I disagree. First, the respondents are clearly dividing people based on race. Second, they presuppose that one race is getting ‘special favours’ that the long-suffering Real Americans don’t get.
You’re right, as far as you go: if you reject the notion that the Tea Party is racist at its core, then we’ll just have to agree to disagree, because proving that to you is like proving that water is wet to those who say “Prove it.” I won’t bother with that tedious argument right now, but I don’t need to. My point here is that denying that premise is a positive affirmation that you can’t (or won’t) see racism when it declares itself to be standing right in front of you, and is the most damning evidence I can find of your tolerance of racism.
Well, we don’t need a wall bordering Canada because there are not large numbers of Canadians coming here illegally. But, for an unemployed factory worker who has lost his job to cheaper foreign labor, I don’t think he really cares if the guy that took his job is a thousand shades of white whiter than he is, or darker than the soul of Satan. It really is about economics.
About rally signs and bumper stickers: I’m sure that you can pull up a picture of a racist one from a TP rally, just like I’m sure that you would find racist bumper stickers and rebel flags in the parking lot of my supermarket. That’s not indicitive of the policy of the group as a whole unless you can point to policies that the TP or my supermarket has actually advanced.
The thing with Obama’s birth certificate is just one of general ignorance that happens to every President. Did Bill Clinton dodge the draft? Was George W. Bush AWOL during his reserve deployment? Did John Kerry lie about his wounds to get a Purple Heart?
All of these are part of the dumbassery that comes out each time. Just because Obama is black does not mean that the stupid allegations against him are because of his skin color anymore than saying that people hated George W. Bush because he was white.
I logged on to the Tea Party website. They have coloring books!
The Tea Party movement is supposed to be about smaller government and less spending. Have some whackjobs hopped on to that movement to further their bigoted agenda? Definitely. And I don’t appreciate their taking of the Gadsden flag s their symbol, but it doesn’t mean it’s not on display somewhere in a history teacher’s classroom or that the coiled snake isn’t to be found elsewhere.
But the Tea Party in itself does not make the Republicans racist anymore than the Democrats are anti-Semitic.
The questions themselves are dividing people based on race. I’m sure that the same respondents would agree that poor white trash would be better off if they worked harder.
Here’s my opinion. There are three levels of opposition to Obama.
Some people have genuine political differences with the man. Some of these people oppose Obama because they think he’s too liberal. And some think he’s too conservative. But these people have a set of principles and they’re judging Obama by how he matches them.
Some people are knee-jerk conservatives. They basically always go for the conservative side. They’ll apologize for the conservative and attack the liberal, even when the actual issues are the same. These people hate Obama but they hated Carter and Clinton and Gore and Kerry also.
Some people are racists. Let’s face it, racism exists. These people may have hated Carter or Clinton but they HATE Obama.
It’s not a racist position to advocate that everyone has a personal responsibility to step it up.
You have made the allegation that the TP’s policies are racist. It is not up to me to disprove that.
Since you are otherwise too busy to do research, please just post something that the Tea Party proposes that advances the cause of racism.
Bad argument. the tea baggers are not stupid enough to ensconce public policies that tells you who they are. They surely have plenty of vehement, black hating, truthers among their membership. They give subdued lip service to chastising them while leading them on. Plenty of goofy house members like Gomert throw flames on the fire while saying any racist leanings are being misunderstood.
You will not get a public policy from the baggers saying, “we hate niggers and want them all to die” But they send not so subtle messages goading on people who think like that.
Except it isn’t ‘everyone’. It’s those people.
Nobody disputes this. Of course there are racists in this country who don’t want a black President. My question was: What does the GOP or any part of the GOP actually do to advance the cause of racism?
Let’s assume, arguendo, that everything you said is true. It still doesn’t follow that anything the TP does advances the cause of racism. At worst, they allow racists in their group to spout out racial hatred unchecked (again, arguendo). What specific policy to they have that advances racism beliefs? Or what policies are racist at the core that they have a convenient cover story for?
But that is how the question was presented to them. If the person would have asked a follow up question: Do you believe that poor white people would be better off if they worked harder? you would likely get a similar response.
There is no racism in that. The conservative position has always been a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” while the liberal position is that the poor are a victim of circumstance. These are policy disagreements which have nothing to do with race.
Obama supporters are touchy for some very good reasons. I’m hard pressed to think of many reasons aside from racism for the birthers to exist. I live in Arkansas, and I’ve had die hard Democrats explain to me that they “just don’t trust Obama.” Often times they say this in a whisper and I’ve never heard anyone provide me with a solid reason why they “just don’t trust Obama.” Many Obama supporters are sensitive to this kind of thing because they’ve been saturated with it since the election.
A similar atmosphere pervaded when Clinton was president. Often times you could not criticize the Clinton administration without being accused of being a Clinton hater. Was this unfair? Sometimes. This was an atmosphere created by an irrational hatred for Clinton.
This kind of atmosphere is poisonous to honest political dialogue. If someone doesn’t like Obama’s policies, fine. However, it does us no good. Those with legitimate concerns about Obama will simply be categorized with people like the birthers.
Not in the same numbers, but it does happen. Now, what is the minimum number of illegal immigrants that, in your theory, requires a wall to be built?
I said nothing about foreign labor. The “economics” argument is about illegal immigrants taking American jobs in America.
Take a look atthe famous “Hands” commercial for a more direct example of racism being dogwhistled as economics, btw.
Since there is no formal list of TP policies, or even an informal one that represents much more than attitudes, you do have to accept that those attitudes essentially *are *their policies.
Bush really was AWOL. The other items are all lies about Democrats, that got spread and widely believed by the ignorant. The Kenyan-born Muslim one (did you know his middle name is Hussein? :eek:) stands out for its special level of ignorance, to the degree that you have to wonder what might be behind its level of acceptance by the ignorant, hmm? And why the ignorant virtually all seem to have the same association?
Lee Atwater, GHWB’s campaign manager, explains the strategy:
I agree. Tea Partiers and Republicans are also likely to ambush unionists.
I didn’t know racism was a “cause.” What kind of bullshit criterion is that? People can’t be racist unless they advance an activist “cause?”
If you want some examples of racist policy, look at the massive attempts to disenfranchise voters of color, the “show me your papers” law attempted in Arizona, school voucher scams, the never ending demonization of entitlement programs and any number of other policies which disenfranchise lower classes and minorities in favor of exploitive big business interests and corporate feudalism.
The one who say they hate Obama because of his economic policies are simply not credible. Obama is economically to the right of Ronald Reagan. He has the lowest tax rates in modern history. He has never once raised taxes. His health care reform was a Republican plan. Any attempt to say the hatred of Obama is based on economic policy is either dishonest or ignorant. I won’t undersell the level of honest ignorance among American conservatives. These are people who believe in Noah’s Ark, after all. But they never got upset and marched around with signs and showed up at Presidential appearances with gun holsters cinched up under their beer guts when it was a white guy raising the debt ceiling and borrowing money from China to overspend on vanity wars.
You mean that wasn’t first started by HC’s campaign staff? :eek:
I don’t think the Republican Party is doing anything to advance racism. But I do feel that some Republicans are racists and some Republicans who aren’t racist are willing to use racism if it helps them.
Am I allowed to say I hate Obama’s economic policies? Or is it only non-Democrats that are allowed the fury?