# Those of you who think that branding the teabaggers as racist is premature... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 15, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167 "2010-04-15T04:12:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/41 "2010-04-15T06:09:45Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You either need to work on your material or your logic. Or my audience! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/42 "2010-04-15T06:11:51Z")
They don’t seem to be much of anything in particular, except excitable. And flush with a sudden sense of importance, like people are suddenly listening to them, like they always should have been, because they are the _rea_l Americans! But I really don’t detect any unifying themes but ignorance and anger. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/43 "2010-04-15T06:19:48Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > They don’t seem to be much of anything in particular, except excitable. And flush with a sudden sense of importance, like people are suddenly listening to them, like they always should have been, because they are the _rea_l Americans! But I really don’t detect any unifying themes but ignorance and anger. Do you have any thoughts of your own or do you just say what Bill Maher tells you to? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/44 "2010-04-15T06:23:19Z")
Definitely your material. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/45 "2010-04-15T06:25:44Z")
You’re just angry that you fell for it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/46 "2010-04-15T06:30:36Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Why are you pointing out an unimportant redundancy and not addressing the heart of his statement? Because he can’t actually argue his point honestly. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/47 "2010-04-15T06:35:53Z")
> [@Michael\_Ellis](#): > > Because he can’t actually argue his point honestly. Oh snap. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/48 "2010-04-15T06:43:15Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Do you have any thoughts of your own or do you just say what Bill Maher tells you to? Is there anyplace in particular you would prefer to bite me? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/49 "2010-04-15T06:47:26Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Is there anyplace in particular you would prefer to bite me? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/50 "2010-04-15T11:14:19Z")
I think this article is interesting: > **[At the Tea Party | Jonathan Raban](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2010/03/25/at-the-tea-party/)** > > I went to Nashville not as an accredited reporter but as a recently joined member of Tea Party Nation. (I had my own quarrels with big government, especially on the matter of mass surveillance, warrantless wiretapping, and the rest, and I counted on... The Teabaggers remind me of the One Nation party and movement in Australia. They seem to me to have in common that they aren’t really a coherent group at all. They are a grab bag of the disaffected. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/51 "2010-04-15T13:41:20Z")
Hey, the Teabaggers will be “protesting” today at Discovery Green, the lovely new park in downtown Houston. (Paid for by our tax dollars!) I might drop by for happy hour at [The Grove.](http://www.thegrovehouston.com/) Will take notes! ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/52 "2010-04-15T21:52:12Z")
Nice comment here from today’s rally in Washington. [Johnson expressed opposition to President Obama. “ **It’s not just because he’s black** ,” he said. “I wish I could tell you that I loved this guy, that he was a great president, that I had faith in him. But I have none. Zero.”](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041503344.html?hpid=artslot) ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/53 "2010-04-15T21:55:27Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Nice comment here from today’s rally in Washington. > [Johnson expressed opposition to President Obama. “ **It’s not just because he’s black** ,” he said. “I wish I could tell you that I loved this guy, that he was a great president, that I had faith in him. But I have none. Zero.”](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041503344.html?hpid=artslot) That’s hilarious. Do you think the penny will ever drop, and he’ll realize what he said? It’s amazing what and extra word (“just”) can do to a statement! ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/54 "2010-04-16T13:34:26Z")
So I dropped by Discovery Green, the new little park in Downtown Houston, to see what the Teaparty folks were up to. They had a fair turnout but their area was surrounded by a temporary fence–something I hadn’t seen previously at park events. There was a checkpoint that I didn’t feel like braving, so I didn’t make a real survey for idiotic signs. Basically, it was just a blindingly white, well fed crowd–sitting & listening to speeches. The one speaker I heard was going on about people not being welcome here. Not wishing to raise my blood pressure, I went to the park’s nice little restaurant for a drink & snack. A guy who had obviously attended the rally was trying to impress the pretty young lady bartender. He boasted that a darker crowd would have required much more security. There were a private security guards (the only non-whites within the fence) & two of HPD’s mounted patrol outside. The bartender smiled very thinly; she behaved professionally but one could tell she was not impressed. (Her co-workers in the restaurant reflect Houston’s demographics–quite diverse.) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/55 "2010-04-16T14:26:37Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Nice comment here from today’s rally in Washington. > [URL=“[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041503344.html?hpid=artslot](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041503344.html?hpid=artslot)”] > Johnson expressed opposition to President Obama. “ **It’s not just because he’s black** ,” he said. “…but it helps.” ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/56 "2010-04-16T15:18:08Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m not sure what the OP is getting at. Are we supposed to draw conclusions about thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of people based on what this one guy did? > > If I find a racist comment by a prominent Democrat, can we conclude that Democrats are racists? No but you could if Democrats leaders were saying such things in order to appeal to the Democrat base. When a guy like that posts that kind of tweeter its not because he is a racist (well, he probably is), its because his followers LIKE it when their leaders say stupid shit like that. ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/57 "2010-04-18T12:45:20Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > … But I really don’t detect any unifying themes but **ignorance and anger**. (my bold) Which explains the racism. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Facts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@The\_Facts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Facts)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/58 "2010-04-18T15:22:45Z")
Every time I see these scumbags and their dipshit rallies on TV, I think where’s Osama Bin Laden when you really need him? “Hey O – here’s the people you were aiming for, all congregated in one place!” ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/59 "2010-04-18T17:13:41Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > But his basic strategy of categorical denial irrespective of facts when it comes to racism accusations seems to have caught on with some conservatives (including our own **Chessic Sense** in the concurrent thread). That’s because this argument has become a google-off to see who can find the most examples of a particular behavior. I could cite [this](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20002659-503544.html)or [this](http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/21535)but you wouldn’t give a shit. You’d just keep charging on with your accusations of racism irrespective of the facts. Hell, even the link in the OP said that people were distancing themselves from the guy: > [@](#): > > a racist comment on the group’s Twitter page prompted local and statewide candidates to distance themselves from his group Seriously, pitting a guy for a fourth-degree misdemeanor is the lamest thing I’ve seen around here in a long time. > [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Nice comment here from today’s rally in Washington. > [Johnson expressed opposition to President Obama. “ **It’s not just because he’s black** ,” he said. “I wish I could tell you that I loved this guy, that he was a great president, that I had faith in him. But I have none. Zero.”](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041503344.html?hpid=artslot) You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Please _please_ tell me that you have some sense about you and you’re just laughing at the poor choice of words and not actually thinking that this guy is displaying racism. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167/60 "2010-04-18T17:54:23Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > That’s because this argument has become a google-off to see who can find the most examples of a particular behavior. I could cite [this](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20002659-503544.html)or [this](http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/21535)but you wouldn’t give a shit. You’d just keep charging on with your accusations of racism irrespective of the facts. > > Hell, even the link in the OP said that people were distancing themselves from the guy: > > Seriously, pitting a guy for a fourth-degree misdemeanor is the lamest thing I’ve seen around here in a long time. > > You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Please _please_ tell me that you have some sense about you and you’re just laughing at the poor choice of words and not actually thinking that this guy is displaying racism. You know, after 10, 20, 50 times having to find an excuse for or rationalize or characterise events as isolated incidents, rational people come to the conclusion that there’s a pattern to behavior. When the tea party organizers have to send out notices telling their followers to tone down the rascism lest they look bad, then a rational person realizes that there is a systemic problem. An irrational person comes up with excuses. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-of-you-who-think-that-branding-the-teabaggers-as-racist-is-premature/536167.md?page=4)