Yahoo News: Tea party protesters use racial epithet against Georgia's John Lewis

[twa]

I thought you were the Man

The IRS is the Man(or it's strong right arm) ,unfortunately being the boss simply means they take it directly from you.

And this reform simply expands the Man's reach and power.

I'm simply another cog in the wheel of progress

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day

better move it back some more

[Burgundy Burner]

And the people who spent hours, months, a year, telling these people that if any health care bill whatsoever passes, then the government will kidnap their children and torture them to death, have no responsibility whatsoever.

Please, provide specifics.

[Larry]

protesters.... the bums need to get jobs

Oh, so you want the government to give them health care, and a job, huh?

Socialist.

[Burgold]

Were you there? On what basis would you know that it was very civil? On what scale are you calling this very civil. I can tell you just from some of the signs that I saw on the Metro I wouldn't call it very civil. In fact, if I printed what some of them said I might get mod-hammered.

Now, my overall impression was that it was peaceable and a good gathering, but civil is in the eye or ear of the beholder.

[Larry]

Please, provide specifics.

The fact that you can't tell when the Right's "debate" on this subject has been intentionally exaggerated into the most hateful, scare mongering thing I could think of, says a lot.

[TheGoodBits]

You have got to be kidding me! It was VERY civil. Yelling "kill the bill" is not uncivil. It was VERY respectful. I saw no one throwing objects at these politicians. I never heard a single bad word - not one. These were Americans expressing their anger and frustrations in an organized and civilized manner.

After being on the receiving end of one of these protests this past week, I can say that as a whole they were pretty civil (in my case). Incredibly misinformed, but civil. I was in line to get into the Obama speech at the Patriot Center on Friday, and the protesters were set up right beside the line. Other than a couple idiots who were really rude/offensive to the people in line, most were ok.

I don't doubt that this happened though. The Tea Party folks need to realize that they tend to attract the radicals on their side of the political spectrum.

[Burgundy Burner]

Were you there? On what basis would you know that it was very civil? On what scale are you calling this very civil. I can tell you just from some of the signs that I saw on the Metro I wouldn't call it very civil. In fact, if I printed what some of them said I might get mod-hammered.

Now, my overall impression was that it was peaceable and a good gathering, but civil is in the eye or ear of the beholder.

I wasn't there. I can only go on four people who went and the only communicaiton they had with me was a text late last night. From their perspective, it was peaceful and loud at the same time. In other words, no violence occurred and these protestors were loud in their chants - nothing more, nothing less.

I have seen uncivil on two occasions. Both times it involved the return of my father from Vietnam. No need to elaborate because no one in here would condone that behavior.

[Chachie]

This is my POV. I think it happened. I don't think it was a "Tea Party" thing.

I'm going to catch a lot of backlash for this..

I certainly don't think it was a tea party agenda thing but I do think it's a tea party member profile thing. Not the majority of members, okay?- but a noticeable minority. Many of the folks I'm aware of in my extended social network who support the tea party also have a very redneck ideology and though they'd deny it in public, they have very racist backgrounds. I'm not claiming that these specific people even truly know what the tea party is about. I'm saying a new political fad that attracts conservatives has also attracted an undesired element of the conservative base.

[Burgold]

Ah, if your operational definition of a civil protest was that it was non-violent then I agree with you. It was generally a well-behaved protest from what I saw in person and on the tube. (It wasn't necessarily a civil one. There were a lot of people in the Tea Party with a finger extended, but as any etiquette person would inform you. When drinking tea it is important to extend the pinky not the tea parties finger of choice.)

(Disclosure: No, I didn't actually see them flipping the bird, but I thought/hoped it would be a cute line)

[Raljon20785]

I happen to have a backwards playing turntable that I bought during the late 1960's to play Beatles albums. When the audio feed is converted to a vinyl 33rpm recording and played backwards, you can hear "We're evil racist bigoted homophobes!" Case closed.

[NewCliche21]

Forget that Michael Steele denounced it, the Tea Party denounced it, most major news outlets reported it, elected officials reported it, and witnesses reported it. There's no YouTube video of it, so it didn't happen.

When your best argument is "Were you there?", you should probably stop talking. I mean, you could lead Iran with that kind of "point."

[NewCliche21]

[double post]

[Madison Redskin]

Wait, you mean to tell me that there might be ignorant racists amongst the tea baggers? I'm shocked. They have a reputation for being extremely well educated, civil, and emotionally balanced. Are you going to tell me next that these fine citizens are comparing Obama to Hitler?

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Obviously, most tea party protestors are not like the jackasses pictured above. However, that crowd tends to attract more than its fair share of loons. So, for people to be incredulous and disbelieve the allegation that people shouted the "n" word at one of these rallies is kind of comical.

[twa]

Forget that Michael Steele denounced it, the Tea Party denounced it, most major news outlets reported it, elected officials reported it, and witnesses reported it. There's no YouTube video of it, so it didn't happen.

When your best argument is "Were you there?", you should probably stop talking. I mean, you could lead Iran with that kind of "point."

These denouncements were general to any possible occurrence and opposition to racist epithets or bad behavior....... or based on fact?

I welcome any first person testimony...got any other than the Congresscritters?

[Destino]

Ignorant language at a tea party protest? No way...

[Destino]

These denouncements were general to any possible occurrence and opposition to racist epithets or bad behavior....... or based on fact?

I welcome any first person testimony...got any other than the Congresscritters?

Yes because random tea party loons are far more credible than a congressman...

[Burgundy Burner]

Forget that Michael Steele denounced it, the Tea Party denounced it, most major news outlets reported it, elected officials reported it, and witnesses reported it. There's no YouTube video of it, so it didn't happen.

When your best argument is "Were you there?", you should probably stop talking. I mean, you could lead Iran with that kind of "point."

That reminds me of what happened this week in New Jersey - the incident occurred not too far from where I live in fact. Last week, someone got on the speaker system at a local Wal-Mart and said "all black people are asked to leave the store". Many were quick to blame Wal-Mart and the company issued many apologies.

So who did it? A sixteen year old customer who was pulling a horrible prank (he was with a friend and probably did this on a dare) was the culprit. Perhaps Wal-Mart needs to have better control of their speaker system, but those who were quick to condemn Wal-Mart hasn't absolved the company at all.

[twa]

Yes because random tea party loons are far more credible than a congressman...

Yes ... in my eyes

at least I haven't heard their lies and seen the corruption:evilg:

[The Brave Little Toaster Oven]

sounds like a red herring...

[Burgundy Burner]

sounds like a red herring...

I prefer yellowfin tuna, salmon, and swordfish.

[aREDSKIN]

So, for people to be incredulous and disbelieve the allegation that people shouted the "n" word at one of these rallies is kind of comical.

You'll have to do better than that. Inferences are one thing FACTS are another. Please provide substantiated evidence what Lewis et al claimed is a FACT. That's all. Pretty simple.

[Burgundy Burner]

Wait, you mean to tell me that there might be ignorant racists amongst the tea baggers? I'm shocked. They have a reputation for being extremely well educated, civil, and emotionally balanced. Are you going to tell me next that these fine citizens are comparing Obama to Hitler?

Obviously, most tea party protestors are not like the jackasses pictured above. However, that crowd tends to attract more than its fair share of loons. So, for people to be incredulous and disbelieve the allegation that people shouted the "n" word at one of these rallies is kind of comical.

There are extremists on both sides - we know that to be true. To say that a greater number of extremists are on the right is nothing more than a talking point with no merit.

I realize that having conservative views will place me and several members of my family in the "racist, homophobe, communist labler, etc. etc. etc." crowd more often than not. I know of four people who were at the rally yesterday - all good people.

[Prosperity]

Seeing as how protests tend to be full of nut jobs, I don't think the bar should be set so high that we need some indisputable evidence to say it probably happened. At the same time, it's not a huge deal because we already know protests tend to attract the loonies. Whether or not it happened doesn't really mean the tea party movement is any more or less awful than it is, since the acts of isolated individuals aren't a sign of everybody in the movement thinking the same thing.

[Barney B]

John Boehner on CSpan radio a few minutes ago, when asked about the "civility" of the protests:

"There were isolated incidents on the hill yesterday which were...reprehensible, and should not have happened". Nothing more specific than that. You could probably could apply those sentiments in retrospect to any kindergarden field trip.

But reprehensible behavior should probably be expected when you tell people that specific legislation will "ruin" this country. His credibility might be higher if he hadn't made similarly inflated claims about Clinton's tax increase.

[Prosperity]

John Boehner on CSpan radio a few minutes ago, when asked about the "civility" of the protests:

"There were isolated incidents on the hill yesterday which were...reprehensible, and should not have happened". Nothing more specific than that. You could probably could apply those sentiments in retrospect to any kindergarden field trip.

But reprehensible behavior should probably be expected when you tell people that specific legislation will "ruin" this country. His credibility might be higher if he hadn't made similarly inflated claims about Clinton's tax increase.

this is true to a certain extent. You tell an ignorant mob that the congress is about to commit treason, or ruin the country, or other such dumb assery then one shouldn't be surprised when some in the ignorant mob do reprehensible things.