…and throw dollar bills at him.
Stay classy, assholes.
As Laura Ingram stated, she is sick of all the sob stories.
Would have been OK to do this if the guy didn’t have Parkinson’s? I’m not in a place where I can watch the video, but I saw it on Hardball yesterday, and there wasn’t any audio. Was this an exchange of ideas or were they mocking the fact that he had Parkinson’s?
This was a political rally, with two sides. They don’t agree, so it seems that an argument is inevitable.
Let us recall that these people made “opposition to a cure for cancer” a successful campaign strategy. They are not rational, good-faith actors.
–Cliffy
The guy has a sign that says:
Got Parkinson’s? I do. And so could you. Thanks for helping. That’s Communist.
One bagger yells at him, "If you’re looking for a handout you’re in the wrong end of town. Nothing for free over here, you have to work for everything you get.”
Another guy throws a dollar bill at him, and says, “Let’s start a pot.”
Other baggers join in throwing dollar bills and yelling, “No more handouts.”
So yes, they were mocking him for having Parkinson’s, or perhaps you could argue that they were mocking him for having the temerity not to be able to work, which is no better.
It would have made no sense if the guy didn’t have Parkinson’s, in any case. The teabaggers were specifically mocking the idea that people with disabilities should get any help from the public.
I have an idea. let’s cancel THEIR social security, THEIR medicare, and THEIR unemployment.
“No handlouts? No gubmint interference? Cool. You get your fucking wish. Go fucking starve and die.”
Then watch the screaming and crying start. Fucking two faced hypocritical me me me sons o’ bitches.
Oh, please. They’re REAL AMERICANS. REAL AMERICANS pull themselves up by their REAL AMERICAN BOOTSTRAPS and start a REAL AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS. Shortly after that, using THEIR REAL AMERICAN MOXIE they’ll become the next Warren Buffet.
Fucking commie.
-Joe
Not that I disagree with government aid to the disabled (because I don’t), but I think it likely that the people throwing money at the guy all had jobs.
And? Did you know many unemployed people at one time had a “job”? It can always change tomorrow.
From a selfish perspective I don’t love the idea of unemployment insurance because I’m unemployed, because I’m not. I support it because tomorrow I might run over my boss’s foot with my car and I’ll suddenly be unemployed.
-Joe
It doesn’t matter to me, the sentiment is the same. Sooner or later they may lose their business or get laid off - maybe. No Unemployment for them. No food or housing either.
Sooner or later, they may have an accident or get sick or just get old. They may need medical care they can’t afford, or their insurance company may drop then. Let 'em die.
Good for the goose, good for the gander.
Ironic, that if they got what they wanted it would then be a “death panel”.
-Joe
I think Craig T. Nelson makes a point relevant to this discussion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTwpBLzxe4U
If you stop taking money out of my paycheck to fund Social Security, you’re more than welcome to cancel my future claims on Social Security. And in an execss of generosity, I’m not even going to make an issue of the thiirty years you’ve been taking it from me already.
You can also cancel my future interest in Medicare and my future interest in unemployment. I’m perfectly fine with that. Maybe we can work out some blanket tax credit to compensate me for the fact that my taxes will still (presumably) go to cover those costs for others.
I imagine that many of the people in the story would say the same thing.
I know that you mock it because the concept of people wishing to stand on their own is utterly foreign to you, like a goat suddenly spouting Greek. You imagine that they would act as you would, whining the moment they could get the benefits for themselves.
But it is in fact possible for someone to believe that it’s a better society when we expect people to be self-reliant, and exercise that belief by being self-reliant. None of them are liberals, of course, but that’s obvious.
Now… it’s not at all obvious that this type of society is best. It may well be that the liberals have it right: that our country will be better if we all adopt a “let’s take care of each other” approach.
What constantly amazes me is that I can see that both sides of the argument have merit; that both sides believe their approach is best for the country. One is probably wrong. But neither is acting in bad faith.
Yet the other side doesn’t seem to agree. Not only is their opposition wrong, but it’s evil. It’s BAD. It’s acting in bad faith.
Believe it or not, I know enough of these people that I don’t think that’s anywhere near a safe assumption to make.
I’m trying to work out a relevant reply that somehow works in the phrase “out like Michael J. Fox in Jenga,” but so far nothing’s coming.
Standing on your own two feet is all well and good, but what about the thousands and thousands of currently unemployed? Let’s assume that they’re not all lazy bums leeching off the government. I was on unemployment once. Should we all have been homeless? The answer may very well be yes- but I for one am glad that I got the help when I needed it.
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Liberals believe in self-reliance. Don’t be such a cartoon.
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These people were mocking people who can’t be self-reliant. What are we supposed to do with those people, Christian?
“They’re argument is as sound as Michael J. Fox in Jenga”? No, I’m not getting anything better, either. 
Oh, Shitbricker is just whipping out a variation on “We compassionate conservatives (firm believers in “Jesus said, ‘fuck the poor’”) think Evil America Hating Liberals are tragically misguided, but they think we’re wrong.”
Which is of course a lot of shit.
-Joe
You make a valid point here, but you probably should’ve saved this post for a thread that wasn’t about a bunch of jackasses picking on a man with a severe degenerative disease. I’ll grant that the guy made his own disease and issue and that the tea baggers probably thought Parkinson’s means an expensive winter coat the government must have bought for him. But there’s still no excuse for this kind of shit.