First, I spent 9 minutes listening to Olbermann skewed views. That's 9 minutes of my life I won't get back. He repeated multiple times where are the blacks, hispanics and asians in the Tea Party Movement. Now I haven't done any scientific analysis, but when I see liberal movements and/or demonstrations, i.e. G7, G8, G20, WTO, Environment, Green Peace, I rarely see blacks, hispanics and asians. You could say the same for PETA and NOW. All dominated by whites. Are these liberal groups racist for excluding non-whites?
Are there a few racists in the tea party movement? Probably. Are there racists in every movement? Probably. Are there racists in the LaRaza or NAACP movements? Probably. The tea party movement is about the role and responsibility of government in our lives, and not racism. Now the end result of what the tea party wants may impact certain minority groups when you talk about lower taxes, less government, less social programs and the like.
I'M NOT gonna lay out my opinions ( at least not initally ), on the OP. I'll let everyone here do
that before I weigh in ( if I decide to do that. ) What I WILL do is use a method employed by shrinks & other "charlatans" : a series of premises phrased as questions that I'm sure many here will be more than eager to answer :
Are there major racist elements in the "birther" & "teabagger movements? Why are the "teabaggers"
overwhelmingly white ? Is Rush Limbaugh a racist ? Why does 39% of the GOP want to impeach Obama ? Because they don't like his policies or because he's an African-American Democrat ?
Will now have to get out umbrella to shield myself from shitstorm that will ensue-----
-- Modified on 2/18/2010 9:36:22 AM
There is racism, but it stems from those blacks who elected him. Huge numbers of black folks who had never voted before in their life flocked to the polls to vote for the black guy. Dems went to extraordinary efforts to "get out" the vote and it worked.
Most of the new found voters hadn't a clue what Obama stood for... they only cared that he was black.
As for your original questions about conservatives being racist... I actually don't think so, afterall, they elected a black guy to head the republican party.
Indeed, black people voted in large numbers for Obama but with 12% of the total population, they cannot propel him to presidency.
Hispanics forms ~30% of the population. Most immigrants combined with blacks and hispanics voted for Obama which is more realistic to get elected.
Suspect same thing is going to happen in 2012 turning Massachusetts election on its head.
1. "Are there major racist elements in the "birther" & "teabagger movements?"
I don't know anything about the birthers. However, in local Tea Party meetings I have attended, zero racist ideas were expressed. Does that mean it is nonexistent? No. But I think the utter absence of those ideas is sufficient to say "No" to the question of whether there are MAJOR racist elements.
The phenomenon of grassroots and rather hardcore opposition to liberal administrations did not start with Obama. Let us not forget the militia movement which reached its peak during Clinton; and the militia movement was sometimes described as "racist" even though Clinton was certainly not a member of what Affirmative Action describes as a "preferred" minority.
So I can't say anything about the birthers, but as to the Tea Party movement, the answer is No.
2. "Why are the "teabaggers" overwhelmingly white?"
If I were to guess, looking at statistics of voting blocks, I would say it could be no other way.
In the last election, 90%+ of black voters voted for Obama. Blacks make up something like 16% of the population. 10% of that would be 1.6%. So one would naturally expect that, at most, 1.6% of participants in the Tea Party movement would be black if we assumed that all black voters who voted against Obama were conservative activists -- highly unlikely. So participation could be well expected to be way less than 1.6%. Closer to .5%.
This same reasoning could be applied to other communities. According to Gallup, hispanic voters favored Obama at slightly more than 2:1. According to the Progressive Jewish Alliance, the same applied to Jewish voters.
So it simply makes sense that members of ethnic communities that voted overwhelmingly for Obama would be vastly under-represented in movements opposing his policies.
3. "Is Rush Limbaugh a racist ?"
When Rush Limbaugh married his third wife (Marta), he chose black SC Justice Clarence Thomas to officiate the wedding. (Clarence Thomas is married to a white woman, btw -- something most racists would consider problematic.)
As a general rule, I would surmise that Klansmen do not have their sacraments administered by black folks -- no matter their political persuasion.
So -- no. I do not believe Rush Limbaugh is racist.
4. "Why does 39% of the GOP want to impeach Obama ? Because they don't like his policies or because he's an African-American Democrat ?"
If you look back, the same ideas were in the air regarding Clinton for a variety of reasons. For example, using HUD to fine protestors who didn't agree with certain sitings of housing projects. The calls for impeachment due to a number of initiatives (such as midnight basketball) were already out there before the Lewinsky fiasco.
Therefore, I believe that the GOP desire to impeach Obama is based on his policies rather than his ancestry.
Do all of these answers mean that there is NO racism within the GOP? No. There may well be; but these questions will not reveal it; and I do not believe it plays a substantive role.
But let us not forget that many GOP-types would view certain Liberal-Democrat advocacies -- such as Affirmative Action -- as quite distinctly racist. They might consider certain social welfare programs and their design as intending to trap minorities and keep them dependent.
The reasons why people believe what they believe might not always be racism. It could be just the opposite.
First, I spent 9 minutes listening to Olbermann skewed views. That's 9 minutes of my life I won't get back. He repeated multiple times where are the blacks, hispanics and asians in the Tea Party Movement. Now I haven't done any scientific analysis, but when I see liberal movements and/or demonstrations, i.e. G7, G8, G20, WTO, Environment, Green Peace, I rarely see blacks, hispanics and asians. You could say the same for PETA and NOW. All dominated by whites. Are these liberal groups racist for excluding non-whites?
Are there a few racists in the tea party movement? Probably. Are there racists in every movement? Probably. Are there racists in the LaRaza or NAACP movements? Probably. The tea party movement is about the role and responsibility of government in our lives, and not racism. Now the end result of what the tea party wants may impact certain minority groups when you talk about lower taxes, less government, less social programs and the like.
I would at least be willing to see all opinions. Granted, some of the stuff he said was interesting, but he is such a little weasel and partisan hack, I just want to put my fist through the TV. It's the little things that piss me off. Watch what he says about Imus, Mayer and O'Reilly. Then what he says about Reid. His comment was just a poorly informed benign comment. And then the continual ranting about no blacks, hispanics or asians at tea party movements, hence my comments about the white liberals lack of diversity. But that shit never comes up.
get real--------------LMAO !
The only news program that I watch is CNBC. At least that is news I can actually use.
have the news about Bank of America's latest stock swoon delivered to me by Alexis Glick or Liz Claman.
Fox spent all that money to compete with CNBC and then gave up hiring Don Imus (he gets better ratings?) to replace Alexis in the morning and now she has left. But we still have Liz and Stuart Varney is pretty good.
The difference is that CNBC spends more time on macro issues and politics -boring- Fox focuses on stocks a little more.
You have owned BAC for a long time, and plan to continue to hold it until you get to even. You also play Texas hold-em. There is a little similarity between the two. I trust you know when to fold them in hold-em.
Just to show you my addiction to CNBC, I sometimes watch CNBC Europe and Asia. Maybe we can start another thread and see the investment philosophy of the posters. Might be interesting to see their investment philosophy, if they have one, plus I'm getting tired of the same old topics...religion, Palin, Fox vs MSNBC...etc...etc....etc
but there are only about a half a dozen posters that have opinions worth listening to where it comes to investment philosophy.
You have a valid point about most of our usual topics being worn out however. Almost all of it breaks down to partisan squabbling, which has just about bored me to tears.
Oh ,there was a black at a tea party that had the semi auto rifle strapped to him and MSNBC did not show he was black on purpose and cut away to show just the rifle 
-- Modified on 2/18/2010 11:34:07 AM
oh yeh, I remember seeing that guy outside of an event that Obama was speaking at. Olbermann actually had a piece on that if I recall.
And there probably hasn't been a left wing based protest in Washington that I haven't attended in the last 15 years.
I am often sad to see so few people of other colors at such gatherings, however they most certainly are there. For instance, the largest protest I have ever attended was The March For Women's Lives that was organized in part by Planned Parenthood against movements to end abortion rights. Those protesting were about 60% female, and about 40% were of races other than white. I saw children there and I saw the elderly there.
I've been to anti-war protests that had a significant black pressence, who taught the rest of us what protesting was all about. It included groups of war vets, old hippies, and a lot of young people of all races.
The WTO protests I have been to had far fewer numbers of other races, but their overall numbers were fewer as well.
The tea party is something else entirely. I've never attended a tea party protest for obvious reasons, but I have witnessed one. Is there a racist element there? In the words of Sarah Palin, "you betcha!". I suspect that if I "joined" such a protest and held a sign that said "kill all niggers", no one would have blinked.
You need to get some hobbies other than 24/7 posting on TER and attending protests.
I look at those G7 and WTO type protests and it's the same 20 to 30 year old age group of white kids. And some of these kids travel internationally just to attend. Do they have jobs? Where do they get the money? Maybe it's their old liberal hippie parents subsidizing these kids? Why are they lying in the middle of the street when the police come, and then get their head bashed in. And of course they profess they are anarchists.
-- Modified on 2/18/2010 11:23:46 AM
I just have a job that's so cush that I don't deserve to be paid.
Where does the money come from to organize these events? Lots and lots and lots of fund raising.
As an anarchist (I prefer libertarian socialist), I tell protesters that the last thing they should do is allow the police to brutalize them. I've seen it up close and personal more times than I can count. You don't see that happen at tea bagger events. The main difference is that the tea baggers are backed by corporate America. The other difference is that the tea baggers will sometimes bring their guns.
I tell organizers all the time that if they don't want the police to brutalize them, then the next time they protest, they should be carrying out in the open.
Gee WW...please take off your “colored glasses”. I can only speak for the Tea Parties here in ATL where Herman Cain is the main speaker party after party. I think Herman would be surprised to see you call us all racists. We are not!!! And IMO if we are all standing there and cheering the ideas put forth by Herman that you could label us racist. If we were, we'd be rejecting everything he says not cheering it!!!
& you can only cite ONE black participant ?! Why so few people of color ? Also, where are the Latino & Asian participants ? Why do some of the "teaaggers" marching in Washington have pictures of corpses from concentration camps comparing the Holocuast to the current govt ?---Or Obama depicted as witch Dr ?----the mind boggles .
Herman is not the only one!!! I won't be drawn into your attempt to label all those in the Tea Party movement as racist. I sited Herman simply because he is leading the cause here in Atlanta. Nothing more... There have been African Americans at every event I have attended. But I'm sure you'll try to twist that fact into "they were only there to support Herman".
Btw, "pal", I have absolutely no problems with 99% of the conservatives here. Mainly a good bunch of hard-working Joes.What I DO have a problem with is with a theocratic,sanctimonious, proselytizing, Bible-thumping bigot that hides behind a parade of chickenshit aliases. Can you understand that ?
Thank you for correcting my spelling error. As for the rest of your statement...I'll leave you to believe whatever you choose to believe. That is your right. What you believe has absolutely no baring on what I think or feel. But I will add that you are wrong!!!
I only use the one alias. How about you? And besides...GaG revealed me from my alias several months ago.
I am not a bible thumper... I do not even regularly attend a church nor am I am member of any church at the present. I do profess to be a Christian. So I guess if you equate all Christians as being bible thumpers...than I am, in your opinion, a bible thumper. But I do not preach to anyone.
I've never tried to convert anyone's faith... I have no idea where that one even came from.
Hypocrisy is not one of my traits... I cannot say the same for you!!!!
And I most certainly do not condone a government run by a religion. I will leave that to those that follow Islam.
Bigot? LMAO!!!!! I am not one now nor have I ever been labeled a bigot in my life. You are way off base with that label!!!
But thank you for you tirade...It did cause me a great deal of laughter. And these days we all need something to laugh about.
particularly when you go into your "Aunt Bee" mode & get all sensitive when someone makes a legit. criticism of Christianity. & What does Islam have to do with anything ? & You're not a bigot ?---LOL ! You're starting to sound like your female "sock puppet" that used to haunt this board------LMAO !
However it WILL BE re-iteration for me.
I would vote for Alan Keyes or Michael Steele if they were running on the GOP ticket.
I couldn't care less if O(savior)Bama was pink(that might not be entirely true.lol). I don't care for socialistic idealism. In his defense however,I am more interested in Social issues rather than fiscal ones. This is to say that i wouldn't vote for a moderate Repub. either just for a check in the win column. Obama seems to be,according to the 39% you're referring to,failing in his fiscal responsibilities. How much of that did he inherit???
It is not a factor for me. Obama could be any color of the rainbow, and I would still critical of his weekly golf games, more than half a dozen official vacations and 'mini' vacations, the egregiously frivolous and expensive stimulus package that stimulated nothing, and more policy decisions too numerous to name. It is what he has DONE, or NOT done during his time in office thus far that I am critical of, not the color of his skin.
It has been said that Obama won the election BECAUSE he is black, and I don't think that is true. I think whoever the Dem candidate was - Obama, Hillary, or otherwise, was going to have a fairly easy time beating pretty much any Republican candidate in 2008. Obama got ALOT of backlash votes, particularly from moderates.
There is absoluutely no denying though, that Obama did get considerably more votes based on his skin color alone though. Black turnout in 2006 shattered records of previous elections. That is no coincidence. I am just not naive enough to think that the record setting turnout among blacks is what put him over the top. He'd have still won even if he hadn't been a black man, but his margin of victory wouldn't have been quite as big.
I have to quote Bill Maher on this subject.
"It would wrong to call all Republicans racist.
But today all racist are Republicans".
So are all the tea baggers racist? No.
But a large percentage of them are only involved because of a racist motivation.
Let's do question and answer to get to the bottom of this.
Q. Have you ever hear of the Hispanic activist group called "La Raza" meaning "The Race?"
A. Yes
Q. Do you suppose any members of such an organization might be exhibiting at the very least ethnopreference and a few of them might even be racists?
A. Well, sure. At least a few.
Q. Do you think these racial activists vote for Republicans or Democrats as a rule? Come on -- be honest.
A. Members of La Raza likely vote Democrat.
Conclusion: Letting Bill Maher inform our opinions is unwise because he (in racist fashion) assumes that members of only ONE ethnic group could ever possibly be racist. LOL
I won't comment on the "birther" element because that movement is so ridiculous and foolish that it is not worth any discussion.
And there is no "teabagger" movement. That phrase is strictly the liberals' weak attempt at tryng to be funny and clever.
The Tea Party Movement surely has some racism. So does every other Movement that has ever existed.
The race card is the most overplayed card in the world.
And the idea of impeaching a President now happens routinely. Whoever dislikes a President wants him impeached. It started to get strong during the Nixon Presidency (and with some justification) and has happened to every President since then.
So, when I see an impeachment plea by somebody, I tend to shrug it off because it happens all the time.
I haven't read any of the other responses yet, but I'd lave to say, and this is not a defense of Obama, but yes, there is definitely an element of racism involved.
I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but unfortunately there is a definite racail bias, and I'll go out on a limb and say that it comes predominately from the South and the "heartland"