Tea (Parties) for Two? There Are Issues That Unite Us, I Swear

Cleon Skousen was known as a far-right conservative crackpot. I just realized it may have sounded disparaging to refer to him as a "Mormon" as if that were a bad thing. No offence intended.

Here's an article on Skousen's influence on Beck if you're interested.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/16/beck_...

Bobbie from www.duhpookie.com ( http://www.duhpookie.com/ )

...you accuse millions of people as being racists and then you have a complaint when one of them responds back to you with a "tone"? What a joke.

Thanks for your lengthy reply. Did you see the clip from Mark Williams? Do you think Glenn Beck calling Obama a racist was accurate? Wasn't the 912 project invented by Glenn Beck? Do you know he was inspired by the Mormon Cleon Skousen? Why did the popular uprising begin with Obama's presidency?

If you read my blog you'd know that I have a long history of writing about the need for a return to fiscal conservatism. Most of the "ideas" behind the protests I can get behind. I respect your opnion because you were there. And, good for you for standing up for what you believe in.

Can't say I appreciate the tone of your response, but you are entitled to your opinion.

Bobbie from www.duhpookie.com ( http://www.duhpookie.com/ )

“this whole movement sounds so disunited because the real reasons for their dismay can't be expressed openly: white Christians are threatened by a black man as president….Obama made a poor choice trying to push through healthcare reform when the economy is not yet recovered. Government HAS gotten too large. This movement has very little to do with any of that.”--DUH pookie

Hey DUH, do you do bar mitzvahs and birthday parties? Am I going to win the lottery if I keep playing? I’ve been looking for a psychic with your kind of power for SO long. A psychic that knows the motivations and thoughts of millions of people? That’s some powerful stuff. I also see from your blog that you have an all-powerful friend who is “the mouth of the south.” Another psychic who can speak for every single person in the south? You two are AMAZING!

My friend Gabrielle and her other friends and family (black conservatives who participate in the tea parties) will be so grateful to know your diagnosis that they just can’t accept a black man in office. So will these very vocal tea party speakers.

Angela McGlowan ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41MlOrOHz2c )
Kevin Jackson  ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pFQML91BOA&fea... )

In fact, it was Gabrielle who pointed out that when she would go home after a town hall meeting or a tea party protest, she would watch the news coverage of it and see signs that she or her group never even saw at the actual protest. The fact is, the mainstream media seek out the minute fraction of racist lunatics who show up at these protests and stand on the lunatic fringe. Why? Because 1) they have a liberal agenda to push and 2) it sells papers/gets ratings. The majority of people who deem these protests racist wouldn’t be caught dead at one and has no idea what they are talking about--they just sit on their ass and let Keith Olbermann tell them his "unbiased, balanced" version of what happens. They haven’t seen the courageous black people who show up to voice their dissent, despite the bashing they get from people of their own race. They haven’t seen the crowd denounce and eject anyone who makes racist statements or carries a racist sign. I’d write more to you, but since President Obama’s administration is on record saying they don’t believe the current criticism has to do with race and you are openly disagreeing with him, you’re obviously a racist. And I don’t talk to racists.

I think the following black conservatives confront your b.s. better than I ever could:

“For my parents and others in their generation, racism was defined as not being able to drink from the same water fountain as White folks, having to look to the ground while addressing someone White, having to sit in the colored section in the movie theater: you know, Jim Crow. Today, racism has been reduced to one thing: Criticizing Obama. That’s right. Saying something critical about Obama is now being compared to the days when Blacks were attacked by police dogs, sprayed down by water hoses, lynched, beaten and economically sidelined – all because they were Black. Obama has achieved one of the most powerful positions in the world that, up to this time has been occupied by White men who had to endure global criticism. Yet, apparently the Black side of Obama is just too weak to handle the outburst of one Senator calling him a liar unless it is considered 'racism'. Obama’s supporters who continue to tar and feather critics with the racism charge do two things: A – They cheapen both the definition and true history of racism both here and around the world. B – They reduce Obama to 'boy'.” –Duane Brayboy

 "The continued race card being brought up regarding President Obama not only cheapens any true issues of racism that he has faced (and will face), but also numbs the nation to the calls of racism when it actually does occur, such as continue[d] incidents of 'driving while Black' or imbalanced funding of public schools’ revenue between schools within the same system. It diminishes the sacrifices made by others (of all races) for racial equality in America. It takes proud history and personal growth and makes it cliche.” –Lenny McAllister

“While it is all too easy to lampoon mental midgets like Johnson and Carter for their manufactured charges of racism, it is time to start taking these race card dealers seriously. These race card dealers’ actions, be they intentional (may God curse them) or unintentional, have two very serious consequences for America. The first consequence is obvious, a clash of the races. On one side you have black people. Many who readily buy into these bogus charges of racism because them have been fed a steady diet of racial distrust from the left. On the other side you have white people. Many who are getting more than just a little fed up with being called racist by the left, simply because they hold a different view from Obama. Sooner or later these opposing views are going to meet and something very ugly will result.” --Clifton at anotherblackconservative.blogspot.com

"President Carter is flat out wrong. This isn't about race. It is about policy. This is a pathetic distraction by Democrats to shift attention away from the president's wildly unpopular government-run health care plan that the American people simply oppose. Injecting race into the debate over critical issues facing American families doesn't create jobs, reform our health care system or reduce the growing deficit. It only divides Americans rather than uniting us to find solutions to challenges facing our nation…Characterizing Americans' disapproval of President Obama's policies as being based on race is an outrage and a troubling sign about the lengths Democrats will go to disparage all who disagree with them. Playing the race card shows that Democrats are willing to deal from the bottom of the deck.”—Michael Steele

You all go ahead and keep on calling anyone disagreeing with Obama's policy racist. Because politically, it's going to come back and bite you right in the ass.

This:

"its not the policy, its whether you trust the guy making it"

is the most telling bit in your whole post. The reasons for the protests are valid, they have been for some time (as the commenter above documents). But as far as I'm concerned this whole movement sounds so disunited  because the real reasons for their dismay can't be expressed openly: white Christians are threatened by a black man as president, and further, by a black man whom conservative thugs have branded a Muslim.

Rush Limbaugh this morning said that the black kids who beat up a white kid on a bus would soon be defended by Obama.
http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2009/09/rush-...

The leader of the Tea Party Movement, Mark Williams, called President Obama the "Racist in Chief" and an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLgjRHOBKA0

Anyone who chooses to associate with this movement is taking the low road, not working to solve problems.

Obama made a poor choice trying to push through helathcare reform when the economy is not yet recovered. Government HAS gotten too large. This movement has very little to do with any of that.

Bobbie from www.duhpookie.com ( http://www.duhpookie.com/ )

I'm very confused about some of your points.

First of all, you say that you didn't protest under George W because you trusted him, but you don't trust Obama?  Why do you feel this way?  If you look at their pre-presidency records, you have Obama, who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, put himself through Ivy League schools on scholarship, threw himself into community activism, won a seat in the senate, lived in a modest home with his family.  On the other hand, you have GW, who was born into privilege, got into Yale because of his Dad, where he was a C student, was AWOL from his cushy national guard post for 2 years with no consequence, was given multiple businesses by his Dad and quickly drove each into bankruptcy, became Governor of Texas and ran the state into the ground.  So why on Earth do you trust him over Obama?  What's the difference between them?  You give some rhetoric about government healthcare and supposed gun control over, and then gloss over W's spending and the Patriot Act.  What W really did was spend huge amounts of money to the benefit of people who already have more than they can spend, at the expense of everyone else, wrecking our economy in the process.  The Patriot Act trounces our entire Bill of Rights - not just the 5th Amendment.  Take the blinders off. 

For your numbered points, I agree wholeheartedly.  But where were you when we were dragged into a huge and costly war through lies?  Where were you when we gave huge amounts of tax money to failing corporations, much of which went to executive bonuses?  When the huge, bureaucratic Department of Homeland Security was set up?  When the Patriot Act slashed the Bill of Rights?  You protest now?  When someone is actually trying to do something to help you?  The fact that many 'tea party' protesters are coming out for the first time now, over public healthcare, after sitting silently through so many atrocious abuses in the previous 8 years with a simple "It's important to support the president" completely discredits you in my eyes.  Bipartisan?  I don't think so.

And about your 3rd numbered point, about corporate interest.  Why weren't you protesting when Bush made massive tax cuts on Exon Mobil?  That cost us billions, and made Mobil the most profitable corporation ever, and benefitted no one but oil industry share holders.  All those health insurance companies?  They love you guys.  You're doing their work for them.  Never mind that their prices have sky-rocketed in the last two decades, with no end in sight.  The worst thing for them would be to have a public option.  They've been paying lobbyists millions of dollars for years hoping for the same results.  Socialism?  Not my concern.  Here's a news flash.  Both of the major political parties are masters of oligarchy, which is what we've been living under for at least three decades.  The first major poilicy designed to help everyone, not just the privileged, and you take to the streets?  Why now?

Thanks for this post. It's true that the march was not about political parties. But we wouldn't know that if we listened to main stream media. I feel as if we are being manipulated and co-erced by the media who is spinning things so much for what they view as entertainment, rather than providing facts. Of course, some of those news stations are owned by the big corporations who have their own motives for the messages they convey to us. It's scary.

Whatever the number of participants in the march, the fact remains that one was able to be held.  And for those who were involved, it was a serious issue.

Thanks for reminding us.

... there are lots of things we can agree on, like Glenn Beck's twit--i--tude!  ;)

PunditMom
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