Who Are The Real Racists?
In a recent interview with Keith Olbermann, self-proclaimed intellectual, Janeane Garofalo says “let’s be very honest about what this [the tea party movement] is about. It’s not about bashing Democrats, its not about taxes, they have no idea what the Boston Tea Party was about. They don’t know their history at all. This is about hating a black man in the white house. This is racism straight up. This is nothing but a bunch of tea bagging rednecks.”
First, Janeane, you are right. This isn’t about bashing Democrats. Second, Janeane, you are right. This is not about “taxes”.
Now, on to everything else you are wrong about.
Janeane, in December of 1773, the British government gave special tax incentives to the East India Company. In effect, the British government created a monopoly in the tea market that local merchants could not compete with. As a reaction to British legislation, the original American patriots protested the unfair treatment by dumping several crates of tea into the Boston Harbor.
Janeane, if you read the most important historical document in our Nation’s history, you would know that our Constitution was written very precisely: To restrain the power of government and protect our inalienable rights of life, liberty, and our ability to pursue happiness.
So, assuming we don’t know our history, is it a mere coincidence that hundreds of thousands of people are protesting, now that we have lost habeas corpus? Is it just coincidence that most of us are protesting, now that FISA legislation allows our government to spy on us? Is it just coincidence, that we are pissed off that big banks and business are receiving the fruits of our labor, so they don’t face the consequences of their own recklessness? Is it just coincidence, that we are upset that our federal taxes eat up our paycheck to support a federal government that has: a) tripled in size in the last ten years, b) run up 12 figure deficit, mortgaging the labor of “free” Americans and their posterity, and c) demands that we grant them powers designated to the united States of America, by the historical document you claim we don’t know anything about?
Or, Janeane, is it possible that you are the racist, unable to see beyond your own biases. Unable to grasp that those who oppose your faith in those who give eloquent speeches may have legitimate objections. Janeane, is it possible that the real racists are those who make racism an issue, when it has nothing to do with the problem.
And Keith Olbermann, by the way, I’ve respected a number of wonderful Constitutional arguments you made against both Bush and Obama policies. And shame on you for not challenging Janeane, as she spewed her racist garbage.
Lori CLark said:
Once again, Janeane shows that she could care less what the people want in this country. Pity since we basically pay for her lifestyle. Hollywood elites forget that they wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for us. Perhaps the next step should be to boycott the TV and movies for a while, remind them that this is about “we the people”.
April 24th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Rob Ramsak said:
I think it is the height of hypocrisy when you say that people are too stupid to argue and then support this theory with the most basic, stupid argument one can POSSIBLY come up with! So I guess everyone who disagrees with President Obama for the next 4 years will be a racist. Funny, I don’t remember any of the left calling themselves sexist when they absolutely destroyed Palin at every turn.
But Ms. Herpe Lip, here are some indisputable facts that I know you don’t want to acknowledge. The state that I live in, Louisiana, is one of the few remaining RED states. So of course after the election we were labeled racist rednecks. Yet, our governor is the first governor in the COUNTRY of Inidan descent. In my district, we just voted that crook William Jefferson out of office and replaced him with Joseph Cao the first member of congress of Viatnamese descent. So, I guess that mean you can only be racist if you vote against a black person, screw all of the other minorities!
April 24th, 2009 at 5:29 am
Morgen Miles said:
She wishes this was the truth of it. If the tea parties are about racism they wouldn’t have had so many people. She was right, there aren’t that many racists left. That’s why they(liberals) are having so many problems controlling these parties, they can’t keep using race as a talking point.
April 24th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Jason Mitchell said:
Here’s a simple question, Janeane. Who would be more likely to have a preconceive notion about people from a different race? A white Hollywood elitist who surrounds herself with other white Hollywood elitists, or hundreds of thousands of Americans who actually work for a living with people from all different walks of life?
My wife happens to be black and she’s a LEGAL immigrant. She sees this country as her home and since she’s a normal resident like the rest of us, she also can see the crap the government is doing. She didn’t like what Bush did and she doesn’t like what Obama is doing. So Janeane, since she doesn’t agree with Obama’s policies, is she a racist just like the rest of us?
April 24th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Christopher Quinn said:
If Janeane Garofalo is an “intellectual”, then McDonald’s Big Mac is a four course meal at Scandia’s and an raw organic healthy vegetarian meal. At best she is a perhaps well-meaning, misinformed person, who buys into the party line (in her case, Democrat, whatever it is. Pulling the race card is becoming increasingly (ahem) “transparent” and so far off the mark it has all the credibility of Bozo the Clown as a Miss Universe contestant.
It seems far too many collegiate or famous Socialists are self-deluded, self-proclaimed “intellectuals” and use specious and fallacious “reasoning” of a Sophist.
All three children have African, American Indian, Caribbean Indian, Spanish, Danish, Irish, Scotch, English, French, and a other hereditary flavors.
My grandfather died of a heart attack a month before my birth when he discovered my father’s heritage would make me a “half-breed.”
Speaking of which, our usurper “President” is not Black. His mother was White American teenager and his father was an irresponsible Kenyan man. He was born in Kenya, and thus is not Constitutionally eligible for be President. He was adopted and became an Indonesian citizen so he could go to school there when he mother remarried an Indonesian man, and thus is not Constitutionally eligible to be President.
That said, if I was anti-Fed and anti-IRS due to being a racist, why would I be thrilled if Alan Keyes, a Constitutionally eligible, natural born American citizen and at least twice as Black as our usurper “President”?
Also, why did I want to End the Fed and get rid of the IRS while White guys (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush) were in the White House?
The Federal Reserve and IRS are parasites. And once anyone even remotely sane realizes what they actually are and what they have actually been doing, regardless of ethnicity or culture or religion or ideology, will rise up against them and demand to purge them from our system.
Being Black or Red or Brown or Yellow or White has nothing whatever to do with the Campaign for Liberty, End the Fed and Tea Party movements.
FREEDOM, prosperity and peace DO!
It is monetary parasites we wish to rid ourselves of.
It is FREEDOM that we love!
April 24th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Rex Stanfield said:
When I was four years old, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came into my parents’ house and talked to me. Right there in the living room, he said he has dreams of a day when I would judge his children by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. True, he wasn’t there in the flesh. In the segregated Alabama of 1963, that wasn’t likely to have happened. But nonetheless, there he was, a flickering black-and-white television image during the news broadcasts. His message was not just dry words in a newspaper I was still too young to read filtered through a scrim of journalism telling me how to interpret it. It was Dr. King himself, speaking directly to me, “in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent,” as Thomas Jefferson once said of the Declaration of Independence. When Dr .King said that the color of a person’s skin simply does not matter, I said, “I agree with that! It is no more complicated than that, and nothing anyone can say or do can change the reality of that simple statement: not schoolteachers, not parents, not friends or friends’ parents,” Even the governor on the steps of the state university, the brick-throwing social unrest and fist-fighting school integration of the next several years could not shake that fundamental truth.”
Dr. King was a great man; that is true, because he fought against a cancer that had been killing American society for 400 years. But he did not say anything that had not been said before by a thousand other great people. He did, however, have the advantage of saying it on the newly-invented television, directly to the upcoming next generation of children while they were still young enough for his words to influence their yet-unformed attitudes. I don’t think he could have been as effective without television, and I don’t think he himself understood how it would help him finally and posthumously achieve what John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Harriett Beecher Stowe and others could not.
You see, Barack Obama is not the realization of Dr. King’s dream – I am. Along with millions of others, white children who did not grow up to become racist despite having been born into a racist society. Dr. King didn’t care about electing a black president; he cared about a society that doesn’t give a damn what color the president’s skin is.
The past week a grass-roots political movement began to stretch its wings at an estimated 800 tea parties. It is a movement that focuses on a return to the vision of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution. Now the same television medium that allowed Dr. King’s message to arrive to me unadulterated 46 years ago is today failing the children of the next generation. Some reporters at NBC and its cable component MSNBC, and most notably, liberal activist Janeane Garafalo have claimed that these tea parties are mere racist demonstrations. The infuriating thing about that is I know they know it is untrue. They know perfectly well there was no racism in evidence in any of the tea party rallies. In fact, this new socio/political energy is more inclusive than any our generation has ever seen! Did any racists attend these tea parties? Who can say? I was at the largest one, in Atlanta, and I didn’t see any racism on display. Indeed, I saw several African-Americans participating, holding signs in the street and speaking on the stage. Garafalo and the NBC news organization have abandoned all journalistic ethics and are attempting to make news that doesn’t exist rather than report the news that does.
However, even if some racist individuals did attend, here is the thing about that: We have not yet made the Orwellian leap into thought control. Individuals are still entitled to their opinions, even ignorant, horse’s-ass ones. Anyone has the right to have a racist attitude if that is the attitude he has. He may not act on it in a way that infringes on the rights of others, but he may have and express his opinion short of that without fear of molestation. If some of those horse’s asses also happen to agree with the principles this country was founded upon, such as the right of any individual to be a horse’s ass, and that belief inspires them to attend one of our tea parties, it does not require us to adopt or defend their racist attitudes. But it also does not require us to turn them away and refuse their support for other things we may actually agree on, such as the founding principles of our country based upon rights to individual freedom. In fact, the dissent on various issues among participants illustrates the very fundamental freedom of thought and expression we are seeking to protect!
Meanwhile, the political left in this country literally owns racism in the way it defines everyone according to the demographic categories it assigns them: heritage, gender, sexual orientation, physical limitations, etc. Leftists demand that everyone must be identified, categorized, and allocated into groups. By doing so, they strip people of their individuality and their individual freedoms. Yet, their philosophy is that you can’t be one of them unless you agree with them on every issue. No one who disagrees with the leftist views on race, abortion, gay rights, or any other individual issue would be welcome as part of the leftist movement, even if they agree on every other issue. The political faction that claims to embrace diversity will not accept diversity of opinions, the most underpinning of all civil liberties, within its own ranks.
The political conservatives, by contrast, believe the USA and our society were built upon a belief that everyone is an individual, not a mere representative of all others who appear similar in some superficial way. Anyone would think that this, too, is so plain and firm a truth that everyone, even Janeane Garafalo, would embrace it.
- Republished from my own political blog, http://www.statesovereignty.org
April 24th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Laura L said:
I still can’t get over how Janeane said that the Tea Partiers brains were larger. You don’t have to major in logic to realize that’s akin to saying “her side” has smaller brains….
I mean, like, hello?
BTW — As always Chad, well written and brilliant. You’re the only one I’ve heard make the point that it was the UNFAIRNESS of the PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT that led to the tea party. I think there are a couple banks that need to be thrown in the harbor.
April 24th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Redrobin said:
Rush reminded us this week that liberals often call conservatives
\racist.\ How trite. Also, when personal attacks (\racist\ (=hater),brain size, etc) are made instead of debate over the real issues, it shows lack of intellect.
April 24th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Kay Harrison said:
Hi!
Just wanted to drop you a line to let you know of a new site premiering today to try to capture the Tea Party Demographic.
It seems that the Media and the Left are determined to try to marginalize who we are, painting us as elitists, racists, etc. In an
effort to combat that picture, if you could help spread the word about Tea Party Demographics we would greatly appreciate it!
Initially, we’re trying to get the ball rolling by sharing our link with as many sites as possible, but would like to incorporate more
information on our front page - perhaps interviews with Tea Party organizers from all across the country that might give a bit
more depth to the face of the Tea Party Movement.
Thanks for your help!
Kay Harrison
webmaster@teapartydemographics.com
April 24th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Pamela menera said:
It is absolutely mind-boggling to me that anyone cannot see what is going on before our very eyes..Every day there is another attempt by the administration to take yet another chip of our freedom as individuals away from us.They have been so successful at twisting the minds of citizens that want so fervently to believe in the “change”..Today it is the healthcare system that will be forever “changed”…having lived in a country that has socialized medicine, I cannot imagine how anyone thinks this would be an improvement..Why is it so difficult for people to understand that “government is not the solution, government is the problem”..What will happen to those of us that do not want government controlled healthcare?? Will our very lives literally be in the hands of government control??Will they determine who gets the medications, testing, surgeries?? If you are “too old”, or “too sick”, or your procedure “too costly”, for those that decide, to allow you to be treated?? People who are complaining now, about probably the best healthcare system in the world, have no idea what is coming if our current “monarchy” achieves their goals. They need to research what goes on in Canada and Mexico and Great Britain, under their healthcare systems..and maybe wonder why those that are able, come to this country for so many medical problems..Perhaps if we took control back of our borders, our current system would vastly improve their ability to correct lack of availability to healthcare..we are so overburdened by the influx of illegals …so much could be resolved by ending this insanity of “free entry” for anyone, legal or not…How can anyone believe in a government that does absolutely nothing to stop one of the major reasons we are going “broke”…our hospitals, schools, and jails, are filled to capacity with people who do not even belong here..yet we, as the working citizens of this country, have no say in the fact that our taxes are being depleted by another nation that has invaded us, and yet offered every benefit and service available , at our cost…and when you speak out about this, yet again, you are labeled a “racist”… What is happening to our country??? Sometimes I really believe that the conspiracy to bring us down from within, by those that have no loyalty or love for this great nation ,that my father fought for, is well underway..and I am not one to easily believe in “conspiracy theories”..It is so important that our grassroot movement is able to grow and educate as many people as we can…I truly believe that is our only hope in stopping this insanity before it is too late.
April 24th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
D.J. Siverling said:
Just when I think I’ve heard it all. The TEA Parties were about out of control government spending by BOTH parties. It is a very low argument to say it was a personal attack on Mr.Obama. I was at a rally and not one sign mentioned Mr. Obama. I am a middle American very concerned about trillions of dollars being printed up by the Federal Reserve to bail out companies and banks. I understand these borrowed dollars will need to be paid back by me, and my grandchildren. It’s not rocket science. No country can continue to borrow from foreign nations (think China) and then have the Federal Reserve (which is neither Federal nor a Reserve)loan this money out to the federal government for electronic transfer to corporations and banks and federal programs and expect to stay in power for very long. The dollar is sinking. The world’s economies are sinking. The IMF is begging for financial world control. Forget US sovereignty; we won’t even have a US dollar. Wow. Where is this Janeane coming from? How uninformed can a person be? She scares me because I think many people want to push all this spending under the rug and scream prejudice as long as they are keeping their heads above water. Yes, some will make it through this mess but I’m not so naive to think I’ll be OK. Somebody has to pay, and the TEA Party supporters know it’s going to be the taxpayer, the homeowner, the working folk out there. Spending has never worked in pulling us out of a depression. That’s where we are headed and TEA Paties are trying to raise awareness of this. Too bad I’m just a uneducated redneck….
April 24th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Gary Denese said:
Not sure if she’s a racist but she is a bigot: “…a bunch of tea bagging rednecks.”
April 25th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Gary Denese said:
She’s also an uninformed idiot.
April 25th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
warren Hines said:
Absolutely ridiculous.
I was in Chicago for the tea party to have my voice heard about taxation and excessive government spending. My family has been in the country since the american revolution and my ancestor fought along side Washington. The people around me were young, old, all races, and I did not hear any redneck or bigot talk. My family has been here so long we have every race represented through marriage, so it would make it hard to be a bigot. But you are, by your own words calling the thousands of americans who came to show solidarity to a cause they thought worthy, bigots, racists and rednecks. You my dear, are in-fact being the racist. Your comment was that we are a bunch of old white rednecks.
And your comment about conservatives as being right wing crazies, with a brain disorder sounds as true as a plantation master saying the blacks have an inferior mind, or Hitler’s view of the jewish. The truth of the matter is that we (the ones you called redneck bigot brain definitional) had over 700 fine non-disruptive, no-destructive positive non-political rallies around the country, to let the country know what we are thinking. And you can only rebut by name calling and a attacking our humanity. Next time you speak out about something, I would advise that you don’t. You will sound a lot more intelligent.
April 26th, 2009 at 3:55 pm