There’s lots of pictures of the nuts at the “tea party protests” yesterday being posted around the blogosphere, but this kid might best represent what rational people of the country are up against (hat tip Andrew Sullivan). Here’s what his sign says (also from Sullivan):
So Obama is both a Communist and a Fascist. As all they care about is insults, the specifics don’t really matter. Who know what he means by “Nazi Youth Militia.” This makes no more sense than another picture which Andrew Sullivan posted which compares health care reform, which gives people the ability to purchase affordable health insurance which will not drop them when they get sick, to a Nazi Euthanasia Program. Not all that long ago the right wingers were attacking Nancy Pelosi for noting all the references to Nazis in the signs carried by right wing protesters. She has repeatedly been proven to be right.
These people are totally out of touch with reality and the right wing blogosphere is embracing their insanity.
So what? Go to any protest, left or right, and you will find nuts o’ plenty.
You won’t find tens of thousands of them, but you will always find enough that you can talk about the nuts rather than the actual grievance that brought thousands out into the streets. I have been to San Francisco and Santa Cruz protests, some of which had valid points. There were always kooks in the crowd. I don’t recall liberals saying that their protests should be dismissed because of the guys carrying a paper mache Bushitler, or the anarchists spraypainting city buses, or chanting unprintable (but clever!) rhymes.
(As an historical aside, Mussolini was a communist before founding fascism. There was always a strong socialist vein in Fascism’s mega-state.)
It’s not like this is a lone nut–he sees quite typical of the right wing. Claims that Obama is a communist, socialist, or fascist are commonplace from the right. This kid is somewhat unique in actually referring to McCarthy, but the right wing has increasingly been adopting McCarthyism.
When Bush started not one, but 2 wars costing the U.S. 10 million dollars per month which clearly we pay for with taxes, there were no tea parties. When Bush let terrorist attack our country and then helped the known terrorists families leave our country, there were no tea parties. When Bush was borrowing money from China to continue to finance a nonsese war, nobody was complaining about their taxes. NOW, that our new BLACK President is actually trying to spend money to re-vamp the economy Bush killed and wanting our tax dollars so that every American will have healthcare coverage NOW the “conservatives” want to make issues out of tax dollars?? God forbid our tax dollars actually go toward something valuable to the American people. (Unlike the BS war). I’m sorry, but there is something fundamentally screwed up with that! Even if there were a million, hell, even if it were 2 million the US population is well over 300 million. It’s comforting to know that there are only a small percentage of the actual population that don’t have issues with having a black President . It’s comforting to know that only a small percentage of American people were fine with all their tax dollars going to a nonsense war but have issues with them being used for American’s healthcare. The tea party should have issued white hoods.
Ron, It I hardly think this kid is typical of the right, but it is also not so crazy to say that the administration that nationalizes the largest auto company, and advocates single payer (nationalized) health care is a bit socialist. What was that definition again? I remember something about government control of some of the means of production. (Yeah, some go overboard with the commie and fascist tags, but do you remember Bush? Did folks ever insult him inaccurately? I’m sure I remember something about him arranging 9-11, lying us into a war, being Hitler, etc.)
Tammi V: I wish the wars cost only 10 million a month. 120 million annually is about what a large school district costs. But even at their real cost, the wars are dwarfed by domestic spending. One day last winter our government put us on the hook for about 800 Billion dollars. No one can give a good explanation of where this money is going, and what it is supposed to be doing. Most of it will be spent after the recession is over, so calling it stimulus is a bit dishonest. The next big idea was a huge increase in the scope and cost of government via healthcare reform. One of our real economic problems is that the folks buying out debt (the Chinese, as you point out) are taken aback by Obama’s sudden increase of the deficit and debt.
So now some folks have these symbolic gatherings to make sure their disagreement is heard. Part of the reason these generally first time protesters are out there is that they feel like neither party is hearing them. A lot of them probably want to be left alone by the government, but it’s hard to find good candidates running on a platform of doing less.
I’m no big Bush fan, but I have yet to hear anyone detail how exactly he killed the economy. The funniest explanation is when they point to his spending (which was too high) to say that is what killed the economy, oblivious to the fact that Obama vastly outspends W. Or they point to some program run by Chris Dodd or Charlie Rangel, again, oblivious.
By the way, none of this has a thing to do with race. I know it’s fun to get your hate on by picturing people who disagree with you as complete monsters, but it plays hell with clear thinking. Next time someone criticizes Obama, try addressing the critique without assuming base motives. You might
“It I hardly think this kid is typical of the right, but it is also not so crazy to say that the administration that nationalizes the largest auto company, and advocates single payer (nationalized) health care is a bit socialist.”
Yes it is crazy. Obama did not nationalize the largest auto company–he bailed them out at their request. The plan is set up so they will ultimately be viable as a private company–hardly consistent with socialism. Obama has taken a single payer health plan off the table.
“but I have yet to hear anyone detail how exactly he killed the economy. The funniest explanation is when they point to his spending (which was too high) to say that is what killed the economy, oblivious to the fact that Obama vastly outspends W.”
Bush helped kill the economy both from inadequate regulation of the banking industry and from his spending. It is hardly funny to point to this. Beyond all the conservative rhetoric, it is the Republicans who have been far more responsible for running up the deficit.
“By the way, none of this has a thing to do with race…”
Sure, and Nazi Germany had nothing to do with anti-Semitism.
“Next time someone criticizes Obama, try addressing the critique…”
It is very rare there is anything tangible in the criticism. It is generally just the usual right wing hatred, fear of the modern world, and, yes, racism.
GM is currently in gov’t hands, and it has been decided that we will pay for them to become viable again, hardly consistent with capitalism. Market discipline is essential to functioning capitalism. Bush and Obama have treated it as some abberation that we can perpetually correct with no effect on the behavior of actors in the market. Current bailouts will seem like a pilot program after the next wave.
When Obama “took single payer off the table” he replaced it with “public option” which is a plan I will be backing with my tax dollars against the private plans. Pardon me if I think this, combined with regulations which make most cost control illegal, constitute a back door attempt to make public option the only option left.
As for regulation and debt, look at who was in charge of the overwatch and who advocated the bailout of the first reckless fools. The record of Dodd, Frank, Rangle et al is not good. As for spending, if Bush spent much less than Obama, and Bush’s spending was bad, what is Obama’s spending? I’m not saying the DC GOP wasn’t part of the problem, but I can’t see how anything advocated by the left would have made things better. Who was is that said “leave the banks alone! They know who can pay off their loans. ” (Nobody, unfortunately.)
Why do you think I am racist? I really don’t get this. Can’t we have a black president and a loyal opposition? If I said the exact same thing about Gore or Kerry, would I still be racist? When I criticize Bush,am I just taking a break from being racist, or is it inherent in everything I do?
Here is a black man criticizing Obama: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/09/12/obamas_rhetoric_vs_common_sense.html
Is Thomas Sowell a self hating racist, or just confused?
“By the way, none of this has a thing to do with race.”
This statement is either painfully naive or intellectually dishonest… or even both.
The claim that specific members of minority groups are racist, when advanced by whites, invite close scrutiny. They are not necessarily proof of racism, but they demand a certain analysis.
In this case, accusing a man with a white mother, raised by his white grandparents, and completely inculcated in a ‘white’ family culture until young adulthood of hating white people without presenting tangible evidence is highly suggestive of claiming he can’t like white people because he is black. Which is certainly a racist statement.
I live in the quasi-rural South and I know my neighbors and their attitudes. Fear that Obama is a secret Muslim or a convicted belief that he was born in Kenya does not have its origins in any factual evidence. It is because he is black and he has a foreign sounding name.
A denial that race has anything to do with the hostility to the president is very close to Freudian ‘proof by denial’ as it relates to the motivations of the individual making the denial… or dangerous naivete.
Bailouts started under Bush and we would be seeing this regardless of which party was now in power. “Market discipline is essential to functioning capitalism.” Sometimes pure capitalism doesn’t work and it is necessary to intervene for the ultimate preservation of the capitalist system. This does not make someone a Communist.
“When Obama “took single payer off the table” he replaced it with “public option” which is a plan I will be backing with my tax dollars against the private plan”
No, the public option will be financed entirely through premiums from those who choose it–not from your tax dollars. The public option as designed would only cover a small percentage of people (as the Congressional Budget Office has predicted). There are not “regulations which make most cost control illegal.” The public option as designed is not a back door attempt for a single payer plan (even if some who are outside the Obama administration wish this was the case).
“The record of Dodd, Frank, Rangle et al…”
Those canards from the right have been debunked long ago. While some fault can be found in both parties, these claims are largely an attempt by Republicans to deny responsibility for all that went wrong while they were in power.
“but I can’t see how anything advocated by the left would have made things better”
It has been the Democrats who have been far more fiscally responsible in recent years. Republican talk is all rhetoric which ignores the actual records of the two parties. It is the Democrats who have advocated balanced budgets and pay as you go. During the 2008 campaign, it was McCain’s policies which would have increased the deficit far more than Obama’s. Obama’s current spending is greater than would have occurred if not for the financial crisis, but his contribution to the deficit remains minor compared to Bush’s.
“Why do you think I am racist?”
I never said you (or Thomas Sowell) is a racist. Racism is common on the right, but this does not mean every conservative is a racist. I bet the vast majority of those at the tea party protests are partially motivated by racism. Some of the attacks on Obama are the same as would be made by the right about Gore and Kerry but there is also an additional racist component seen in the attacks on Obama and racism is one of the reason that the right wing is even more unhinged than usual recently.
When people can’t explain something, they resort to this type of journalism of finding extreme cases and trying to make a point. Naturally, there is going to be “That Guy”, or in this case “That Kid” who’s skewed way off, but they don’t make up the majority. A lot of these people were protesting Bush’s TARP, Obama’s take over of GM, as well as his medical reform plan. There were Democrats and Independents at this protest as well!
Both sides are too busy splitting people into groups they can hate on (Nazis, Astroturf, Right-Wing Extremists, Socialists) etc, that you’re missing the point of what these people are really upset about.
Here’s some more pictures of how many people were there. The pictures show the protesters aren’t some small fringe group or astroturf.
http://www.jeffhead.com/americaawakes.htm
While not as bad as many of the other pictures I’ve seen, these pictures are still consistent with the other evidence that this is a fringe group.
Watching the antics of America’s angry, confused conservatives, many of us wonder, “how long must we endure these people?” Thankfully, as Martin Luther King once said: “How long? Not long.” Look at the faces of the Tea Party folks who gathered in Washington D.C., to stage a very muddled protest against what they alternately called President Obama’s socialist, fascist, Marxist or racist health care reform. What do you see? That’s right. White people. Well, white people won’t be the dominant race or culture in America for much longer. By 2042, they will be a minority, and their percentage of the population will continue to decline throughout the century and beyond. The numbers and power of white people are eroding, not only in the United States but around the world. As the color and culture of our great nation changes, the crazed conservatives – who comprise a slice of the white population but not of the population of people of color – will find themselves steadily marginalized. http://tiny.cc/whitefolks
While it is true that these people make white people look bad, human lunacy isn’t limited to any race.
So the core group, the ones who really are the true impetus of the movement, aren’t fanatical kooks, they are just regular people who don’t want to pay taxes, right? So then, maybe 25,000 are the ones who are normal, wealthy tax dodgers, another 20,000 are racists who can’t oblige a black president, another 10,000 are their because their boss wants them to be there, another 20,000 are tourists and possibly the rest are curious residents.
jeanna,
Considering that I have to make the third quarter estimate today, I don’t want to pay taxes either! I still wouldn’t want to associate with that group.
‘There were Democrats and Independents at this protest as well!’
Well, this is true. Lyndon Larouche, for all his frightening, right-wing, paranoid conspiracy theories is indeed a Democrat. However, when pointing to the Larouche crowd and saying ‘there were Democrats here too’ one doesn’t precisely prove one’s point. Larouche’s cult may be Democrats in registration, but they are far more squarely on the issues with the Sarah Palins and Michelle Bachmanns of the world. And of course, plenty of the fringe right wingers don’t belong to the GOP or the Dems. They belong to the AIP or the LP.
And hey, the AIP isn’t racist. They let Alan Keys join. Mighty white of ’em.
Those poor frightened people, it is too bad they let fear run their lives. Maybe they should see a doctor and get something for that.
The images of the tea party in Washington are blurred, this makes it look like there were more people than there really was. Overhead of the million man march from years ago are not blurred and show you what a crowd of 800,000 really looks like.