# Another example of teabagger classiness **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 21, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234 "2010-03-21T15:19:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/121 "2010-03-29T23:36:09Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > [Here you go.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/28/congressman-spit-on-by-te_n_516300.html) Huffington Post has as much credibility with me as Free Republic does for you. That said, after looking at the video, the man has his hands cupped around his mouth and is screaming, presumably “kill the bill” with the rest of the crowd. John Lewis walks past, then someone with a camera who puts it right in his face, and then Cleaver. I think Cleaver felt a bit of spit from the plosive “b” and reacted as scripted. Of course, anyone who wants to see spitting is going to. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/122 "2010-03-29T23:45:49Z")
Mind if we call you “Stretch”? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/123 "2010-03-29T23:50:08Z")
> [@Evil\_One](#): > > Huffington Post has as much credibility with me as Free Republic does for you. > > That said, after looking at the video, the man has his hands cupped around his mouth and is screaming, presumably “kill the bill” with the rest of the crowd. John Lewis walks past, then someone with a camera who puts it right in his face, and then Cleaver. I think Cleaver felt a bit of spit from the plosive “b” and reacted as scripted. > > Of course, anyone who wants to see spitting is going to. While other wingnuts would see it as a kiss goodnight if told to. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/124 "2010-03-29T23:56:21Z")
[And now we have Bill, calling from North Carolina…](http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/c-span-caller-rails-against-black-callers.php) ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/125 "2010-03-30T00:00:54Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I’ve been curious about **Airman Door** ’s reaction to the calls for violence as well. He’s very soothing: “It’s nothing to worry about.” I, for one, am not soothed. Well it’s clearly not as serious as a laser pointer in a bar or a picnic with other Dopers… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/126 "2010-03-30T00:05:28Z")
They have no _shibboleth_, no identifying feature, no agreed principles for collective action. In practical terms, they don’t really exist, they are far more noise than substance. A vile bigot with more prejudices than a dog has fleas has equal standing to call himself a “Tea-party” person as the moderately insane fellow who wants the country to go back to the gold standard and then abolish government. That is their biggest strength, that they have no points of exclusion, hence, they can bring the widest possible number. Also their weakness, since they can formulate much of an agenda to pursue. Fortunately for them, there is a major party right at hand that has an agenda they can borrow. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/127 "2010-03-30T00:55:09Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Mind if we call you “Stretch”? Luci, if you want to call that video conclusive proof of Cleaver being intentionally spit on by someone who is absolutely guilty of racist motives, be my guest. I’m still waiting on any evidence of “n-word” calling by the way…just one time will do. I don’t need all the “fabled 15”. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/128 "2010-03-30T01:01:28Z")
I don’t, really, I’m not even convinced it matters. Just that your explanation groans under the effort. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/129 "2010-03-30T12:32:08Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I don’t, really, I’m not even convinced it matters. Just that your explanation groans under the effort. There’s a lot of that going around these days. My problem with this manufactured controversey is the intellectual dishonestly. I return to my first point…the capitol was thick with cameras that day. I used to shoot news for a living. If I were working that day and heard the “N-word” even once, I would take off like a rocket to find the source. By the time it was said the fabled 15 times, there would have been video of it from every angle. If it existed, we would be seeing it 24 hours a day. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/130 "2010-03-30T13:52:11Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > You are in case you hadn’t noticed. The way to not defend them is to say something like “I condemn the racism and calls for violence” in every post where you talk about the racism and the violence and how they are giving a bad image to your party. But you don’t. Why is that? > > The Republican Party, its members, its leadership and its media outlets does not condemn the whipped up hysteria, but instead take turns fomenting it. If you lay down with a pig like Limbaugh, you are going to be tarred with his constant lies and fomenting of hatred. I did not defend people who are calling for violence, nor would I ever do so. And why would I condemn people who give a bad image to “my party” when I don’t have one being a political independent? > [@Frank](#): > > I’ve been curious about Airman Door’s reaction to the calls for violence as well. He’s very soothing: “It’s nothing to worry about.” I, for one, am not soothed. Are you really that concerned? Do you really think that there is going to be a general uprising of right-wing lunatics? I go to sleep every night, I wake up every day, and I do what I need to do without once worrying about a mob coming to overthrow the United States and its government, or even killing the local members of Planned Parenthood or the members of the local Democratic Party. You may rest assured that nobody is coming for you, your loved ones, or people who represent your cherished beliefs. Seriously, **Frank** , you make it sound like this country is on the abyss. It is not. It has survived actual insurrection, it has survived race riots, draft riots, terrorist attacks, it has survived everything that has been thrown at it for the last 200 years. With that in mind, buffoonish puffery is what concerns you? Relax. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/131 "2010-03-30T14:23:50Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > I can’t help but wonder how many knuckledragging racists have to be _in_ the Republican party before they become _representative_ of the Republican party? A simple majority? A plurality? When does this mythical vote occur? Yeah. When exactly do they cross the Rube-icon? ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/132 "2010-03-30T14:31:57Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > I go to sleep every night, I wake up every day, and I do what I need to do without once worrying about a mob coming to overthrow the United States and its government, or even killing the local members of Planned Parenthood or the members of the local Democratic Party. Wasn’t there a fairly high-profile story of an abortion provider being murdered a few months ago? I seem to remember something like that from the US, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/133 "2010-03-30T14:45:31Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > I did not defend people who are calling for violence, nor would I ever do so. And why would I condemn people who give a bad image to “my party” when I don’t have one being a political independent? > > Are you really that concerned? Do you really think that there is going to be a general uprising of right-wing lunatics? I go to sleep every night, I wake up every day, and I do what I need to do without once worrying about a mob coming to overthrow the United States and its government, or even killing the local members of Planned Parenthood or the members of the local Democratic Party. You may rest assured that nobody is coming for you, your loved ones, or people who represent your cherished beliefs. > > Seriously, **Frank** , you make it sound like this country is on the abyss. It is not. It has survived actual insurrection, it has survived race riots, draft riots, terrorist attacks, it has survived everything that has been thrown at it for the last 200 years. With that in mind, buffoonish puffery is what concerns you? Relax. I worry that the more these idiots get riled up, the better the chance of them actually hurting somebody, and that somebody could be me or my kids. Does that sound crazy? Well, a guy got run off the road and attacked with his ten year old daughter in the car because he had an Obama sticker on his bumper. I have an Obama sticker on my car, and I frequently have all three of my kids in the car. Even though I live in a liberal metro, I’ve still gotten some weird responses to the sticker, including honking, gesticulating, shouted obsecenties and middle fingers. Am I worried about these idiots overthrowing the US? Of course not, but I am worried one of them might try to run me off the road when I’ve got my kids in the car, especially whn I have to leave MSP and drive to my wife’s hometown of Devils Lake, ND (which is the town where _Jesus Camp_ was filmed, so that should give you an idea of what the politics are like there). I had my car vandalized in North Dakota when I used to have a Clintn-Gore sticker. I shudder to think how they would respond to an Obama sticker. I’m also worried the teabaggers might actually kill somebody in Congress or tryto kill the President. Obama has already gotten more death threats than any other POTUS in history, the teabaggers just had their little kristallnacht, their language is becoming increasingly violent and overtly racist. These are not harmless people. They obviously can’t overthrow the government, but they can still do damage, and I exepect that they will. I think it’s only a matter of time until they kill somebody. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/134 "2010-03-30T15:21:26Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Obama has already gotten more death threats than any other POTUS in history While I share many of your concerns, this particular claim needs some qualification. The still-increasing spread of the internet, in which more people have had access in this past year of Obama’s administration than in any year of Bush43, Clinton or Bush41, means that it is far easier to dash off a public “threat” in the heat of the moment and have it publicly disseminated. Per capita, there may have been a comparable number of jerks who hated Reagan or Carter, but they didn’t have Facebook pages or instant-message networks or anything similar where they could rattle off a “somebody should kill that guy” and have it zip instantly and permanently into some database where the Secret Service can find and take note of it. They’d instead mutter it at their favourite bar, where it might get some sympathetic nods from fellow patrons, but would otherwise go unrecorded and forgotten. It won’t be a fair comparison until internet usage (in the U.S. at least, where I presume most threats against a president originate) stabilizes. [This chart](http://www.internetworldstats.com/am/us.htm), for what it’s worth, shows American internet usage nearly doubling since 2000. It’ll take a few years longer for penetration to plateau at levels comparable to television (i.e. 95%+), helped along by tech-indifferent seniors starting to die off. I figure the comparison of Obama’s threat-rate and that of whoever follows him will be interesting and useful. With internet-availability stabilized, we’ll have a better shot at calculating just what percentage of it was due to racism. Well, unless the next president is Michael Steele, or something. That could be amusing for a whole lot of reasons. Personally, I’d like to see Colin Powell step forward as the guy who says to the Republicans “Ten-HUT, you spoiled brat morons! I’ve had enough of this shit! I’M you’re god-damned mama and papa now, so shut the fuck up and get your ass in gear!” No argument, though, that the teabaggers include a fair share of morons, who are now competing with each other to see who can be the most extreme, since this gets the attention of the press. What moderate teabaggers there might be are marginalized and ignored as a result. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/135 "2010-03-30T15:48:01Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > Wasn’t there a fairly high-profile story of an abortion provider being murdered a few months ago? I seem to remember something like that from the US, anyway. I’m sure that never really happened, it was just a bit of manufactured lefitst propaganda :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/136 "2010-03-30T15:50:56Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > Wasn’t there a fairly high-profile story of an abortion provider being murdered a few months ago? I seem to remember something like that from the US, anyway. I’m not minimizing that particular attack, but I will note that those particular attacks have been happening since I was a kid and they will continue to happen long after I’m gone. Attributing that to the current situation is absurd. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/137 "2010-03-30T16:00:24Z")
I thought so; I don’t understand why you put it next to a mob overthrowing the US government or killing members of a political party in a list of things you “don’t once worry about” happening, though. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/138 "2010-03-30T16:07:57Z")
I did because **Frank** made it a point to [mention it on page 1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12250124&postcount=30). ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/139 "2010-03-30T16:11:18Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > While I share many of your concerns, this particular claim needs some qualification. The still-increasing spread of the internet, in which more people have had access in this past year of Obama’s administration than in any year of Bush43, Clinton or Bush41, means that it is far easier to dash off a public “threat” in the heat of the moment and have it publicly disseminated. Per capita, there may have been a comparable number of jerks who hated Reagan or Carter, but they didn’t have Facebook pages or instant-message networks or anything similar where they could rattle off a “somebody should kill that guy” and have it zip instantly and permanently into some database where the Secret Service can find and take note of it. They’d instead mutter it at their favourite bar, where it might get some sympathetic nods from fellow patrons, but would otherwise go unrecorded and forgotten. I agree with your statement that any suggestion like “Obama has had more death threats” should be empirically supported. However, you appear to discount a key factor in your analysis. Obama is the first black president of the US. It may have been more than 20 years ago, but I think Eddie Murphy’s stand-up routine in “Delirious” is still highly appropriate, and that was just in regards to regular conservatives/racists. Amplify the baseline racist sentiment about a black president by the neo-con/tea-party factor, and it’s almost guaranteed that Obama will get way more death threats than Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush combined. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234/140 "2010-03-30T16:30:02Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > I did because **Frank** made it a point to [mention it on page 1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12250124&postcount=30). I’d forgotten his name, thank you for reminding me. I’m still confused about what the list of things you don’t worry about was meant to convey. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-example-of-teabagger-classiness/533234.md?page=8)