The Tea Party is Not Racist

Grizzly Bear said:
I'm not going to speak for BEAChooser, but I think they're "problem" is the same as just about every argument I've seen charging the movement of being utterly racist. They've taken the actions of a relative few and used them to model the character of just about everybody in the movement, or those showing even the slightest interest in disagreeing with the charge.
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It's perfectly fair to judge the Tea Party by who they choose as their leaders. Mark Williams is a high-ranking member of the Tea Party, and his racially-charged shenanigans had been going on long before this most recent debacle.

But instead of addressing this issue with honesty and integrity, what is the reaction from Tea Party apologists? Lies and deceit to smear the NAACP.

You'll pardon me if I don't shed a tear for the poor, maligned conservatives.
 
bynmdsue said:
It is the reaction of the NAACP members she is addressing that is the focus,or was before Shirley had to go beneath the bus.

In their statement the NAACP even refer to their members' reactions as being disturbing.
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Yes, but their reaction to the speech must be understood within the FULL context of that speech, which Breitbart did not supply. With a fuller context, their reaction is more understandable.
 
johnny karate said:
But instead of addressing this issue with honesty and integrity, what is the reaction from Tea Party apologists? Lies and deceit to smear the NAACP.

You'll pardon me if I don't shed a tear for the poor, maligned conservatives.
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Speaking of addressing the issues with honesty & integrity, recall the whole shenanigans from the WISER poll that received plenty of attention here. It became widely and happily cited throughout as confirmation of their caricature of the Tea Partiers.

You'll certainly forgive me when I don't shed a tear for respondents who try to play the same game by citing "racial resentment” questions which aren’t legitimate measures of racial bias, but rather transparent attempts to bait conservatives into giving “racist” answers.

You'll also find from my several posts in here I already have the same attitude for Mr Williams who thinks race baiting is a legitimate excuse for satire, when he knows full well, and doesn't care about how his statements would be used, regardless of whether or not he harbors any racial feelings.


Juniversal said:
I agree with you but I don't have much sympathy for a conservative movement who appears suddenly after a disastrous 8 years to complain about spending and taxes and not to mention the empty rhetoric (claiming Obama is a socialist adds nothing to rational political discourse).
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That's an entirely different subject that has better context than anything the charges of tea party racism can ever have. I don't think you'll see me objecting to you holding that opinion all that much, considering that it deals with more typical conservative/liberal mindsets
 
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Grizzly Bear said:
Speaking of addressing the issues with honesty & integrity, recall the whole shenanigans from the WISER poll that received plenty of attention here. It became widely and happily cited throughout as confirmation of their caricature of the Tea Partiers.

You'll certainly forgive me when I don't shed a tear for respondents who try to play the same game by citing "racial resentment” questions which aren’t legitimate measures of racial bias, but rather transparent attempts to bait conservatives into giving “racist” answers.

You'll also find from my several posts in here I already have the same attitude for Mr Williams who thinks race baiting is a legitimate excuse for satire, when he knows full well, and doesn't care about how his statements would be used, regardless of whether or not he harbors any racial feelings.
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I see where the validity of that poll was questioned, but I don't see where it was outright refuted.

And it also wasn't the only poll to come to a similar conclusion:
The New York Times said:
... 25 percent think that the administration favors blacks over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public.

They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people.
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But let's not pretend a supposedly dubious poll was the only thing anyone used to suspect the Tea Party might be racist.

The Mark Williams scandal is part and parcel of a larger problem the Tea Party has been having at the leadership level, some of which I documented here.

And then of course there's all the racists who show up at their rallies. But of course we're not allowed to count them. :rolleyes:

Now, you may not accept any of this an indicative of racism, and may even suspect it's being trumped up to paint the Tea Party as racist. But to compare that to the blatantly dishonest smear campaign currently being waged against the NAACP is a tad disingenuous.
 
Isn't it the tea that defines a tea-party?

What sort of tea do they have?
I've had some teas that knocked my socks off, and they never came back.
 
quarky said:
Isn't it the tea that defines a tea-party?

What sort of tea do they have?
I've had some teas that knocked my socks off, and they never came back.
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I think "TEA" is an anagram for them.
Taxed
Enough
Already

Which is ridiculous when you look at the trendline for tax rates over the last 60 years.
 
I can't believe we haven't been rid of taxes completely yet.
It wouldn't be very hard to do.
Stuff would cost a bit more, but it always does.

No, I'm not Steve Forbes.

No taxes! Never!

Say it people.
 
Breitbart: "It's all a misunderstanding..."

Conservative Breitbart says media, government 'misconstrued' videos

NEW YORK — The conservative blogger behind the controversial video that led to Shirley Sherrod’s forced resignation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the footage was released in order to highlight racist behavior in the NAACP, not to target the former government official.

“I feel bad that they made this about her,” Andrew Breitbart told NBC News on Wednesday. “You do see that she mentions a transformation and I’m sympathetic that they went after her and not the NAACP.”
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Breitbart said Wednesday that he received a tip about the tapes back in April, but did not publish them until the NAACP accused the Tea Party movement last week of having “racist elements” that are a “threat to democracy.” Breitbart said the audience reaction when Sherrod referenced her decision to not help the white farmer offers concrete evidence that the NAACP itself harbors racist elements.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38344940/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001

*cough* Bull sh:rule10t *cough* So apparently the entire big government artical and charges of NAACP racism have nothing to do with Sherrod or actual statements from NAACP employees but was about the few chuckles heard when she was telling her story. :rolleyes:
 
Juniversal said:
Breitbart: "It's all a misunderstanding..."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38344940/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001

*cough* Bull sh:rule10t *cough* So apparently the entire big government artical and charges of NAACP racism have nothing to do with Sherrod or actual statements from NAACP employees but was about the few chuckles heard when she was telling her story. :rolleyes:
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Yeah. I noticed that too. His words now are mysteriously at odds with his own words posted by himself on his own website when he first "broke" the story of the video, where he said things like:

"In this piece you will see video evidence of racism coming from a federal appointee and NAACP award recipient "
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and

"We are in possession of a video from in which Shirley Sherrod, USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development, speaks at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in Georgia. In her meandering speech to what appears to be an all-black audience, this federally appointed executive bureaucrat lays out in stark detail, that her federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions.

In the first video, Sherrod describes how she racially discriminates against a white farmer. She describes how she is torn over how much she will choose to help him. And, she admits that she doesn’t do everything she can for him, because he is white. Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help. But she decides that he should get help from “one of his own kind”. She refers him to a white lawyer.

Sherrod’s racist tale is received by the NAACP audience with nodding approval and murmurs of recognition and agreement. "
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Yeah, he totally never painted Sherrod as a racist! It was all other people that did that!

And even his backpedaling is wrong, as the full video shows that the NAACP audience present is listening to and approving of a story told by a woman about how she got beyond her own racial prejudices, not a story about how a black woman acted racist against whites in her official duties.

I can't even find a facepalm image facepalmy enough for this blatant dishonesty and hypocrisy.
 
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Just to clear up Breitbart's claims that Sherrod was not the target and the NAACP was:

In his initial post on July 19, Breitbart claimed that the video is "evidence of racism coming from a federal appointee" and that Sherrod discriminated against a white farmer in her "federal duties" as the USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development.

The video itself also included text that said. "Ms. Sherrod admits that in her federally appointed position, overseeing over a billion dollars she discriminates against people due to their race."

Breitbart then posted a tweet asking, "Will Eric Holder's DOJ hold accountable fed appointee Shirley Sherrod for admitting practicing racial discrimination?"

After the USDA forced Sherrod out of her position in response to the deceptive video, Big Government celebrated with a post titled: "Racist Govt Official/NAACP Award Recipient Resigns after Big Government Expose."

I think that says it all.
 
Lurker said:
Just to clear up Breitbart's claims that Sherrod was not the target and the NAACP was:

In his initial post on July 19, Breitbart claimed that the video is "evidence of racism coming from a federal appointee" and that Sherrod discriminated against a white farmer in her "federal duties" as the USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development.

The video itself also included text that said. "Ms. Sherrod admits that in her federally appointed position, overseeing over a billion dollars she discriminates against people due to their race."

Breitbart then posted a tweet asking, "Will Eric Holder's DOJ hold accountable fed appointee Shirley Sherrod for admitting practicing racial discrimination?"

After the USDA forced Sherrod out of her position in response to the deceptive video, Big Government celebrated with a post titled: "Racist Govt Official/NAACP Award Recipient Resigns after Big Government Expose."

I think that says it all.
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That's okay, though, because Breitbart has totally learned his lesson about trusting videos he sees - he's now questioning whether the footage of the farmer and his wife shown on CNN (where they talk about how much they like and respect Sherrod after Sherrod helped save their family farm) really and truly shows that farmer and his wife after all.
 
Never since the invention of the bike have I seen such impressive back peddaling. ;)
 
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ANTPogo said:
That's okay, though, because Breitbart has totally learned his lesson about trusting videos he sees - he's now questioning whether the footage of the farmer and his wife shown on CNN (where they talk about how much they like and respect Sherrod after Sherrod helped save their family farm) really and truly shows that farmer and his wife after all.
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Boggle!

I especially like this quote of Breitbart's:
You’re going off of her [the farmer's wife] word that the farmer’s wife is the farmer’s wife?
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