The following was reported by the huffingtonpost.com this morning:
Abusive, derogatory and even racist behavior directed at House Democrats by Tea Party protesters on Saturday left several lawmakers in shock.
Preceding the president's speech to a gathering of House Democrats, thousands of protesters descended around the Capitol to protest the passage of health care reform. The gathering quickly turned into abusive heckling, as members of Congress passing through Longworth House office building were subjected to epithets and even mild physical abuse.
I do not find this behavior by Tea Party members the least bit surprising because many of us suspected that racism lurked just beneath the surface of their outrage. Many of us were fully cognizant that GOP operatives were covertly and sometimes overtly fanning the flames of hatred.
How else can you explain their lack of indignation at eight years of Bush/Cheney big government, record deficit spending, lack of transparency, no bid contracts, lies to promote war, squandering of our surplus, lack of corporate/Wall Street oversight?
Many of us get it when Rush Limbaugh calls President Obama a Third World president. We know what Sarah Palin means when she calls parts of our country the real America. We understand the coded language of Glen Beck, Sean Hannity and Fox news - they prey on the ignorance and hatred of their audience.
It's called the Southern Strategy - exploiting the racism of white voters in order to obtain power. As stated before, former RNC chief Ken Mehlman acknowledge that the GOP used this strategy and he apologized to the NAACP.
Tough to teach old dogs new tricks; especially when they work so well.
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