jamie Foxx allegedly making “racially charged” comments against white people, but nothing about racism at tea parties.

Filed under: Race, Tea Parties,





85 Responses to “Racist Signs at Tea Parties”

  1. MattYglesias Says:

    Everyone’s a racist except me.

  2. Steve Sailer Says:

    The horror, the horror!

  3. daveNYC Says:

    The plus side to blaming the Kenyans is that at least he’s not blaming the Jews. Yet.

  4. blah Says:

    I think the larger point is that the “In Living Color” reference is rather confusing and hardly makes whatever point the protestor apparently wants to make.

  5. Don't Taze me Bro Says:

    http://www.takimag.com/sniperstower/#3239

  6. Al Says:

    In Living Color was a racist show? Who knew!?

  7. DTM Says:

    It was actually really interesting to me how much Fox had to sanitize their coverage. Some of my favorites were the high but strangely tight shots, where you couldn’t read any of the signs but also couldn’t get any sense of the crowd size.

  8. linus Says:

    As it happens, opponents of abolitionism were among the first to appropriate tea party references in their rhetoric; James Austin (Massachusetts AG from 1832 to 1843) went so far as to liken the murderers of abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy to Tea Party patriots.

  9. Al Says:

    Meanwhile, one of the hallmarks of contemporary American liberalism is that while it’s no longer a white supremacist movement, it is a movement marked by race baiting, such as this post.

  10. JM Says:

    So the president is now “Homey”? How does that work?

    Also in the photo essay: “national socialism.” These rightards are stupid beyond words. They show up at the photo ops that their sugar daddies set up for them, and all they managed to do was to show their ass.

  11. DTM Says:

    In Living Color was a racist show? Who knew!?

    I’m looking forward to when Al’s brethren start lifting material from Chappelle’s Show.

  12. JM Says:

    Meanwhile, one of the hallmarks of contemporary American liberalism is that while it’s no longer a white supremacist movement, it is a movement marked by race baiting, such as this post.

    See what I mean?

  13. Pedro Says:

    The plus side to blaming the Kenyans is that at least he’s not blaming the Jews. Yet.

    Damn Kenyans are always winning marathons and stuff.

  14. tacitus Says:

    Tuned in to see Glenn Beck’s show — they’re working very hard to make this seem like a non-partisan event. Both he and Cavuto are emphasizing that they are protesting Bush and Obama, Democrats and Republicans.

    Given the difference in the booing and cheering as the names are called out, it’s obviously overwhelmingly right-wingers in the crowd, and it’s the Democrats and Obama they’re protesting.

    Glenn Beck called out Stephen Colbert at the start of the show. Something tells me that we’re going to hear more about Beck on the Colbert Report sometime this week.

  15. Rob Mac Says:

    I guess the racist part of this dude’s sign is the phrase “some Kenyan”? Surly no one’s objecting to the use of late 80s black slang that was long ago appropriated by whites.

    This is pretty weak. Obama is of Kenyan descent, so calling this racist is beyond a stretch.

    These tea-baggers are morons. They are extremists. They are paranoid nut jobs. We’ve got plenty of material to work with here. No need to go hunting for white hoods.

  16. Don't Taze Me Bro Says:

    As you can see from my link, liberal protesters are much more sophisticated.

  17. JM Says:

    Surly no one’s objecting to the use of late 80s black slang that was long ago appropriated by whites.

    There’s also the shoe-shine boy sign.

    And stop calling me Shirley.

  18. Rob Mac Says:

    Actually, I called you surly. Surely I meant to say “surely”.

  19. Bob Oso Says:

    Can’t wait for the tea-bagging film festival: Falling Down, Terminator, Romper Stomper and Gran Torino.

  20. Jim Says:

    These tea-baggers are morons. They are extremists. They are paranoid nut jobs. We’ve got plenty of material to work with here. No need to go hunting for white hoods.

    Eh. I think the photo MY uses is a pretty bad example of racism. But the underlying subtext is fairly clear, and one that is likely permeating much of the tea party movement. Right-wing “extremists” don’t exactly have a history as a post-racial group. Suffice it to say that if Hillary were president, and the same policies had been enacted, there would be no tea parties. I think that’s pretty clear, and should tell you the whole story about these guys and their overt and ulterior motives.

  21. El Cid Says:

    Hey, I heartily endorse the dwindling, Southern and Western led modern conservative movement’s increasing public appearance as a bunch of jackasses.

  22. Rob Mac Says:

    @Don’t taze me

    Yeah, and I think I saw Keith Olberman and Al Gore there in the front ranks at that protest, and I believe it was sponsored by Mother Jones and CAP. This is precisely equivalent to a rally sponsored by numerous conservative media outlets and think tanks that was attended by and promoted by major conservative political and media figures.

    There are nuts on both sides and you can go nutpicking all you want. But major figures on the left generally know not to egg on the nuttiest types on our side and don’t generally go in for these kinds of nut fests.

    If something like this had happened in 2002, you’d be one of the people shouting “Treason!” All we lefties do is roll our eyes.

  23. Dave L Says:

    Rob Mac, you can’t be serious. “Some Kenyan” – okay, if the intent isn’t racist, what would you call it? – Nativist? And the black slang, that’s in there by coincidence? Or is that – again, by coincidence – just how Kenyans talk?

    If your point is that it makes more sense to jump on the teabaggers for their other faults, okay. But the sign is all about racist contempt.

  24. Rob Mac Says:

    Suffice it to say that if Hillary were president, and the same policies had been enacted, there would be no tea parties.

    Yeah, Jim. The right just went sooo much easier on Bill Clinton in the 90s. Just a little bit of ongoing lawsuits and investigations culminating in impeachment all in an atmosphere of extreme right-wing paranoia (jack booted thugs and all that). And as for Hillary, all they did was routinely accuse her of murder. No big deal.

    Seriously, dude. There’s no way any of this would be any different were Hillary president. Quite possibly it would be worse. Racism is not the issue here.

  25. SurferBoy Says:

    Barack Obama may be partially of Kenyan descent but he’s not a Kenyan anymore than he’s Irish (funny he didn’t choose that side), he’s an American.

    You’re right that it wasn’t racist. Dude’s probably a birther instead.

  26. El Cid Says:

    Suffice it to say that if Hillary were president, and the same policies had been enacted, there would be no tea parties.

    Oh, yes there would have been. They would have reverted right back to the 1990s Hillary-black helicopter-UN-Socialism nonsense, and probably would have had pretty raw sexist crap along with Vince Foster murder and Arkansas mafia insanity.

  27. Max424 Says:

    You gotta give Beck credit. He’s a pro’s pro. Looking out over that small, lame, unenthusiastic crowd he has got to be devastated. But he is not showing it. He’s hanging in there and pretending great things are unfolding, like a poker player riding out a crazy bluff.

    What a disaster for FOX. The worst part for them is they have to spend the next week or so spinning this fiasco before than can let it fade away.

    I almost feel sorry for them. Almost.

  28. Rob Mac Says:

    Dave L, I think if this is your idea of racism then you’re setting the bar awfully low.

    The guy is president. There are people who are going to disagree with him very strongly and just have utter contempt for him. That’s a given for any president. You have to be a little more careful than this about saying that certain kinds of rhetoric are off the table for his critics. You have to allow his enemies certain avenues of mockery.

    We elected a black president. I think now we need to develop a little bit of a thicker skin when it comes to the kinds of rhetoric people want to use against him.

  29. Max424 Says:

    @26: The ever dangerous Arkansas mafia! I almost forgot about those folks.

  30. DTM Says:

    I think there is a strong undercurrent of racism among the Birthers, and I am fine with saying this dude confirmed that with his choice of pop culture references.

    But what I really would like to see is as much public debate as possible about the true nature of all the Birthers at the teabaggings. Preferably on Fox News. That would be fun.

  31. Tyro Says:

    You have to allow his enemies certain avenues of mockery.

    If only because it will, in this case, give everyone with families of recent immigrant extraction more reason to vote for Democrats.

    “Some Kenyan” ??? really?

  32. Josh Cooney Says:

    Yes, El Cid. The problem in our country is those dumb folks living in trailer parks, shanties, or some backcountry ranch. It has nothing to do with elitist northeastern financiers and yuppie suburbanites who suck dry the world’s natural resources while they reflect on their superiority on some blog. And don’t give me any nonsense about southern evangelicals. Yes, they are rather foolish, but only because they vote for Republicans, who since the days when they were Whigs, have been the ringleaders of the northeastern financial establishment. The Connecticut Yankee Bush family is the perfect example.

  33. Mixnerspotter Says:

    You’re not fooling anyone, “Josh Cooney.”

  34. Ryan Says:

    Obama is of Kenyan descent, so calling this racist is beyond a stretch.

    This comment is beyond idiotic.

    President Barack Obama is NOT, in fact, “some Kenyan”, as the sign alleges. He is no kind of Kenyan. He is an American. That is his country of birth and his citizenship.

    The only sense in which it is sort-of true that he is Kenyan is if you are talking about his (partial) African ANCESTRY. To disparage someone by reference to his or her African (or other) ancestry is, by definition, racist.

    Basically the sign sends four messages about Obama: 1) He’s foreign, 2) He’s an urban black person, 3) He’s destroying America, and 4) He deserves to be slapped down, put in his place. Three of those four things, in combination, absolutely scream racist contempt.

  35. Pete Says:

    Of course the whole “birther” crowd is motivated more than anything by racism. If Obama had been a white guy with, say, a BRITISH father, lived in Hong Kong for a few years, would we have this insane birther/Manchurian Candidate paranoia? Of course not. It’s also probably helpful to the birthers that Obama’s actual mother is long deceased.

    Conservatives have this tendency to demonize non-white,non-evangelical people as “others” who aren’t real Americans. That asshat Dan Kaplis on KHOW-AM in Denver spent damn near three straight months during the election asserting that because Obama lived overseas for a few years, that Obama not only couldn’t possibly understand American values, in fact Obama hated American values.

  36. Josh Cooney Says:

    Who am I trying to fool, “Mixnerspotter.” I assume you mean my identity.

    Joshua D. Cooney
    cooneyj@canisius.edu
    30 Burke Dr.
    Batavia, NY 14020
    585-356-8324

    I look forward to hearing from you.

  37. El Cid Says:

    Yes, El Cid. The problem in our country is those dumb folks living in trailer parks, shanties, or some backcountry ranch.

    As a rural Southerner born & bred, who grew up next to a tobacco farm, and drinking well water, I say the blame for the anti-Clintonoid idiocy of the 1990s had to do with the right wing shitbags and their billionaire who funded a decade’s worth of nonsense and even sedition.

    The neo-Confederate treason brigade of the Republican Party were the shock troops of the extreme pro-upper-class policies of looting and economic harm to the majority we’ve seen over the past 30 years. Of course, it was pretty easy for the 1970s corporate right to hire the Republican Party shock troops, especially Southern and Western pseudo-populist fakes, because they were cheap and easy purchases, like Ronald Reagan.

    True, many of my jackass neighbors shouldn’t have let themselves be so easily duped by liars such as the “Arkansas Project” and other nonsense, but I don’t need to be lectured by some big city Yankee foreigner on what us good folk Southerners oughtta think.

  38. Josh Cooney Says:

    “Big City Yankee?” Get out your map, hoss.

  39. El Cid Says:

    Your damn city’s got a for’n name, don’t it? And you was on the wrong side of the War of Northern Aggression, right? Big City Yankee it is.

  40. Pete Says:

    Josh: Publishing your address and phone number on a blog is pretty fucking stupid.

  41. Mike Says:

    Pete (#35), you don’t need a hypothetical example – you can just use John McCain. :) McCain wasn’t born on US soil, yet there wasn’t much outrage when the resolution was passed to declare him “natural born”. The resolution made perfect sense to me, but if that had been a black Democrat, I am just not so sure it would have passed so quietly.

  42. Josh Cooney Says:

    “The neo-Confederate treason brigade of the Republican Party were the shock troops of the extreme pro-upper-class policies of looting and economic harm to the majority we’ve seen over the past 30 years. Of course, it was pretty easy for the 1970s corporate right to hire the Republican Party shock troops, especially Southern and Western pseudo-populist fakes, because they were cheap and easy purchases, like Ronald Reagan.”

    Yes, they were dupes for going along with Reagan, but nobody in their right mind would confuse Wall Street or any “corporate right” with the populist South and West. And they certainly aren’t neo-confederates. Nope, Hamilton sold us out to the New York and Philadelphia bankers long ago.

  43. Josh Cooney Says:

    You got me there, El Cid. I can only hope my ancestors were Copperheads.

  44. Josh Cooney Says:

    Sorry, Pete.

    My brain turns mushy the longer I read the comments here.

  45. Josh Cooney Says:

    “to do with the right wing shitbags and their billionaire who funded a decade’s worth of nonsense and even sedition.”

    I’m pretty sure I said the same thing. With one exception: never confuse the “right,” or “conservatism” with the Republican party or Fox News. Get out your M.E. Bradford books I’m sure you got tucked away somewhere.

  46. El Cid Says:

    nobody in their right mind would confuse Wall Street or any “corporate right” with the populist South and West

    No, actually that’s a simple part of history. The U.S. corporate right spent quite a lot of money wooing the Southern Strategy Republicans and the ‘Sagebrush Rebels’ and Reaganites, and that’s why the most effective sellouts for corporate governance ever, fat Wall Street cats, were under the 3 Reaganite regimes: Reagan 1, Bush Sr., and Reagan II / Bush Jr.

    There was a lot of bullshit writing at the time about how some Sunbelt cowboys had upended the Eastern Establishment, and all the while the Eastern Establishment thoroughly penetrating that daring Reagan administration was laughing all the way to the bank.

    Fake Southern populists like Newt Gingrich and fake Western populists were among the most eager to help U.S. banksters deregulate the finance industry. Now, one may quibble on whether or not Phil Gramm was Southern or Western, but he spun his anti-gubmit rhetoric just as effectively.

    So, after Carter piddled a bit around the edges, Reagan pushed for the full monty deregulation of the Savings & Loan branch of our finance system, which went on a bubble heyday hiding loot in commercial real estate construction throughout the South and West, and then of course the entire pyramid collapsed and the taxpayer had to pick up the tab.

    Trust me, just like Dick Armey knows, it’s as easy as waking up in the morning to get a bunch of idiot populist right wingers to help you lobby for whatever pro-bankster / Wall Street / corporate money grab you wish.

  47. Josh Cooney Says:

    #46 I agree with everything you just said. But there is a difference between being dupes and being evil bastards like Yankee Bushes. Southern politicians certainly sold out the South, but I still don’t think it does any good, in fact it is harmful, to put a blanket condemnation on the South when, in fact, the realy scum are 6 hours away down the NYS Thruway.

  48. right Says:

    This is dumb. I remember watching the protest march outside Madison Square Garden during the 2004 RNC, and there were a lot of wackos chanting things like “Intifada! Intifada! Intifada!”

    Does this mean Democrats are terrorists? Is this newsworthy? Of course not. Big rallies always attract fringe elements. BFD.

  49. daveNYC Says:

    Can’t wait for the tea-bagging film festival: Falling Down, Terminator, Romper Stomper and Gran Torino.

    Those aren’t the movies that come to mind when I think of a tea-bagging film festival.

  50. Josh Cooney Says:

    Anyway, you make some good points and you ain’t as bad as I thought. Aren’t you the guy who called me a fucking douchebag earlier?

  51. Anthony Says:

    right–there is a pretty important difference. See if you can find anyone in this thread explaining what that difference is.

  52. Rob Mac Says:

    If Obama had been a white guy with, say, a BRITISH father, lived in Hong Kong for a few years, would we have this insane birther/Manchurian Candidate paranoia? Of course not.

    If this hypothetical Obama were still a Democrat, I’d say of course we would. Right wing paranoia does not need racism to fuel it. See also: the Clinton Administration.

    This comment is beyond idiotic.

    I’m rubber, you’re glue . . .

  53. Rob Mac Says:

    If I could re-state Anthony’s point (#51)–the tea bag fest is not a big rally attracting fringe elements. It is a big rally for fringe elements sponsored, promoted,and attended by mainstream conservative media outlets, think tanks, and politicians.

  54. bobbo Says:

    Now the NY Times can’t even say “AstroTurf” with the commercial spelling. Today’s article on the teabaggers refers to the “synthetic ‘Game Day Grass’ variety.”
    >http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/us/politics/16taxday.html?hp

  55. El Cid Says:

    Aren’t you the guy who called me a fucking douchebag earlier?

    Yes, but I’m an intemperate bastard, and I don’t take blogs as seriously and as constantly as others do.

  56. DTM Says:

    But there is a difference between being dupes and being evil bastards like Yankee Bushes.

    Is there?

    In my view it took a willful ignorance for the GOP’s Southern Strategy to work. Basically, the “dupes” were willing to ignore who the “evil bastards” really were because the “evil bastards” indulged and encouraged the “dupe’s” resentments of the many hated others.

  57. ike Says:

    another “racist” tempest in a tea cup?

    UNPOSSIBLE

  58. gregor Says:

    Why are they blaming Keynes for this? He was just an economist. Was he gay?

  59. Zaid Says:

    One guy at at a tea party told me that “Democrats are like the Jews who stole your land” (I’m Pakistani O_o)

  60. joe from Lowell Says:

    In Living Color was a racist show? Who knew!?

    This is what I call the “Why can’t I say nigger?” theory of racial discourse. Conservatives just don’t get it. How many times have you seen some white frat boy say something that causes everyone at the party to stop talking and stare at him with the jaws on the floor, because he said something that he totally didn’t think would offend anyone. These people simply don’t know how to get along in decent society.

    So, they try to take shortcuts to actually understanding racial issues and demonstrating a reasonable level of awareness and respect. They have absolutely no ability to think about racial discourse in terms of meaning and context, so they’re left with “Hey, I heard a black guy say something, so it must be ok for me to say it.”

    Then, when they step in it, they think it’s all a conspiracy to pick on white males. So pathetic.

  61. Campesino Says:

    gregor Says:
    April 15th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
    Why are they blaming Keynes for this? He was just an economist. Was he gay?

    ==========================================================

    IIRC Keynes batted from both sides of the plate, as the saying goes

  62. methodgrind Says:

    He’s Kenyan because as every sane American knows he wasn’t born in America(There was the whole thing about his birth certificate which significant portions of the nutty right still haven’t really let go of).

  63. Josh Cooney Says:

    #56 Most people are dupes. Whether they live in NYC, D.C., or Tupelo. The masses are, and always have been, manipulated by demagogues. This is why Plato hated democracy. Believe me, people are ignorant enough without having to will it.

    I’d say the fact that both Democrats and Republicans have catered to the South through welfare and military bases, has more to do with how southerners, black and white, vote. That is to say, whites don’t vote for Republicans because they hate blacks, and blacks don’t vote for Democrats because they hate whites. Each group votes for the people who they think will represent their interests, usually economic.

  64. DTM Says:

    That is to say, whites don’t vote for Republicans because they hate blacks, and blacks don’t vote for Democrats because they hate whites. Each group votes for the people who they think will represent their interests, usually economic.

    Nope. I agree the extent to which Southern whites are voting against their economic interests by supporting Republicans is somewhat overrated, because the reality of what Southern Republicans do is very different from their rhetoric, at least usually. But the thing is, that doesn’t change the fact that Southern Democrats are willing to offer Southern whites substantially the same economic deal, maybe a slightly better one.

    So, that doesn’t really explain the voting pattern.

  65. fstrai0053 Says:

    Do we all ways have to stoup to name calling when we do not agree with someone?

    I am a Dem and a committee person in Indiana.
    I did not vote for this madness the spending by Washington is way out of control.

    And for every ones Information not ever one who went to a Tea Party is a Rep. or a Racist and to call them ether shows just how Ignorant you are.

  66. Trolling Says:

    Joe, I’ve been concerned with our insensitivity for some time now, particularly given the shocking way Michael Steele has been treated within the party. You know what? Why don’t we have a dialogue about white, class, ethnic, ableist, right-handed privilege and create a safe place where those Republicans who aren’t yet RAPED by that virulent social consciousness of the unfeeling racist patriarchy can discuss possible activism and future movement modalities?

  67. Keith M Ellis Says:

    Josh: Publishing your address and phone number on a blog is pretty fucking stupid.

    Really? I did exactly the same a month ago here. What horrible consequences have resulted from this moment of “fucking stupidity”? Er, nothing. Nothing at all.

    The combination of your utter certainty about some assertion you’re just pulling out of your ass, along with the contempt you show for anyone who thinks differently, is a good example of exactly what’s wrong with most blog comments.

  68. kick rocks Says:

    I think the problem is not the spending, obviously government has been spending money since the beginning…. as a matter of fact I think the purpose of the government is to spend money, I mean really have we ever been without a deficit??? At least with the bailouts maybe someone can keep their job other than the CEO and those in government that benefit from hard working citizens in this country…I think this all boils down to trying to blame the state of this country on the Obama administration

  69. Rene' Says:

    Bush and company, for eight years, promoted continued deregulation of U.S. financial institutions (that are still sticking it to us), the immoral war we are still involved in, and lying to ALL of the American people about other nefarious deeds. The stimulus package was introduced to Congress by the Bush administration, putting us in the position we are currently angry with, and was then forced by a legitimate election to run home to his mommy and daddy. How is President Obama responsible for anything other than attempting to straighten out this mess, as well as setting up steps for health/medical insurance for all Americans, especially our children, as well as improving our educational system? President Obama didn’t lie (as one of the signs said). His first job is to clean up the dog doo left by a previous untrustworthy administation, while trying to make sure that we all don’t slip in it. Did you really think we, the citizenry, ALL OF US, wouldn’t eventually have to tighten our belts? Less than four full months in office trying to find solutions to the mess it took eight years for the Bushites to make is not a long enough period of time for the miracles being sought (especially by the “right”). Where were all of you when the Bushites were running our country into the ground? AND “Homey [REALLY] Don’t Play…” racism, which a lot of the signs I saw driving past “Tea Party” demonstrations this afternoon definitely did. Except for Native Americans, ALL of us came from somewhere else, so stop with the Kenyan (translation: Black/not White) references. Cease showing your idiocy and let’s work together to make the U.S. the world power it once was. President Obama has an excellent chance to do that. It never would have happened under the Bushites!

  70. bob h Says:

    I think the deconstructed message from these fools is: “We don’t like having a black President”.

  71. David in DC Says:

    Yglesias is trying to demonize people who have different political views then his, and this is the best he can come up with??

    Dude, c’mon. If this is the worst out there in all of these so-called tea parties, it kind of undermines the case you are trying to make.

  72. Steve LaBonne Says:

    I think the deconstructed message from these fools is: “We don’t like having a black President”.

    Well, duh. A “tax protest” by people whose taxes have just been LOWERED? Obviously taxes aren’t what’s really behind it.

    Of course, the prevalence of openly racist attacks on Obama is kind of a clue, as well.

    And the apologists for these morons can kiss my ass. Matt was actually too polite about the teabagging shitheads. They’re idiot scum, in many cases potentially violent and dangerous scum.

  73. joe from Lowell Says:

    Hey, David in DC, black people make up about half the population of your city. I’ll generously assume that you are on speaking terms with at least one of them.

    Since this is so innocent, why don’t you walk up to your black acquaintance and tell him “Stand by while some Kenyan destroys America? I don’t think so!” Then say “Homey don’t play that,” and mime hitting someone with something while yelling “Wap!”

    Tell us how it goes. Have a buddy record the exchange, and put it on YouTube for us.

    What? Well, why not?

  74. Jeffrey Davis Says:

    it is a movement marked by race baiting, such as this post.

    Which race?

  75. Jeffrey Davis Says:

    Josh: Publishing your address and phone number on a blog is pretty fucking stupid.

    Augusta Gregory seated at her great ormolu table,
    Her eightieth winter approaching: ‘Yesterday he threatened my life.
    I told him that nightly from six to seven I sat at this table,
    The blinds drawn up’;

    from “Beautiful, Lofty Thing” by W.B. Yeats

    I doubt anyone will call. Phone calls can be traced.

  76. Josh Cooney Says:

    #64 The reality and rhetoric of politicians never match. That’s why we are always disappointed no matter who we vote for. It’s the nature of Democracy. Politicans are, and always have been, demagogues.

  77. DaveL Says:

    Unless Matt believes that the bar of civility is set by the lowest impulses of his opponents, tarring a movement with the opinions of its least socially acceptable adherents is hardly fair. I don’t recall him being similarly outraged at the nutcase wing of the anti-Iraq War or anti-Bush set, but rather at people on the right who pointed them out as exemplars. The phrase “guilt by association” seems applicable here.

    If you don’t want your side judged by its worst examples, don’t judge the other side that way. That goes for both the right and the left.

    The right-wing blogs are full these days of examples of media coverage of the tea party demos that focuses on the wingnuts, and references to similar media coverage of anti-Bush or anti-Iraq War demos that ignored the moonbats.

    (not “Dave L” or “David in DC” or “daveNYC”)

  78. steel & rye Says:

    How many times have you seen some white frat boy say something that causes everyone at the party to stop talking and stare at him with the jaws on the floor, because he said something that he totally didn’t think would offend anyone

    None because I don’t party with racist white frat boys.

    Either joe from Lowell is cruising the college scene looking to teabag a curious Abercrombie boy/son of an RNC Eagle donor or he needs to hang out with a better class of people.

  79. Jeffrey Davis Says:

    The Republican Party (home of “The Southern Strategy”) can’t be tarred racist with guilt-by-association because it explicitly pursued a strategy circa 1972 to appeal to racists. The Base has been growing more racist ever since. Calling attention to the racism in the Republican Party is like calling Kevin Garnett tall.

    Sorry that you object to it, but you could quit hanging out with racists.

  80. Hogan Says:

    Maybe he misspelled “Kansan.”

  81. SqueakyRat Says:

    Obama’s ovbviously Keynesian, and you can’t be President if you’re born in Keynesia. So what the hell’s going on here?

  82. Dave Says:

    Hey Lib’s, how do you like how O’Reilly’s Factor show had more viewers than (leftwing channels) CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC combined the night of the tea party. Also,Democrats, notice how there were’nt any riots, fights, fires, Swat teams, tipped cars, road block sit downs, and my personal favorite Pro-Peace rallies where you’re Anti-Peace and fight with the swat/police.(hypocritical?) Learn how to protest like a True American, please.

  83. Kate Says:

    No doubt in my mind, the guy is the picture is a “plant” from the left. NONE of the Tea Parties were about the race of ANYONE! It was about the GREEN of our dollars.

  84. Jo Mama Says:

    YOU FUCKING TEABAGGERS ARE THE BIGGEST JOKE OF THE DAY!

  85. Townhall: Why Liberals Despise American Patriots « Teablogging Says:

    [...] would she have gotten that idea?! Which certainly explains the large number of ethnicities present in the Tea Parties across the [...]


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