Tea Party Bigotry

I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Meagan Barth yet and State Rep. Chuck DeVore, literally a neighbor of mine in Irvine, both proclaim to be Tea Party Patriots – a group they say includes Republicans, Conservatives, Libertarians and even Democrats though I still haven’t met a single Democrat who is part of this organization.  So let’s take a closer look at what the Teabaggers are all about through this terrific column by Bob Herbert in today’s New York Times.

From the column:

“In Washington on Saturday, opponents of the health care legislation spit on a black congressman and shouted racial slurs at two others, including John Lewis, one of the great heroes of the civil rights movement. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, was taunted because he is gay.

At some point, we have to decide as a country that we just can’t have this: We can’t allow ourselves to remain silent as foaming-at-the-mouth protesters scream the vilest of epithets at members of Congress — epithets that The Times will not allow me to repeat here.

It is 2010, which means it is way past time for decent Americans to rise up against this kind of garbage, to fight it aggressively wherever it appears. And it is time for every American of good will to hold the Republican Party accountable for its role in tolerating, shielding and encouraging foul, mean-spirited and bigoted behavior in its ranks and among its strongest supporters.

For decades the G.O.P. has been the party of fear, ignorance and divisiveness. All you have to do is look around to see what it has done to the country. The greatest economic inequality since the Gilded Age was followed by a near-total collapse of the overall economy. As a country, we have a monumental mess on our hands and still the Republicans have nothing to offer in the way of a remedy except more tax cuts for the rich.

This is the party of trickle down and weapons of mass destruction, the party of birthers and death-panel lunatics. This is the party that genuflects at the altar of right-wing talk radio, with its insane, nauseating, nonstop commitment to hatred and bigotry.”

So Rep. John Lewis had to endure more of the same racial hatred that he faced as one of the leaders in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. 

So I have to ask; Meagan, Chuck…where is yhour sense of outrage?  Do these people represent your own viewpoints? Do you agree with these tactics, this language, this hatred?  Do you condone this action?  In 2008, the American people gave a mandate to Democrats in Congress and in the White House and the American people voted for Democrats knowing healthcare reform was a key element of the party’s winning platform.

How about condemning the actions of yoru fellow Teabaggers with their racial and homophobic slurs.  Or risk being taited by your association with this group.