Tea Party Ugliness: John Lewis Called N-Word

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Mark]

[Stephen Fox]

I was gonna sit this one out for a little while but came across this discussion on Booktv this afternoon.

http://www.booktv.org/Program/11260/Aft ... Lewis.aspx

John Lewis interviews former Republican Senator who comes from Jewish background and his black wife.
At one point the wife challenges her husband about the tea parties who says it is a separate matter. Interesting moment in the segment.
I think both Cohen and his wife are right though they didn't pursue it.
These incidents yesterday are disturbing, but in the same way black criminals, looters and sinners were in the back of the Memphis March for increased pay for sanitation workers.
Of course I know Civil Rights was of a much more noble cause than the Tea Party movement. But they do have the right to protest, and so far there are leaders in the Tea Party movement who are outraged by this element in their ranksand their potential to hijack and distract from their concerns.
I am in conversation with one such local leader. I don't think there is much substance to her movement, but she is appalled by such behavior as yesterday.

At same time, since Bdidd brought it up here is an interesting inflection, nuance on the whole discussion:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/john-mcwhorter/ ... have-party

McWhorter raises the more substantive discussion, than the distraction of the malcontents yesterday in DC.

And Langham Cohen is a piece of work all on her own. May explore her later.

[Jonathan]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Sandy]

[Jonathan]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Jonathan]

[Lamar Wadsworth]

My parents were both southerners with 8th grade educations, but they would have washed my mouth out with soap if I'd ever called anyone a "n*****." I was taught to respect my elders and to show the same degree of respect whether they were black or white. The first man I called to be a pallbearer at the funerals of my parents was a black man who had been among my father's closest friends as far back as I can remember. I realize that not everyone was raised the way I was raised.

If one disagrees with Congressman Lewis on matters of public policy, that is fine. I have no objection to anyone engaging Lewis in substantive debate on any issue being considered by Congress. However, regardless of whether one agrees with him politically, John Lewis deserves respect for his service to our country. His service in the civil rights movement helped secure the freedom of all Americans. My regard for what Lewis and others did at the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma is equal to my regard for what my father and other American and Allied soldiers did at the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.
To show such vile disrespect to one who has served this country so nobly is as offensive to me as trampling the flag of our country under foot.

[Sandy]

[Dave Roberts]

I find the reawakening of racism by some (admittedly a fringe) of the Tea Party quite upsetting. The calling of names like that discredits the very movement they say they are for. There may indeed be a need for third party movement in American politics because the GOP and Democrats can't talk with each other about any of the issues facing the country, but with the kind of friends the Tea Party seems to be attracting, it will be DOA. Even Palin carries the baggage of attachment to the Alaska Secessionist Movement.

[Jonathan]

As with any political movement, if you want to find a fringe element that does things that you find distasteful, you're going to find it. This will be especially the case when a group in power begins to overextend their reach. But it is lazy to extrapolate the actions of a very few to the motives of the very many.

[Stephen Fox]

As this conversation evolves I am leaning toward Dave and Sandy; though I did relish the moment of common ground with Jonathan at the outset.

[Dave Roberts]

[Stephen Fox]

And what are we to do with Dyson at Tavis Smiley's confab this weekend calling Obama just a latter day Jackie Robinson?

[Stephen Fox]

[Sandy]

[Tim Dahl]

People are afraid. Sadly, fear often morphs to anger, which brings out the utterly sinfull and ugly side.

[Jonathan]

[Stephen Fox]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Stephen Fox]

Of Texas utterred the words "Baby Killer" on the House Floor last night during Stupak's speech.

According to CNN he has also flirted with Birther Movement in language on the microphone on the House floor.

Ed, the deacon's blood seem kinda baptized in Blood if you know what I mean, what the phrase connotates.

I don't think he cares a lot for the President I voted for

[Jonathan]

[Stephen Fox]

Bill is not a baby killer, it is a poor woman saver.

It will save lives, born lives, many of whom were at one time baptized in a Baptist church who would have otherwise died cause they couldn't afford health insurance.

Not to say Bill Cosby makes some good points.

Look closely at Randy Neubarger with us. I think he may have more in common with the Birch Society than he does with Abraham Lincoln,even Robert E Lee for that matter.
Some where along the way I fear Texas Baptists failed him and his world view.

Did you see my TNRlinks Chait on Obama and the Baptist Michelle Cottle on the underbelly of the Tea Party.

Both ring true to me.