Protesters Dispute Democrats’ Claims of Racial Epithets
[Guest post by DRJ]
Saturday’s health care debate wasn’t all inside Congress:
“Claims that the protesters hurled anti-gay and racist epithets at them tore through the blogosphere in the run-up to the vote and were used to decry the protests, but Tea Party supporters are challenging those accounts, saying they didn’t hear them, or at least that those responsible were not part of the Tea Party protest.”
This video shows where the racist epithets were reportedly spoken but no slurs can be heard:
Another incident involved Rep. Barney Frank, although a protester says it may have been staged:
“The account of the run-in with Frank gets a little more bizarre.
Though reporters heard someone call the Massachusetts Democrat, who is gay, a “faggot,” and Frank and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer publicly condemned the slur, Fischer said the incident was not so cut and dry.
Most importantly, Fischer said Frank was the first to start using salty language.
She said she and a half-dozen other protesters were waiting outside a committee room in the Longworth House Office Building on Saturday for about 45 minutes when Frank finally emerged. He was mobbed by reporters, she said, and the protesters started shouting things like, “Kill the bill.” Then she said Frank snapped at them.
“He looked at me and said, ‘F— you,'” she said.
Shortly after that, she said, a tall man with brown hair, who hadn’t been chanting with the other protesters at all, walked up and said “fag” to Frank.
This has started to sprout some conspiracy theories.
Fischer said the protesters immediately admonished him and told him not to say things like that.
“I have gay friends. … There were a bunch of people moaning like, ‘Oh God,'” she said.
But she said the guy “disappeared” quickly and that was the end of it.
Fischer said she has no idea where he came from, and alleged he was a plant, though she couldn’t prove it.
“I think it was staged,” she said.”
Over two days later, some in the media are continuing to paint Tea Partiers and hecklers in the GOP — including Texas Rep. Randy Neugebauer, who yelled “It’s a Baby-Killer” during Stupak’s floor speech — as “unsavory” right-wing extremists:
“In many ways, the dilemma faced by modern Republicans is similar to the one Democrats faced in the ’60s and ’70s with the Vietnam-era anti-war movement. While the confrontation-minded (and media-friendly) activists garnered headlines and caused widespread disruption, the Democrats succumbed to damaging leadership divisions on the war—and in the process, allowed Republicans to tag them with sinister hippie and New Left leanings ever since. The challenge for Republicans going forward is to avoid the same undertow from their activist base — to establish majorities in Washington and not let the unsavory aspects of the fringe haunt them for decades to come.”
Does this mean we can call anti-war activists “unsavory”?
— DRJ
No, it doesn’t mean that all the Partiers should be tagged as racists. But it would be nice to see the few racist dregs tossed the hell out by them. All this does is reinforce liberal claims they ARE a bunch of racists.
And Republicans get tarred too because they don’t immediately and strongly disavow such filth, as they should do.
JEA (53fe4f) — 3/23/2010 @ 4:25 amWhat racist dregs? So far I’ve seen no evidence that there are any. And I will not believe any allegation without proof.
Milhouse (ea66e3) — 3/23/2010 @ 4:33 amWhat I have been doing with this story is writing personal Emails to the reporters who write the stories in my local papers – the New York Daily News and the New York Post.
Most of the reporters & columnists on these two papers not only read their Email but will actually respond.
Just point out the facts that they have either missed or ignored. Be polite but note that their reporting errors are not going unnoticed.
Letters to the Editor are also important – they might not be printed but they are read. Factually correct and polite letters will let the editors know that “hand-out” journalish does not work.
Your local paper might not conduct a further investigation on this story or print a correction but they will be careful in the future if they get sufficient letters pointing out their errors.
Longwalker (4e0dda) — 3/23/2010 @ 4:36 amAnd Republicans get tarred too because they don’t immediately and strongly disavow such filth, as they should do.
So when video of the incident does not show what is alleged, Republicans should find the people that didn’t do anything and disavow them?
And people accused Liz Cheney of McCarthyite tactics?
MU789 (6a1add) — 3/23/2010 @ 4:45 amYes, I agree, JEA. The tea party activists need to do more to weed out the Think Progress people who stand inside their crowds and yell the n-word for the purpose of demonstrating how racist the tea partiers are.
/snark
w3bgrrl (12f86d) — 3/23/2010 @ 4:46 am“While the confrontation-minded (and media-friendly) activists garnered headlines and caused widespread disruption, the Democrats succumbed to damaging leadership divisions on the war—and in the process, allowed Republicans to tag them with sinister hippie and New Left leanings ever since.”
What a looser stategy those activists had. Hah! If only they knew they’d never change America or win the White House, legislature, or Supreme Court. Oh, wait. Hate and violence were a winning strategy.
tehag (2f7b2f) — 3/23/2010 @ 5:52 amTrue that, Markos Moulitsas is on record as cheering
ian cormac (9bc9a9) — 3/23/2010 @ 6:11 amthe slaughter and dismemberment of the Fallujah 4, and that was his credential to getting on Newsweek
and being invited back on MTP
The stupid short-sightedness of conservatives. “We don’t need to weed out any bigots in our crowd until after we’re sure they screamed ‘n****r.” It’s entirely clear that there’s a racist segment of this group out there, and I’ve seen a LOT of examples of it. But you all just go ahead and deny it’s there. I’m sure everyone believes plausible deniability. In the meantime all you do is damage the conservative/Republican reputation.
JEA (53fe4f) — 3/23/2010 @ 6:18 amJEA, the only racist here is YOU!!!!!!
PCD (1d8b6d) — 3/23/2010 @ 6:19 amI denounce JEA.
JD (d3f3ab) — 3/23/2010 @ 6:22 amFirst, i assume that in any crowd of at least 10,000 people, we always have at least one racist. I don’t mean just in this movement, IN ALL MOVEMENTS. I mean it could be a pro-affirmative action crowd, and there would be one idiot who thinks that 1) black people are so stupid they need the help, or 2) white people owe minorities as a form of reparations. It could just be an anti-discrimination group. Keith Olbermann in his infamous “where are the white people” denunciation of the tea party said something absolutely racist toward the beginning–that every white person has racial prejudice. That statement is itself prejudiced.
That being said, if you are accusing someone of anything, the burden of proof is on you. And no, the word of a politician doesn’t count. The tea party is not guilty until proven innocent, period.
And the left does have a history of dishonestly “punking” right wing protests. To be fair, the right does, too. A couple of years back i remember a group called protest warrior, which would slip into left wing protests with subversive signs like, “Socialism has only killed 100 million people. let’s give it another chance.” or “What problem has war ever solved? Besides Naziism, Slavery, British colonial rule…” and so on. Now i think you can distinguish between going in and mocking them openly, because even if you are being subtle, it is still there for anyone to see. by comparison pretending to be on one side and then acting badly in order to reflect badly on that side is silly.
As for the civil rights leaders, you can discredit it this way. Just about every moment was caught on videotape. Now you can argue about what they might have heard, but they also claimed to have been spat upon. And that is not debateable. it didn’t happen. And if they lied about that–i know, shockers, a politician who lies–then you can’t believe anything they said.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 3/23/2010 @ 6:34 amAW – even if they were demonstrated to have happened, that reflects only on the individual that did it. Olberdouchenozzle let loose another stemwinder of spittle-flecked ranting last night.
JD (7b54ca) — 3/23/2010 @ 6:42 amNo, there is no evidence of this, unless ‘kill the bill’ is some kind of racist chant, you think if
ian cormac (9bc9a9) — 3/23/2010 @ 6:44 amCleaver had actually been assaulted, he wouldn’t have pressed charges, let’s get real people
JD
Well, Olbermann, and “Tingles” Matthews are racists themselves. So by their own logic, if we have to dismiss what racists say, we can dismiss them, right?
A.W. (e7d72e) — 3/23/2010 @ 7:02 am“It’s entirely clear that there’s a racist segment of this group out there, and I’ve seen a LOT of examples of it.”
Uhm, I haven’t at any protest I’ve been to. Now I did see video of some white SEIU members beating a black man for selling flags to tea party protesters. A white man came to his aid and helped bring police to the scene.
Instead of “denouncing” the brutality of white union members telling a black man what he can and cannot do, SEIU went into full denial.
I also heard a report about an angry, gay mob of men calling some black men the n-word after the passing of Prop 8. But I never heard anything about the gay community hunting these racists down and weeding them out.
I tell you what. Why don’t you take the plank out of your own eye before you go inspecting for splinters in someone else’s?
w3bgrrl (12f86d) — 3/23/2010 @ 7:27 am“It’s entirely clear that there’s a racist segment of this group out there…”
Sure, there’s all kinds of racists out there. Barack Obama and Robert Byrd to name a couple of real famous ones.
Doubt if they’re going to too many tea parties, seeing as how they’re the tyrants the tea parties are against, but if they did…there isn’t much the tea parties could do about it.
If Barry O shows up at a public protest and starts spewing some racist crap like…
“I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.”
“I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother’s race.”
…that racist crap that once came directly out of his mouth, you’ll just have to learn to deal with it, because he has every right in the world to not like white people, you can’t stop him from saying so, nor can you stop him from showing up at tea parties that are on public property.
If you’re smart you won’t vote for people like that, but you can’t stop them from being racists, and you can’t insist they stay out of tea party protests, unless you start having the protests on private property.
IOW, there is really nothing we can do to keep racists out of Tea Parties. Hell, we can’t even keep them out of the White House or Congress.
Dave Surls (a55225) — 3/23/2010 @ 7:49 amSo when video of the incident does not show what is alleged, Republicans should find the people that didn’t do anything and disavow them?
Actually, the Republican leadership, for better or worse, opted to publicly denounce any possible racist behavior from *nutjobs* or *astroturfers* who just happened to be at the the capital with the Tea Parties.
(Still waiting though for Democratic leadership to publicly condemn death threats, effigy burnings and all other vile behaviors toward President Bush…)
Dana (1e5ad4) — 3/23/2010 @ 8:08 amBut Dana, calling Boosh Hitler and an Iraqi baby – killer is a means of protest, which is the highest form of patriotism. Don’t you know that by now? Sheesh.
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:06 amSo the argument is ‘we can tolerate it because the Dems do’?
How noble of you all.
I feel so much better about the Tea Party movement now, knowing that all the racists are really minorities and Democrats.
JEA (53fe4f) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:19 amHow about this, JEA, the individuals that are alleged to have done these things are responsible for their actions. Nobody else.
JD (6a0bfc) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:25 amJEA, I admire your ability to completely ignore the arguments made and simply debate the ones you made out of straw. By admire, I mean laugh myself silly at your cowardice and sloppy thinking.
I believe MY argument was, “you can disregard the racists your side planted on my side to make my side look bad because you ignore the racists on your side anyway,” or taken another way, “until you do something about the racists on your side, don’t whine to me about the racists on your side who pretended to be protesters on my side.”
Either way.
w3bgrrl (12f86d) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:33 am“So the argument is ‘we can tolerate it because the Dems do’?”
No, the argument is is that you can’t keep racists out of Tea Party protests that are taking place on public property.
Racists have every right to be racists, to make racist comments and to attend public events…and there’s nothing you can do to stop them.
It’s a free country…to that extent anyway.
Dave Surls (a55225) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:33 amIf I go to a Deem rally and utter racial or anit-gay epithets, that makes all Deems racist gay-haters? Right?
Just noting the double standard. There is no reliable evidence yet that any racist epithets were actually uttered, and the Congresscritters saying they were so called are not exactly known for their outstanding probity. And there is no ID on the person who purportedly called Barney a “fa&&ot.” For all we know, he was from ACORN.
Tully (4dce1a) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:34 amJD
All teabaggers across the country are collectively responsible for what a few individuals say.
No lefties are responsible for anything they say.
/sarc
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (4fa8ee) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:35 amSince some people want to paint the Tea Party movement as racist, I wonder if they would paint the antiwar movement as racist because David Duke opposed the invasion of Iraq.
Michael Ejercito (526413) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:35 am#20: Now now, JD, quit talking crazy. We all know that people aren’t responsible for their own actions. That’s why we need more bankrupting bills that relieve them of that burden.
Tully (4dce1a) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:35 amOooh, I think I understand the game now. Robert Byrd held the title of Exalted Cyclops in the KKK. Robert Byrd is a Democrat Senator and wasn’t even drummed out of the Democrat party when he used the term “white n*****”
ERGO, All democrats are racist. Or members of the KKK. Or Exalted Cyclops. Something like that.
w3bgrrl (12f86d) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:46 amI always thought it was wrong to take the actions and characteristics of an individual or small group, and extrapolate that out to the larger group. JEA is a bigot.
JD (6a0bfc) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:47 am…but w3bgrrl, don’t forget the most important part: The D or R after their name. Byrd = D, ergo we can look the other way.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 3/23/2010 @ 9:52 amJEA, JD makes a very good point. You seem to be a bigot. And even though Dana also makes a good point, and I might be violating the rules of the game by doing this to you, I hereby toss you the hell out.
And I disavow you.
You are hereby weeded. Ignore the fact that I have no control over whether you will leave or stop posting your bigoted remarks. That’s irrelevant. What matters here is that I did something symbolic.
w3bgrrl (12f86d) — 3/23/2010 @ 10:00 amJEA, the difference between you and a number of us here, is that you have been so conditioned to group think and sheep mentality, that you believe if one person makes a statement, everyone automatically agrees with that statement. Thus it follows you believe group punishment is appropriate.
We don’t. We’re individualists who believe in individual responsibility for individual actions. The left might want to consider this: Individual responsibility.
So, if there was a person attending the Tea Party protest and made a racist comment (of which you have NO proof of, and if it did occur, we don’t know if it was a Tea Partier or a lefty plant or just a whackadoodle nutjob), then they alone are responsible for their actions.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 3/23/2010 @ 10:13 amThe people who beat a black man at a Tea Party event last year were SIEU thugs; bought and paid for by Obama and his supporters. Seems to me the only racists I have seen are (as usuall) on the Democrat side.
Although it does seem that the Democrats are trying to rebrand their enforcment/terrorism arm frm KKK to SIEU.
Have Blue (854a6e) — 3/23/2010 @ 10:15 amConsidering how many alleged hate-crimes turned out to be fake, why should we believe grossly partisan people like Barney Franks and the CBC, people with an established record of speaking falsehoods?
pst314 (dbf8fd) — 3/23/2010 @ 10:17 amNothing new here, but just try this out of people like JEA, and watch their heads explode:
<blockquote>So…if the actions of a few define the many, how about Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s statement that HIV was invented by scientists to destroy blacks? I mean, I haven’t heard BHO specifically disavow that. Thus, he must be responsible—as responsible as Wright—for spreading inflammatory lies and damaging race relations in this country.
But…but…that’s different.
As usual.
Eric Blair (c8876d) — 3/23/2010 @ 10:18 amTranslation: I’m full of shit, and since I don’t have anything better, I’m gonna call you all racists because you won’t all do what I say even though I don’t have any good reasons for you to.
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 3/23/2010 @ 10:54 am#28 JD:
Ergo, all lefties are bigots.
But I state the obvious. And although the method of arriving at the conclusion illustrated is erroneous, the conclusion itself is not.
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 3/23/2010 @ 11:05 amBTW, a friend of mine was there, and one of the CBC called him an “ignorant cracker” when asked about why they need 16,500 new IRS agents to implement a healthcare bill.
Haven’t heard a peep about that story, have you?
Kern (7cc8bc) — 3/23/2010 @ 11:49 amTo all the people calling me a bigot, I suggest you actually READ MY POSTS. I never said, nor do I believe, that the Tea Party movement is bigoted. I said the Tea Party movement hasn’t done anything to distance themselves from the people who are (a small minority), and it’s hurting them.
You might want to take a remedial reading comprehension course.
JEA (53fe4f) — 3/23/2010 @ 12:38 pmJEA
And what has the pro-obama forces done to distance themselves for keith olberman, or chris matthews.
Seriously, when i express myself do i have to provide a bunch of fine print? Should i say something like this:
> I don’t like massive crushing debt. [I hereby distance myself from any bigots in the audience, nazis, socialists, communists, sadomasochists, sexists, gay bashers, tax cheats, journalists, nose pickers, wife beaters, confederate sympathizers, people alleging to adhere to the religion of “Jedi,” scientologists (redundancy noted), bigamists, porn starts, televangelists…
Well, you get the idea. i always love how the left feels the need to set up rules by which the right is required to denounce lots of people every time we talk. But the left seemingly gets a free pass even as their president hangs out with racists and terrorists.
The fact is that spitting didn’t happen. So they are discredited on part of their story, and thus wholly discredited. I don’t have to distance myself from the lies and fantasies of others.
A.W. (e7d72e) — 3/23/2010 @ 12:45 pmI have occasionally read your posts, dating back quite some time.
While often content free, they nevertheless portray you consistently as a bigot.
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 3/23/2010 @ 1:17 pmJEA, should the Tea Partiers do this before or after the Dems distance themselves from SEIU thugs? Because what I’m seeing you do is make accusations (at this point unfounded, although you do claim to have witnessed it *many* times and I would love evidence…)against Tea Partiers and yet remain silent in light of the DNC’s
associationnee embrace of those who are notorious for their intimidation tactics, corruption, and discriminatory behavior.Double standards are very unattractive.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 3/23/2010 @ 1:59 pmJEA, what you are is a “concern troll”.
And frankly, it got old awhile ago.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/23/2010 @ 2:49 pm