I am not a Tea Party member and I am in agreement with Dave on each of his issues.

I would add pro-choice and anti-capital punishment.  Of course on this Web space I’m considered an extreme Right-Wing “Neo-Con”.

People’s perceptions, and how we arrive a them, always amazes me.

I’m a tea partier.

I support same sex marriage.
I support legalized pot.
I support the repeal of Obamacare.
I support raising the retirement age.
I support means test that decrease social security and medicare benefits based on income with elimination of all benefits at high income levels.
I support disbanding the Department of Education and returning control of schools completely to the individual states.
I support a flat tax and the elimination of the IRS.
I support personal responsibility, freedom, lower taxes, and smaller government.

Maani, - ““More than half say the policies of the administration favor the poor [read “black”]

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I do not “Read Black”  That is Your designated code for Black/Poor. Correct?

What you are explicitly saying is that white protesters are racist bigots. That is, and correct me if I’m wrong, your perception of this group of people. No direct offense intended; I demand more than your perceptions before I buck all of human nature and label one group more racist than another.

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Obama is a tyrant and an imperialistic fascist.  His regime is destroying American democracy. His rich Wall Street and Goldman Sach friends are raping the working people. His bailout to the banks is the same side of the same Bush/Obama coin.  His corporate welfare and insurance company giveaways are testaments to the corrupt political and monetary system.

Afghanistan, Iran, Rendition, torture, the Patriot Act, Signal Intelligence gathering and the Military industrial complex is all part of the same mass murder taking place, by the thousands, all over the globe!  Rape, Murder and Pillaging is going on in Obama’s name. He is still part of the criminal enterprise, albeit in sheep’s clothing, of the Real $power$ base.

And that is from the “Leftist” racists(?) who reside on these very Web pages! Can you believe such hateful musings?

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One of the first things to happen after an election is in the opposition attempts to discredit and, very specifically, de-legitimize the winner. President Obama is no different than any other president. Attacks on him are rooted in perceptions. Black/Muslim/Socialist. Kennedy/Pampered/Criminal/Catholic. Bush Pampered/Criminal/Neo-Con/Cheat.

Bush “Stole” <—Read Black—his election. He was a drunkard and a coke-head <—Read Black—.  He was too stupid to be president. Bush is a draft dodger. His Father, and his Father’s Father, were all criminals <—Read Black.  Bush deliberately murdered 10,000 (Black) people in New Orleans. Bush/Cheney/Neo-Cons deliberately murdered millions in Iraq. Bush and his crony buddies lied in order to steal <—Read Black—oil for themselves. See? Politics. Not racism.

To answer a question:

95% of the black voting public, young and old, rich and poor, North and South - many who had never voted in the past turned out and cast their ballot for Mr. Obama.  This, according to you, makes them OVERWHELMINGLY racist.  In fact this makes black people the largest and most active racist community in all of America. Correct? I simply don’t subscribe to that.

This is worth repeating.  George Bush was the first President-Elect in history unable to complete the customary walk to the Capital on inauguration Day due to the “opposition” throwing things at him.  Bush is white!  - To this day when I remind people of the Inauguration Day incident I get a collective cheer from the Left/democrats/progressives.  Put President Obama in Bush’s stead, which is exactly what we see today, and it IS, beyond all doubt, rooted in “violent” racism.

Your examples of mean words and the actions of a few, as evidence of overwhelming “racist behavior”, is a product of imagination by people who put a tremendous amount of importance on skin color.  I contend this behavior meets the very definitions of both Bigotry and Racism.

GRYM:

“If I apply your tact then it stands to reason that the 95% of the black voting public are racists.  I simply do not believe that.”

I do not understand your point here.  Please explain.

Re “As I have been writing for months the charge of institutional or mass racism is an extreme position and must be proven well before such a charge is made.  Nothing on this thread, nothing in the media and certainly nothing from the protesters has come close.”

I have already pointed out: (i) accusing Obama of not having been born in the U.S.; and (ii) accusing Obama of being a closet Muslim.  Do you really think that (assuming they even existed) the TPers would have done this to a white president?  If so, you are living in a dreamland.

As well, the following are all from the NYT article:

“More than half say the policies of the administration favor the poor [read “black”], and 25 percent think that the administration favors blacks over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public.”  (Bracketed comment is mine)

“They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people.”

“He’s a socialist. And to tell you the truth, I think he’s a Muslim and trying to head us in that direction, I don’t care what he says.”

In their own words.  Coded - and blatant - racist language.  And consider this as well: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/opinion/17blow.html

And now we have “Confederate History Month,” coming from the TP-supported and -sympathizing governor of Virginia - a “historical” celebration that (until he had to backtrack) completely omitted slavery as one of the reasons for/issues engendered in the Civil War.

“Racism” is not simply calling a black man “nigger” or spitting on him.  Racism is a mindset that can take subtler forms.  And there is no question that the TPers exhibit both overt and subtle racist tendencies - to a far greater degree overall than the general public.

Maani, - “Your point would have more support if the TP movement were not, by its own admission, only 1% black.”

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As I have been writing for months the charge of institutional or mass racism is an extreme position and must be proven well before such a charge is made.  Nothing on this thread, nothing in the media and certainly nothing from the protesters has come close.

From my chair it looks like those who think greatly about the president’s skin color are the individuals who are seeing things that are not there.  Not yet anyhow.  But if the race-baiting keeps up it may happen.  That’s why I write about how dangerous this baiting is.

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If I apply your tact then it stands to reason that the 95% of the black voting public are racists.  I simply do not believe that. 

Will we all see bigotry and racism in and amongst the black community?  Of course.  Humans are human.  Humans are inherently tribal and suspicious of “outsiders”.

All the anecdotes of individual bigotry never, I repeat never, add up to being able to condemn entire large groups of people as more or less racist.  It’s not only wrong headed it is, by it’s very nature, dangerous and foolish.  It also, interestingly enough, meets the very definition of bigotry.

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The growing anger was palpable and present for all to see at the end of the Bush administration.  NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, PBS and FOX all reported it.  The Post and The Times both wrote about it. Beck talked about it.  Limbaugh talked about it.  Hannity talked about it.  Each spoke about the so-called “bailouts” and spending many months before the man with the dark skin entered office.  Poll after poll illistrated growing frustration with Washington, The Congress, Wall Street and banks.  If people are seeing race as the issue then it is them who are the racists.  If one truly listens to the bulk of the protesters it is clear what they are increasingly upset about.  And if every sociology study I have ever read is correct, then we can expect, roughly, 18% of the protesters to have the president’s skin color in mind.  - Exactly as we would see amongst protesters of the Bush administration.

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President-Elect Bush was the first in American history unable to complete the long tradition of walking to the Capital in inauguration day due to the disgruntled throwing things at him.  Imagine what would be talked about and printed all across America if that had been President-Elect Obama!  There would be no convincing some people that is wasn’t a sure sign of “Violent Racism”.

I think it’s worth thinking about that a minute or two.  And then thinking long and hard on that before making the charge of wide-spread “white” racism.

Pasc’s post (4/18 @ 4:12) should be required reading.  Also, Cyrena’s (4/18 @ 5:58).  (Hi Cyrena!!)

GRYM: Your point would have more support if the TP movement were not, by its own admission, only 1% black.  The movement is mostly well-to-do, white, Republican men.  It is also primarily found in states that are either Bible Belt or “red,” and even more specifically in the most “provincial” areas as opposed to urban centers.

One factor in TPers fear and anger that has not been mentioned is the existential realization that the U.S. will, probably within many of their lifetimes, become minority white.  They may not be able to articulate this - they may not even be aware that this is in fact one of their underlying fears - but between the immigration issue and what they are obseriving with their own eyes, they do realize, if only subconsciously, that this is the case.  And they feel powerless against it - and thus frightened of it.

We are supposedly a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.”  But WHICH people?  Assuming we accept the poll, the TP movement represents 18% of the voting populace.  And they certainly have a right to air their views (non-violently), protest, etc.  But this does not mean they are correct, or that we (or pols, Congress, etc.) should therefore change everything to suit them.

Finally, despite GRYM’s comment, I daresay there would probably not even be a TP movement if we had a white president.  Sure, there would still be fear, anger, frustration, etc., and there might even be a vocal minority expressing themselves.  But it would not include accusing the president of not having been born in the U.S.; being a closet Muslim; or “favoring” blacks.  And it would also likely not include rocks thrown through political office windows, or guns being carried into political events or Starbucks.

mrfreeze,

If we listen to the protesters themselves we see that their issues have nothing to do with your perceived grievances. Nor do they have to. 

What most are protesting, mainly, is larger government and out of control federal spending.  The same reasons the Republicans lost seats in the House and Senate in 2006 (Bush is white).  The same reasons people began protesting near the end of the Bush administration (Bush happens to be white).

Polls seem to indicate that 2006 was, to some extent, also a referendum on the Iraq war ((Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld are white)).

To believe the current protests, which began before the current administration took office, to be rooted in racism is to not be listening past one’s self and other like-minded individuals.  It simply misses the point and takes every domestic current event out of context. 

Race-baiting is not only unwise, it’s dangerous and will prove to get people hurt.

1. To suggest that the Tea Party protests have it’s roots in racism is, well, none too observant.

2. People who complain today about protesters come off sounding eerily like those who complained about protests against Bush.  “The more things change”....

3. Let them protest.  It’s the American way, folks.  Denigrating protesters is helpful to no one.

cyrena - Your comment:

“We lived through nearly a decade of galloping to the edge of the cliff, (and over) with the Bush/Cheney thugs holding the reins, and never heard a peep from these people, other than to blame everything and everyone other than themselves.”

Absolutely dead-on accurate. It’s simply amazing that the “Tea Party” movement, “the New Confederacy” and the “nouveau Militia” are all on the march these days. Could it…....just could it be based on the obvious paranoia and racism that infects the U.S.?

Tea Party members are normally depicted as anti-Democrat reactionaries or scoffed at for holding incoherent, outside-reality positions. But a new feature by The New York Times lets supporters speak for themselves,..

What’s the point? I don’t care if they all have PHds. Their comments and actions are incoherent, juvenile, and irrational.

I’ve gotta say that these terrorists have actually caused me to take a much ‘harder line’ than I ever have before, in part because I am so totally put off by the obvious racism at the core of their structure.

We lived through nearly a decade of galloping to the edge of the cliff, (and over) with the Bush/Cheney thugs holding the reins, and never heard a peep from these people, other than to blame everything and everyone other than themselves. Not a peep, even though it was clear to even the most demented, that our country had been hijacked by radicals determined to rob us blind and destroy us as a well- functioning society. Not a peep from these assholes….at least nothing productive. Now they wanna complain that some folks actually DID decide to try and save this operation known as The “Republic of the United States”.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that their complaints are based on age-old racism and nothing more.

So now they’ve been “acknowledged,” and now it’s time to treat them as the anti-American terrorists that they are. Since when did such a group deserve access to the protection of our Constitution, (free speech, etc, etc) when they so obviously despise the democratic process?  No words can describe my horror at yesterday’s news of a White Snake Supremacist rally on the lawn of Los Angeles’ City Hall – requiring the on hand attention of the tactical squad of the LAPD.

How DARE they come into our neighborhoods and terrorize us with demands for the region to be cleared of ALL NON-whtes? How DARE they!!! And how stupid are the rest of us for even ALLOWING it?  Free speech/1st Amendment my ass!! This is DOMESTIC TERRORISM, and they should have been met with the National Guard, except of course that our National Guard is scattered about the globe providing security to global oil reserves, and assisting in the destruction of other societies, whether they want to or not.

I’m thoroughly disgusted by the validation they get based on our response to them. Didn’t the last regime make the claim that ‘we don’t negotiate with terrorists’? Well…there you go. They need to be run out of town.

I could never support a group whose spokes-mouths include Bachman, Beck and Palin!