Republican Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina (where else?) seems to be emerging as the leading spokesman for the Angry White Mob assembled in Washington, D.C. yesterday. DeMint said on Good Morning America about the rally, "it's not about Obama, it's not about the Democrats," it's just a group of people who are "here to take back their country."
Not about the Democrats? Take a look at the roster of past and present elected officials who spoke on Saturday in addition to DeMint:
Dick Armey, former Republican Congressman from Texas
Rep, Tom Price, Republican from Georgia
Rep Marsha Blackburn, Republican from Tennessee
Rep. Mike Pence, Republican from Indiana
Rep. Phil Gingrey, Republican from Georgia
Definitely a bi-partisan group.
Not about Obama? Of course not:
And certainly not about race:
And correct spelling:
I think Sen. DeMint phrased it badly. This is not a group who wants to take back their country, it's a group who wants to take their country back. Back to what they perceive as the good, old days. The days of Jim Crow and segregation, when a black man knew his place, and it damned sure wasn't in the Oval Office. Back to the days when white was right and black got back, as in, of the bus. When men like George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Bull Connor, and Strom Thurmond (another South Carolinian, by the way) were in charge. What most of us think of as the bad, old days.
Ladies and gentlemen, I don't want my country back. I want my country forward. So let the angry, white mobs long for a time that was and will never be again. Let them live in the past if they so choose. Let them rant and rave and put their ignorance and bigotry on full display. They may be vocal, but they are few.
We are the majority and we're going forward, not back.
Not about the Democrats? Take a look at the roster of past and present elected officials who spoke on Saturday in addition to DeMint:
Dick Armey, former Republican Congressman from Texas
Rep, Tom Price, Republican from Georgia
Rep Marsha Blackburn, Republican from Tennessee
Rep. Mike Pence, Republican from Indiana
Rep. Phil Gingrey, Republican from Georgia
Definitely a bi-partisan group.
Not about Obama? Of course not:
And certainly not about race:
And correct spelling:
I think Sen. DeMint phrased it badly. This is not a group who wants to take back their country, it's a group who wants to take their country back. Back to what they perceive as the good, old days. The days of Jim Crow and segregation, when a black man knew his place, and it damned sure wasn't in the Oval Office. Back to the days when white was right and black got back, as in, of the bus. When men like George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Bull Connor, and Strom Thurmond (another South Carolinian, by the way) were in charge. What most of us think of as the bad, old days.
Ladies and gentlemen, I don't want my country back. I want my country forward. So let the angry, white mobs long for a time that was and will never be again. Let them live in the past if they so choose. Let them rant and rave and put their ignorance and bigotry on full display. They may be vocal, but they are few.
We are the majority and we're going forward, not back.
i have asked many conservatives what this means and it seems to mean different things to different people. unfortunately the right wing in my family also represent either the small town bubba/hick or the uneducated suburban drone so i don't have a cantor or ryan type to argue conservative psuedo-intellectual ideology. what i do get is a lot of "we're being discriminated against now" and "you have a black president so racism is over" crap. i have written extensively about what wanting our "country" back means on this blog and many others. what is truly amazing to me is how many ignorant women say this at town halls and tea parties when women had no rights according to the founders! this escapes even the women in media, who until 1962 were not even ALLOWED into the white house correspondents dinner! it seems the founders who penned the constitution understood it was majestically vague, a living/breathing document that would no doubt evolve as society evolved its culture and norms. undoubtedly this is a bunch of sore losers who are experiencing PTSD over a black man sitting in our white house. the issue is, how long do rational people allow this festering, putrid, hate filled nonsense go on?
As I have voted in the past for both Liberals and Conservatives, I can never recall being wound up with so much sheer anger. I hate to think that race plays any part in this, but I really do feel as though it does.
These folks are (apparently) incapable of accepting change. Look, change doesn't always work. Sometimes it hurts and sometimes, it just flat-out fails miserably. but, I can't see how we can afford to continue with things as they are right now.
All you have to do is look at the "people" (I'm not sure they can be classified as human though) and the atrocious signs they have. It's clear that what they REALLY REALLY want is a do-over.
They lost in November.
Their heads are exploding. They don't want to wait for the next election so they think that if they whine and cry like babies long enough, they'll get their way.
Sorry, neocons. Spoiled brats throwing temper tantrums don't deserve any recognition.
Except I'm old-fashioned enough I think some of them need their asses whipped.
Des, please smack some of that stupid over at the chronicle for me.
Especially HPD. He needs double smacks.
Dangerous. Sick. Totally lacking in conscience. OBVIOUSLY not Christian or even moral.
That's today's GOP for you. Not just the fringe elements but the whole ball of wax.
Every time I see a sign that says "I want my country back" I wonder what the fuck are they talking about?
No one has stolen "their" country.
This is just code words for "I am pissed that a black Democrat president won the election" and I want the days back when only rich, white men were eligible to run for office.
Hey, teagaggers......your odd couple LOST the election last November.
You want another shot at being in charge? The next presidential election is in 2012. Try finding a candidate who's not a runaway from the funny farm. Lotsa luck with that!
machine wrote: "... full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
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I'd like to think that's all it is. But Shortstuff speaks for me. The people ARE dangerous when properly provoked. Our history is full of them.
And as I said on the Des' blog at the Chron the other day, I will begin to worry once these people actually figure out how to register to vote.
A Southern regional party, composed of ignorant, angry white people.
Didn't we have one of those for a while? Called the KKK, as I recall.
Those fucking morons are the reason I can't find decent posterboard these days.
Misguided though they may be, you have to give them credit for getting off their asses and doing something about their political beliefs. It beats the "somebody should" approach hands down.
Take back their country? Are these people our best hope?
All of this reminds me of famous baseball, football, or basketball games where people will say they were there even if they weren't. It's like the Game 5 of the NLDS where Burke hit the home run. If people's claims are true, there were 200,000 people in attendance. My wife told tales of more than 200 people saying they were in Johnny Rivers' chemistry class at Baton Rouge High.
For those of my generation, it is hard to believe anyone being against civil rights, but these crowds demonstrate that. When we look back on this moment 20 or 30 years from now we will see many of these people denying that they were there.
"... full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
MacBeth, Act 5 Scene 5
Cracks me up. That one doofus can't spell "politicians" OR "diapers".
I love the one in the background at the top that says "health care can wait."
Wonder if that sentiment would change if they were diagnosed with something and at the mercy of the insurance company?
My favorite sign is the Obama acronym (did I get that right?) sign. That's a lovely font. Someone really took the time to make it pretty. But I have to wonder, if the worst you can say about your President is that he's "arrogant", why would you drive all the way to Washington to complain?
On an earlier thread, I mentioned throwing people overboard. These are folks I'd be very comfortable with having thrown overboard.
We need to overcome that ugliness and leave it in our regrettable but undeniable past - to the extent we can, given how thoroughly it's impacted so much of our society.
It's time to be heading into the streets to confront these folks. I'll be on the lookout for these events, and I'll be headed there.
In the NY Times today, the crowd was estimated at "tens of thousands, though the police declined to estimate the size of the crowd."
"A young girl held a sign saying, “Don’t redistribute the wealth of my Barbies.” What the hell does that mean?
The Washington Post lists it as "tens of thousands of conservative protesters."
I found this statement particularly ironic: "You will not spend the money of our children and our grandchildren to feed an overstuffed government," Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) said of the Obama administration, drawing raucous applause.
Where the heck has this dude been for the past few years?
From the LA Times: "There were antiabortion protesters and term-limit advocates. Critics of financial bailouts and the federal investigation into CIA interrogation techniques. Marchers who were worried about rekindling inflation and upset about the soaring national debt. Pickets opposed to Obama's healthcare reform plan and challenging the legitimacy of his election."
Wow, can we take a step back in time and revisit the term-limit stuff, the people who started the financial bailouts, the ones who came up with the shady CIA interrogation techniques, the ones who got us into the inflationary spending mess and made the national debt soar, the ones who got us into the insurance mess, and the ones who should have been challenged on the legitimacy of an election controlled by one state a few years ago?
I will repeat what I have said before. Obama may not have started this BS, but he's going to have to finish it. He will need an army standing behind him to do it--an army of people like us that show OUR support for the change we need.
And of course, Forrest Gump's mama was right ...
I see the usual idiots commenting over on the blog at the chron. kabuzz, lobousa, chronicdiarrhea, barf-1 in his school district masquerade as seriouscynic (I still wonder if his school district knows he stalks people online), hpd. The gang that can't shoot straight.
And still saying things like "they have no readership over there so they're limping back here...." I guess they think if they say it enough, it'll be true.
Uh...no.
Sorry to disillusion you guys but we are having a great time here. We have a place here where we can discuss issues and opinions without worrying that trolls such as yourselves will be deleting every comment we make.
But please....go on believing yourselves. It's quite amusing.
ROFLMAO!
Over at kissmybigbluebutt.com, Susan has posted a picture of one of the teagaggers holding a sign that says, "Thank you Fox News for keeping us infromed".
I swear, you can't make this stuff up.
I just overheard my fruitcake winger neighbor telling someone else that if she had been in Washington, she would have been marching. And that the Democrats have split, and gone extremist, yada yada yada.
(Yeah, we've progressed into the 21st century and elected a black man as President).
I have a new slogan for the Republicans:
Today's GOP: Because You Don't Need to Think for Yourself!
Check out the "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy" signs. Downright disgusting.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/9/12/141353/427
I wonder when the "Kill" signs are coming out. It would seem to me that we're not far from that, just reading the signs you have posted.
As SS said, these people are dangerous and they are being wound up to a fever pitch.
Furthermore, I'd bet there wasn't a person of color in the whole bunch.
Probably resembled a KKK rally.
Amen and Amen.
These people are insane. And they are dangerous.
(And Mike Pence from Indiana is an idiot, ala Rick Perry).