It has long been demonstrated that Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester lives in cloud-cuckoo land, and that this is beneficial for the GOP (we who are Republicans therefore collectively hope that Forrester is made Democratic Chairman in perpetuity). However, how Forrester can defend the remarks of the Tennessee House Democratic Caucus Chairman in which he basically said that House Republicans, and all Republicans-concerned about saving the State of Tennessee from the impending budgetary obligations of the federal government's health care tyranny-are racist because they oppose President Obama:
"'We've got a lot of bills on states' rights here, state sovereignty and all that,' he added. 'We went through that fight once before. All of a sudden, we have a black man elected president and everybody wants to start acting like something's wrong with our country. I didn't agree with a lot of things George Bush did, but I wasn't ready to secede from the union.' "Asked to elaborate afterward, Turner said, 'I think some of the people who are against Obama are just against Obama because he's African-American.'"
The Democrats cannot win the debates on the merits of the constitutional argument for the health care bill (there is no good constitutional argument for the health care bill) and they know that people at every level are angry with the filthy, low-handed way in which the Democratic Party-forever revealed as the party which sees fit to urinate on both the federal Constitution and centuries of common law legislative custom whenever they please-managed to pass one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation ever put to a vote in the 234-year history of the federal Republic. The only hope the Democrats have of salvaging some semblance of political credibility in this State is to accuse anyone who opposes the latest outgrowth of the federal leviathan as a racist, and anyone who favors taking steps to save the posterity of Tennessee from owing the federal government their entire selves is "just against Obama because he is African-American."
This debate has revealed another side to a lot of people. It has shown us a John Boehner who was not long ago seen as a dry, dispassionate federal Leader who has emerged as a fiery fighter for conservative ideas and a potential future Speaker of the federal House of Representatives. We've seen a Bart Stupak who was once a passionate defender of human life at all costs sell his soul for a promise that even the White House Chief of Staff admits is empty. Unfortunately, Tennesseans can now see our own State House Democratic Caucus Chairman, a man who I always believed was, if nothing else, a genuinely decent human being who was wrong on politics but right on temperament. Instead, Mike Turner has shown himself to be everything his harshest Republican opposition has always said that he was-a mouthy, angry, underhanded, untrustworthy union thug with little decency and no manners. I never wanted to believe these things about Turner, he has always been nice to me...but in calling the political opposition racist because it is becoming apparent that the Democrats are about to lose an election partly on States' rights, Mike Turner is allowing his political enemies to dictate the terms of the debate, and making the worst images of him come to life for all of Tennessee to see.
I feel sorry for Mike Turner, for he sees no shame in what he has managed to do to himself.
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