# Lies about Tea-Partiers? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036 "2010-10-13T19:27:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/1 "2010-10-13T19:27:38Z")
Recent threads focus on whether Tea Party bigwigs are crazy, or whether it’s all about liberals smearing them. I found the following quotations at [a rather left-wing website.](http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/10/08/top-10-craziest-tea-party-quotes-of-all-time/) There seems to be widespread agreement that the Teabagging masses are ignorant bigots, but these quotes are by Congressman and by candidates for high office. Are these quotes valid? Or is this just more smearing by left-wingers? Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.: > [@](#): > > “Gay marriage is probably the biggest issue that will impact our state and our nation in the last, at least, thirty years. I am not understating that,” > > She also claimed that “Democrats in Congress” needed to be investigated for being un-American and that all Congress should do — once the Republicans reclaim the majority — is send out subpoena after subpoena and investigate the Obama administration Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz.: > [@](#): > > “[Obama] has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an enemy of humanity,” > Franks is an Arizona Congressman and said that last week during a conservative “values” forum. He also shortly later demanded that President Obama provide his birth certificate. When he was grilled by the media for making such an outlandish statement, his spokespeople claimed Franks was referring to “unborn” humanity and was speaking about Obama’s stance on abortion. Yeah, right. Glen Urquhart, tea party-backed candidate in Delaware: > [@](#): > > “The exact phrase ’separation of Church and State’ came out of Adolph Hitler’s mouth, that’s where it comes from. So the next time your liberal friends talk about the separation of Church and State, ask them why they’re Nazis.” > > He’s another tea party-backed candidate up in Delaware. He falsely claims “separation of church and state” was not in President Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. He said that last April. This guy also compared abortion to slavery. He’s a real gem. Tea party-backed candidate Sharron Angle: > [@](#): > > “I have been in the situation of counseling young girls… who have had very at risk, difficult pregnancies. And my counsel was to look for some alternatives, which they did. And they found that they had made what was really a lemon situation into lemonade,” said tea party-backed candidate Sharron Angle on abortion and why it should be illegal even in the case of rape or incest. > > This woman also believes we should get rid of the Veteran’s Administration and said essentially that big government equates Godlessness, because Americans then look to the government to provide from them as opposed to God. Sad thing is, she’s tied with Sen. Harry Reid down in Nevada. > > She also said > “I hope that’s not where we’re going, but you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I’ll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.” > > She also told Fox News the media should only report the news political candidates want them to report. Carl Paladino, New York State tea party-backed candidate for Governor: > [@](#): > > “These are beautiful properties with basketball courts, bathroom facilities, toilet facilities. Many young people would love to get the hell out of the cities,” … He was describing his idea to transform prisons into dorms for welfare recipients. > > Paladino has a knack for making headlines for being, well unhinged. He threatened the life of a reporter while on camera. He also sent out a bunch of racist and pornographic emails to hundreds of political and media contacts. He’s running against New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas: > [@](#): > > “You’d have to strike any laws against beastiality, if you’re oriented toward corpses, toward children, there are kinds of perversions,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert on why there should not be hate crime legislation. > > This Texas Republican said that back in May. He’s also the same guy who claims that immigrant infants pose a risk to national security as they will one day create terrorist cells. Christine O’Donnell, R- candidate for Senate: > [@](#): > > “It is not enough to be abstinent with other people, you also have to be abstinent alone. The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery, so you can’t masturbate without lust,” > > O’Donnell is the tea party-backed candidate seeking to replace Vice President Joe Biden in Delaware. She made the above statements on one of many appearances on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect. She also stated on that show that she had dabbled in witchcraft before turning to Christianity. Since then, O’Donnell has basically gone radio silent refusing all media appearances other than Fox News. > > She also said > > “We took the Bible and prayer out of public schools, and now we’re having weekly shootings practically. We had the 60s sexual revolution, and now people are dying of AIDS.” — Christine O’Donnell, during a 1998 appearance on Bill Maher’s ‘Politically Incorrect. > > and > “Well, I don’t think that the Obama administration knows what’s Jesus, what belongs to Jesus and what belongs to them. That’s my big gripe. Apparently, he doesn’t know. But then, that’s because he’s not a Christian. He’s Muslim,” O’Donnell said last November. > “It’s a proven fact he’s Muslim. He wasn’t born in this country. He was born in Kenya. There are people who know it, people who know where the birth certificate is. It’s locked up and our government can’t get a hold of it. He’s a illegitimate president, in my estimation.” Are _ **any** _ of these quotes real? Am I the only one who thinks American politics have gone _well past the stage of amusement_? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/2 "2010-10-13T19:30:53Z")
In before the shit storm starts. Are surorised at anything that gets said anymore? This is the face of reightwing “christian american” politics. Get used to it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/3 "2010-10-13T19:44:57Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Are _ **any** _ of these quotes real? Do you have some kind of medical condition that renders you unable to use search engines? If you enter the quotes into Google you’ll find the sources for most of them. In fact I bet you can find video of almost all of them. I found video of Trent Franks calling Obama an enemy of humanity, a CBS story where Uruqhart says Hitler coined the phrase “separation of church and state,” and C-Span footage of Gohmert’s bon mot about hate crimes. O’Donnell said Obama is a Muslim while she was speaking to the Washington Post. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/4 "2010-10-13T19:56:00Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Are these quotes valid? Or is this just more smearing by left-wingers? [Poe’s Law.](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poe%27s_Law) Left-wingers don’t need made-up crazy to smear the tea party because there’s so much real crazy to use. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/5 "2010-10-13T20:02:01Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > > [@septimus](#): > > > > Are _ **any** _ of these quotes real? > > Do you have some kind of medical condition that renders you unable to use search engines? If you enter the quotes into Google you’ll find the sources for most of them. In fact I bet you can find video of almost all of them. I found video of Trent Franks calling Obama an enemy of humanity, a CBS story where Uruqhart says Hitler coined the phrase “separation of church and state,” and C-Span footage of Gohmert’s bon mot about hate crimes. O’Donnell said Obama is a Muslim while she was speaking to the Washington Post. It’s really kind of a bizarre thread. It’s not like they’re quotes pulled from the dusty archives. I remember some, like the Bachman quote, first hand. And not in the “oh my god I’ll never forget she said that” sense, just in the “I was watching Chris Matthews that night two years ago” sense. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/6 "2010-10-13T20:12:06Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > There seems to be widespread agreement that the Teabagging masses are ignorant bigots… There does? ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/7 "2010-10-13T20:13:47Z")
Among people who know ignorant bigots when they see them, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/8 "2010-10-13T20:16:17Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Are _ **any** _ of these quotes real? Am I the only one who thinks American politics have gone _well past the stage of amusement_? You talk like a fag. Your honor! I motion that septimus is a fag! [Just in case someone gets whooshed](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/) ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/9 "2010-10-13T20:26:06Z")
Congratulations, **Inigo Montoya** , you just triggered one of my top pet peeves. The phrase is “I move to ~~”. Please do not verb a noun when a good verb form of the noun exists. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/10 "2010-10-13T20:29:48Z")
(it was supposed to sound 'tarded) But thanks for the info. I did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![Oldeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@Oldeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oldeb)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/11 "2010-10-13T20:41:40Z")
Meh. These aren’t even the worst things some of them have said. You should have gone with Trent Franks comments about how returning to slavery would improve the lives of African Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/12 "2010-10-13T21:04:19Z")
I’ve heard most of those quotes, and I think it’s pretty settled that they’re real. Of course, some of the reporting of those quotes is a bit … slanted, shall we say. Like the Paladino prison cum dorm thing. I don’t think his was that great an idea, but the reporting makes it sounds like he was saying he wanted to put welfare recipients in prison (I believe he was pushing more toward the Old Prison as Cheap Institutional Housing thing). However … I hadn’t heard the “Obama was born in Kenya” thing from O’Donnell. I knew she was a fruit-loop but is she really that mentally challenged? There’s no “that’s out of context” spin you can put to that unless it was preceded by, “Anybody who says the following is a fucking moron:” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/13 "2010-10-13T21:13:41Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Among people who know ignorant bigots when they see them, yes. Agreed – but, remember, it is possible to be an ignorant bigot, and still be a college-educated middle-class person. [That appears to describe the Tea Partiers:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement#Public_opinion_polls_and_demographics) > [@](#): > > Several polls have been conducted on the demographics of the movement. Though the various polls sometimes turn up slightly different results, they tend to show that Tea Party supporters are mainly White and slightly more likely to be male, married, older than 45, more conservative than the general population, and likely to be more wealthy and have more education.[106][107][108][109][110] > > One notable exception to that finding is the Gallup poll, which found that other than gender, income and politics, self-described Tea Party members were demographically similar to the population as a whole.[111] ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/14 "2010-10-13T21:21:02Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Like the Paladino prison cum dorm thing. Yeah, he is expanding his taste in porn. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/15 "2010-10-13T21:22:51Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Are these quotes valid? Or is this just more smearing by left-wingers? > > Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.: The gay marriage quote is sourced to “Prophetic Views Behind The News”, hosted by Jan Markell, KKMS 980-AM, March 20, 2004. The un-American congressmen thing is sourced to Hardball With Chris Matthews, October 17, 2008. > [@](#): > > Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz.: [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27725.html](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27725.html) > [@](#): > > Glen Urquhart, tea party-backed candidate in Delaware: [http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544\_162-20016873-503544.html](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20016873-503544.html) > [@](#): > > Tea party-backed candidate Sharron Angle: > **[Sharron Angle's Advice For Rape Victims Considering Abortion: Turn Lemons...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sharron-angles-advice-for_n_639294)** > > Sharron Angle's Advice For Rape Victims Considering Abortion: Turn Lemons Into Lemonade > [@](#): > > Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas: In the Congressional Record, 10/6/09 I’m tired of googling for you. You get the point. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/16 "2010-10-13T21:38:27Z")
To be fair to O’Donnell (why on earth I feel the need to offer this courtesy I’m not sure), from what I can tell, I don’t think she said this: > [@](#): > > “Well, I don’t think that the Obama administration knows what’s Jesus, what belongs to Jesus and what belongs to them. That’s my big gripe. Apparently, he doesn’t know. But then, that’s because he’s not a Christian. He’s Muslim,” O’Donnell said last November. > “It’s a proven fact he’s Muslim. He wasn’t born in this country. He was born in Kenya. There are people who know it, people who know where the birth certificate is. It’s locked up and our government can’t get a hold of it. He’s a illegitimate president, in my estimation.” From [here](http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/robert_parham/2010/09/tea_party_steeped_in_fringe_faith.html) (and [here’s](http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=15452)the original story), it appears it was said by an unnamed Tea Partying woman from Birmingham, Ala. So that doesn’t make the Tea Party look any better, but it would appear this is not amongst the long list of nuttiness that’s spewed from O’Donnell’s lips. Although I have seen plenty of other online sources that attribute this quote to O’Donnell too, so who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/17 "2010-10-13T21:49:19Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Do you have some kind of medical condition that renders you unable to use search engines? No, but maybe he heard that the government is monitoring Google searches in order to compile target lists for the black helicopters. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/18 "2010-10-13T22:08:04Z")
OMG! Obama is a helicopter now?!? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/19 "2010-10-13T22:10:02Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > OMG! Obama is a helicopter now?!? It’s probably some basketball move he invented. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036/20 "2010-10-13T23:11:44Z")
The prison-dorm thing is not the kookiest thing Paladino has said or done. There was the whole horse porn email thing. And just Sunday he told a group of orthodox rabbis, that he doesn’t want children being “brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option.” He tried to get his nephew, who is gay and a campaign staffer, to defend him from the subsequent uproar, but the nephew told the press (the NY Post, no less!) he was “very offended by his comments.” [http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/uncle\_slam\_gay\_nephew\_blasts\_carl\_gKUExcwnaEqJ6SdZ8WLugN](http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/uncle_slam_gay_nephew_blasts_carl_gKUExcwnaEqJ6SdZ8WLugN) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lies-about-tea-partiers/557036.md?page=2)