Demonstrators on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, during a Republican health care reform rally. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Tea Parties are leading the GOP to ruin, and the GOP seems powerless to stop their free fall from mainstream to fringe. The latest tea party demonstration was again the scene for expressions of the most vulgar and outrageous insults to the President, Democrats and health care reform.
Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing. Yet the Republicans do their party a severe disservice when they associate with the angry wing nuts of the far right. The great, vast, political middle of America wants nothing to do with extremism on the left or right. By associating the Republican party with right wing extremists, Republicans lose ground with the mainstream, and give the vital political middle to President Obama and the Democrats.
Columnist David Corn describes the scene at the most recent gathering:
The angry folks at the protest -- which attracted several thousand conservatives -- held up signs with messages of hate: "Get the Red Out of the White House," "Waterboard Congress," "Ken-ya Trust Obama?" One called the president a "Traitor to the U.S. Constitution." Another sign showed pictures of dead bodies at the Dachau concentration camp and compared health care reform to the Holocaust. A different placard depicted Obama as Sambo. Yes, Sambo. Another read, "Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds" -- a reference to the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory holding that one evil Jewish family has manipulated events around the globe for decades.
All of this extremism was on display -- proudly -- at an event that was officially sponsored by the House Republicans.
President Obama as Sambo? Wow. If the GOP does not distant itself from such blatant right wing nuttery, they will find only desolation and disintegration.
It is legitimate to question the President's policies; it is legitimate to question or even reject Democratric proposals for health care reform. However, depicting President Obama as "Sambo", claiming President Obama is a "traitor", comparing health care reform to Nazi concentration camps, are simply illegitimate critiques that the American people will not endorse or tolerate.
Good Americans want nothing to do with the racism, the antisemitism, the crazed hatred that the Tea Partiers have come to embody. Their destructive, toxic form of political discourse will lead the GOP to ruin.
Other Articles of Interest:
Tea partiers protest; AMA, AARP support health care reform
R-71 'everything but marriage' passes in Washington State
Bigotry trumps compassion; Maine rejects gay marriage
NY's 23rd district elects Dem; GOP broken and divided
Comments
" Tea Parties are leading the GOP to ruin, and the GOP seems powerless to stop their free fall from mainstream to fringe."
For once I agree with Mikey. But for different reasons I believe.
I think the premise of the teabaggers are bringing down the GOP, well, yes. THAT was the entire idea Mikey. We are TIRED OF THEM TOO! Not just the fascist lib-progs what ever the term of the day is. WE DON'T LIKE ANY OF THEM. Have you not been listening?
WE ARE THE MAJORITY! WE have been silent long enough. WE PAY ALL THE BILLS! The small business owners, the self employed. Teh other hard working Americans who are paying ALL the bills. We are tired of it. WE don't hate people. We just wish to be left to make OUR OWN DECISIONS about many things in our lives. If I screw up, I screw up. I am responsible. If I succeed, I prosper. Don't force my to hand over 30% to 50% of my pay every week.
We have a 2nd amendment. Shooting into crowds can be fun!
As far as leading a party to ruin, the tea baggers are nothing compared to Barry. That wacko at Ft Hood provided him an opportunity to stand in front of the country as commander in chief and he spent the first couple of minutes looking like and idiot. Him and his elves had plenty of time to prepare for that and they still screwed it up. The best thing that could happen to Barry is for the health care thing to go away, it worked well for Bill Clinton. If it passes, the country is going to get very fed up with Barry and and democrats real fast and he will find himself on a peanut farm in Plains Georgia.
The wingnuts and teabaggers have totally taken over the right. They're leading Boehner and the other so called GOP "leaders" around by the nose. Palin and Limbaugh are the Pied Pipers of the Party of No.
I continue to enjoy the self exposure of the left in the Ft Hood shooting. All their stories tend to try to explain his motives away and reduce the importance of his adherence to Islam.
The left shies away from even calling him a terrorist. They were fast to call the town hall protesters terrorists though.
They defend child rapist directors. Child prostitution and sex slave support is defended if exposed by someone on the right.
Now they are defending a Islamist terrorist.
Obama was faster casting the Massachusetts police as racist than he is to cast this terrorist as one!
We are seeing every day just who's side the left is on.
Repubs-R-Dumb says: The wingnuts and teabaggers have totally taken over the right.
And we won elections all over the country Tuesday night!!!! Sucka!
Organized jewry runs America. Thank jews for bringing about the 1965 Immigration Act which opened the floodgates to the 3rd world. Jews like AIPAC also pushed America into war with Iraq and are doing the same now with Iran.
Consideration of facts should precede formation of opinion. If 'progressives' entertained this progression, they'd arrive at better conclusions. Fact: this is a center right country. 52-59% say they're conservative. Fact: conservatives are most closely aligned with the Founders: limited government, low taxes, strong defense, economic freedom, individual responsibility, no to entitlements, equality not equal outcomes (fairness). Third, the vast majority of those at Tea Parties, Townhalls and D.C. protests (conservatives) are anything but extreme or rude. Did Stone decry anti-war protestors in Portland defecating and urinating in the streets, starting fires, destroying property, causing injury? Let Uncle Bob and grandma and gramps exercise a little free speech and Stone gets steamed. Ha! Truth is Tea Party folks are 99.9% decent people working to restore our country. And the GOP is moving in the Right direction as a result of their non-partisan Americanism.
A joy to see!
Interesting that none of the tea baggers commenting here deny or reject the racist name calling - and sweet little James just adds to the hate without a second thought. Folks like y'all disgust most Americans, no matter how you spin it.
Obama said that the guy who killed the soliders at fort hood was awsome. He called him the greatest American Hero since Malcom X. Watch Fox News morans. Learn the truth!
Malcom X was a conservative republican. Listen to his speeches.
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