There is an art to good politics
This, however, is artless. And cynical.
First Lady Michelle Obama brought renewed energy to the NAACP today . . .one day before the nation’s largest civil rights group is expected to condemn what it calls racist elements in the Tea Party movement.
Tea Party members have used “racial epithets,” have verbally abused black members of Congress and threatened them, and protestors have engaged in “explicitly racist behavior” and “displayed signs and posters intended to degrade people of color generally and President Barack Obama specifically,” according to the proposed resolution.
“We’re deeply concerned about elements that are trying to move the country back, trying to reverse progress that we’ve made,” NAACP spokeswoman Leila McDowell told ABC News. “We are asking that the law-abiding members of the Tea Party repudiate those racist elements, that they recognize the historic and present racist elements that are within the Tea Party movement.”
Emphasis mine. Does it matter at all to Ms. McDowell et al. that the rare racist behavior exhibited at any conservative/libertarian gathering is explicitly condemned by the vast majority of tea partiers, and so the repudiation she seeks is already a reality?
Here’s another perspective the NAACP could have offered, had they wished:
“…while there is still work to be done in America, it is heartening to see that when racist behavior is exhibited it is quickly condemned by people of good will in all spheres of society; we work toward the day when racism will exist no more, and the fact that it cannot grab a foothold even among those whose concerns we do not share gives real hope too us, that the dream of Martin Luther King and of so many anonymous, tireless workers for social justice can and will be realized for all God’s children.”
That would be a statement everyone can get behind, because all reasonable people want that. If people really do want to see continuing progress made in converting distrustful hearts and minds, a positive statement like that would be much more effective than the one they’re using.
This country needs someone in authority, somewhere, to acknowledge something good about its people, and to mean it. Lacking that–and we are–such a statement from the NAACP would be something good. And it would have the added benefit of being true.
If they are committed to their statement, then perhaps while the NAACP is condemning “racist elements” in the Tea Party, it can spare a line or two in condemnation of a civil-rights case whose outcome threatens to foment distrust and to re-open wounds that have been healing.
Have people meant what they’ve been saying for the last 50 years, or has it all been just words?
I don’t believe it was all “just words.” I don’t believe that Martin Luther King, whose soaring rhetoric galvanized the nation and motivated all sorts of people to work for equality and justice, died for “just words.”
If it has all been “just words,” then how can we ever move forward?
Sometimes, I feel like a motherless child.
If you missed it last week, Mr. Dalrymple talks about the tea party and racism, here
UPDATE: St. Louis Tea Party (I thought these things were loosely organized?) condemns racism of the NAACP. I don’t see this as being helpful.
Related: Did the DOJ take orders from the White House?
RFK/MLK, Oakland and Us
This is nothing more than a combination of the old “have you stopped beating your wife” set up coupled with pure Alinskyism, wherein any lie repeated often enough starts to gain traction.
What is the Tea Party supposed to do? If it does what the NAACP wants, it admits racism. If it does not do what the NAACP wants, it appears to endorse the charge.
Ultimately, this nonsense will have zero negative effect on the Tea Party movement. Only the already True Believer liberals will believe crap like this and pushing an agenda, they are not affected by facts or evidence.
These race-baiter organizations are running out of actual racism in America and are now forced to create it.
1) NAACP lauds former Klansman, the late Sen. Byrd.
2) NAACP refuses to advocate for Ken Gladney, calling him an “Uncle Tom.”
3) NAACP decides to call out the Tea Party.
“How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”
This is nothing more than a combination of the old “have you stopped beating your wife” set up coupled with pure Alinskyism
This may have worked before, but unlike in years past, nearly everyone is on to the scam. Sure, there are the bad-faith partisans, who have no use for truth, and there are a few good-faith brain-dead zombies who believe whatever their Dem masters tell them, but there are less the former than most people think, and there are fewer and fewer of the latter with each passing day, either because they too are waking up or because they are part of the FDR generation and are “moving on.”
For too long now, people have been lambasted with the latest outrage-of-the-day, complete with demands that others repudiate them. Such tactics have long lost their power. And for Obama and the Dems, it will be like nuclear bombs backfiring on them.
They’ve been trying so hard all year to provoke a racial incident so they can milk it. This is yet another attempt.
If they keep it up, they just may get it. Just hope for their sake that the body count is low. You can only poke with a stick so many times before some dimbulb snaps.
Maybe the SEIU should repudiate the lawless elements of their organization that beat up Gladney?
If the NAACP meeting was focused mainly on anti-tea party sentiments, it is interesting that Mrs. Obama chose to speak at the meeting at all. Do the Obama’s have any clue how they keep fueling the fires of all the false racism charges?
I have found the whole “racism” charges confusing ever since Obama took office. It may be unfair, but it sure seems like they are the ones who want to fan the flames of bitter divisions in all kinds of areas.
I posted the other comment before I watched the FOX clip on the DOJ. This is both heartbreaking and scary.
How absolutely disgraceful of the Obamas to use race in this way. The Tea Parties have no racial component whatsoever. If there is a racist tea party member then any large number of people will have a bad apple. What about the racist Rev Wright that the Obamas for 20 years went to as their preacher? How dare they slander people like this. This is absolute gutter politics. The President of the United States should never resort to this sort of thing. This takes the cake for absolute outrages!!!!!!!
Henry Hawkins: You hit the nail on the head. They need to invent “racist” incidents in order to justify their continued existence. I would venture to say that there are racists in the NAACP — people who really dislike white people. And these hypocrites know this very well. Racism will always be with us because people are different from each other. I wish the NAACP would stop whining about this phony issue. It’s unmanly.
nomasir has some good thoughts on racism as well: link
Common Manney. Signs with “go back to Africa Niggar” are not racist?!!! Signs and billboards with Obama having a bone in his nose isn’t racist.
Look, im not in love with the NAACP. They have their own bandwagons and sleazy political agenda like the ones on the right.
I’m in favor of fiscal budget and having less gov’t control if this is what the real T-Party were about. But so far it’s been hot air with the t-party. There has been little condemnation of these fringe elements within our group and it will be the death of us.
We look insane because elements of the T-Party and the republican party are. They allow the neo nazis and militia men to join.
The complete nutcases like GlenBeck neanderthal and Manjaw Palin doesn’t help with rediculous over rated money grubbing speeches pushing fringe elements to crazy heights.Read some of the blogs. They are completely racist by self proclaimed t-partiers and so called conservatives.
Think about it. We call ourselves educated, but we appear to be inbred brainwashed neo nazis with the IQ of a shoe.
Get real, be honest.
[I don't think anyone can deny that there are sometimes some pretty objectionable, yes racist stuff put out there in the pubic square, but I think we need to get a sense of proportion about things. Yes, even one instance is "too much" but why can we not be clear that these idiots and their obnoxious "messages" are immediately rejected, discredited and cast far to the margins, and that nobody buys what they're selling, which is mindless hate that is on par with the posters of "beheaded Bush" from the last decade. I am weary of all the ugliness, and I'm also growing weary of the political opportunism it foments. -admin]
The NAACP should condemn ALL racism. This includes the New Black Party thugs who used racist epithets to intimidate white voters.
And as far as the Tea Party goes, there is evidence that it is being targeted by infiltrators who hold up inflammatory signs at events in order to smear the organization.
The NAACP has become worse than a joke. Their LA chapter got Hallmark to pull a graduation card because they thought “Black Hole” was black ho’. Who is stoking the fire of prejudice / ignorance with that. I mean, come on!
ABC needs to invent white racism just as much as the NAACP does. The corporate media divides the world into designated victims and designated oppressors, and they’ll be damned if they let facts get in the way of the narrative.
I am one of the Sesame Street generation. I have grown up believing that we are all equal, all special. I believe that we all are humans with varied talents and a God given equal chance to succeed in the world.
Now as I reach out in the spirit of this friendship, I find hate, I find divisive speech, I find intolerance. I see people in clips advocating the unthinkable.
As a part of the internet generation, where even a dog can be judged by his intelligent conversation in this place where only words, and thoughts matter. I cannot understand why someone should be more equal for color or race.
I see and hear these intolerant actions and words and I begin to remember the stories of my grandparents, the crude references, the intolerant dismissals of whole races and as those stories of the bad old days seem to be mirrored in the words and actions of groups of agitators. I wonder. I wonder just a little bit if some of the things they said were true.
But then I am the Sesame Street/the internet generation. I have moved beyond color/species. I am accustomed to judging idiots only by their prose, the mind that they display online. I will agree with a little green man from Mars if he is reasoned and intelligent.
I wonder why I am suddenly forced by agitators to wonder at race, at skin tone, why must some suddenly be _More_ equal?
I wish to be friends, I wish to allow you to fly or to fall on your own wings. I wish you well. What happened to wishing me the same?
I say: so what if there is one sign with a bone through Obama’s nose? I mean, so what? What can it do, exactly? Time to stop freaking out over stupid, inconsequential nonsense and yes, I do think it’s inconsequential, much like a 5th grader will use bad language, including racial epithets. That’s never going to completely go away, so please let’s start ignoring it.
I could never quite figure the Tea Party out because it seems to me that there are so many factions, often mutually contradictory, that it’s impossible to treat them as one thing at all. It’s all very well & good to say you have a broad church, but what would they have to unite them if they didn’t have Obama to be outraged at?
Would they not, then, find out that they are actually riven, as I did with people in the Britosphere with whom I jointly rallied against Brown but now part company from? I’ve already heard tell of people at tea parties objecting to the social & religious conservatives, who strike them as barely better than the “socialists”.
Palin’s Militarism
Despite the controversy over Steele’s “analysis”, which I think stem from his stupidity & failure to think about the consequences of what he said rather than any beliefs he genuinely holds, the Ron Paul elements are no closer to the majority of Republicans than they ever were. They can’t call it Obama’s war when it remains theirs, too.
Liberals love to tell you (at least since Viet Nam) that war is won in “the hearts and minds” of your enemy. Well, in the war against racism, they are losing that battle big time.
All of their tactics have grown old and tired and reached the point of diminishing returns years ago. Where once they had allies, these kinds of tactics have produced weariness and new opposition.
It’s no longer a movement, it’s an industry where thousands (especially at the top) make a very comfortable living, complete with media guest shots.
And the holy grail still remains reparations. But I would like to take the leadership of the NCAA and the Urban League on a personal tour of Arlington National Cemetery. Ask the dead, the generations lost, and those left behind who were raised poorer and without fathers, if they think we didn’t do enough to assuage the sin of slavery. America has probably offered up more blood and money in the cause of freedom than any nation in the history of the world.
Thanks for the post, Anchoress. The topic put me in the mood to revisit one of the great ads of the 2008 election LINK
Xenophobia is pervasive in Tea Party rhetoric.
Glenn Beck: This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture… This guy is, I believe, a racist.
Tom Tancredo: Mostly because I think we do not have a civics literacy test before people can vote in the country, people who could not even spell the word, “vote,” or say it in English, put a committed, socialist ideologue in the White House. The name is Barack Hussein Obama.
Mark Williams: The monument would consist of a Mosque for the worship of the terrorists’ monkey-god …
Rush Limbaugh: If Obama weren’t black, he’d be a tour guide in Honolulu or he’d be teaching Saul Alinsky Constitutional law or lecturing on it in Chicago
Keep in mind that King, whom you favorably cite, and the NAACP were accused of communist sympathies throughout the Civil Rights struggle. Talking about birth certificates, socialism, emphasizing Obama’s foreign-sounding name, are all standard fare.
As for the New Black Party matter, it was the Bush Administration that determined there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges.
It was the Obama Administration that dismissed the civil case investigation concerning the New Black Panther Party.
“UPDATE: St. Louis Tea Party (I thought these things were loosely organized?) condemns racism of the NAACP. I don’t see this as being helpful.”
Not helpful, in the same sense that arguing with an idiot is not helpful.
Zachriel:
And how are these people connected to the Tea Party?
The Tea Party is a loose collection of local alliances with a focus on what is good for the locality. There is a push for people to be precinct committeemen, for instance.
Tea Party does not equal Republican Party or conservative celebrities who like to associate their names with the Tea Party movement.
The folks with the awful signs at Tea Party gatherings are mostly from the Lyndon LaRouche crowd – they aren’t Tea Party people.
I’m not aware of any racist billboards or advertisements that have been funded by Tea Party groups. I’d be shocked if that were so – judging by the caliber of Tea Party people I’ve met or observed.
What do these (alleged) quotes have to do with the Tea Parties, Zach?
Why lump birth certificates in with socialism? The first is a topic for fools and liberal plants. The second is absolutely fair game. The more the Democrats lay their cards on the table the more socialist they appear.
Finally, you really should avoid the New Black Panther topic until you head over to Powerline, Gateway Pundit, or Instapundit and get the actual story. The corporate media has avoided it thus far.
When a black man just stomped all over the son of Strom Thurmond in a Republican primary in South Carolina it’s pretty disingenous to argue the nation still has a race problem.
The problem is that without racism there is no reason for organizations like the NAACP or the SPLRC to exist. Unlike the leaders of the March of Dimes who redefined their mission after beating polio these leaders are stuck in a rut. There are still poor black people but their problem isn’t white oppression nor are they going to be helped by attempts to demonize a bunch of suburban moms who have a Taxed Enough Already sign in one hand and the handle of a baby carriage in the other.
It will be Obama’s downfall that while getting elected by promising a new age of race relations his minions are falling back on cyncical race baiting to rally the Democrat base.
TEA = Taxed Enough Already. It’s not really anti-Obama, but rather anti-Establishment. Had Bush been in office doing the same things, I’d consider myself a Tea Partier still. Bush started with the 1st bailout.
BTW- can we cease and desist with the look-ism against Sarah Palin? “manjaw”?!? Good grief.
There are elements in the Tea Party that never supported Bush. I suppose they would welcome those who, having been loyal Republicans at one stage, are now just anti-politics in general. But how does anyone really know what they are? You tell me to just ask them, but I’d get several answers, many of which have little to do with the others.
Zachriel, xenophobia is the uncontrollable fear of foreigners. Unless you are a “birther” this charge makes no sense. Neither does any of your “supporting” quotes.
The Beck quote questions the President’s motives, Tancredo questions his politics and his supporters and Limbaugh questions his competence. Except for Tancredo questioning whether all of his supporters knew what where he stood because of language barriers none of your “Pull quotes” has relevance.
And what the hell does Mark Williams’ comments about the Shanksville Mecca-aligned crescent memorial have to do with anything?
Or are these just the lines that MoveOn.org is pushing these days?
“This country needs someone in authority, somewhere, to acknowledge something good about its people, and to mean it.”
I would have thought the very presence of an African-American in the Oval Office was itself an acknowledgement of something good about the American people.
Julia: The Tea Party is a loose collection of local alliances with a focus on what is good for the locality.
Tom Tancredo gave the opening speech at the National Tea Party Convention. Mark Williams is the chairman of the Tea Party Express. Glenn Beck is an active supporter of the Tea Party Movement. There are many such examples.
Julia: I’m not aware of any racist billboards or advertisements that have been funded by Tea Party groups.
Not everyone who participates in the Tea Party Movement are xenophobes, but a great many are, including some of its most prominent speakers.
Doc: Why lump birth certificates in with socialism?
Good question to ask Tea Party Express organizer and birther, Mark Williams. When pressed on the issue, he said Obama is at the least “culturally un-American,” and a socialist, having previously called Obama an “Indonesian Muslim turned thug.”
Historically, socialism has been seen as a foreign influence, and was used against the Civil Rights Movement in its day.
Doc: Finally, you really should avoid the New Black Panther topic until you head over to Powerline, Gateway Pundit, or Instapundit and get the actual story.
Again, it was career lawyers in the Bush Administration that decided criminal prosecution was not warranted by the evidence.
EJHill: Zachriel, xenophobia is the uncontrollable fear of foreigners. Unless you are a “birther” this charge makes no sense.
It also refers to fear or hatred of strangers, in this case, “Unamerican.”
Simply put – the November election is a only 3 months away.
With black unemployment over 15% and the high 30% range for black & latino youth the Dems cannot afford to have the black & latino populations sit out the election. How do you rally the voters TO vote when your socialist agenda is anti-life, anti-jobs and anti-American? Well the Dems will resort to what they do best – slander the opposition ….the “Tea Party protesters (read Republicans) are racist.”
Anchoress, several months ago you had a wonderful piece about standing up to bullies. Because I consider racism a very serious charge I think the St. Louis Tea Party did the right think in standing up to false accusations. The only way to stop a bully is to confront him/her. The Democrats/leftist/NAACP are the ones acting as the racist in this scenario.
“Common Manney. Signs with “go back to Africa Niggar” are not racist?!!! Signs and billboards with Obama having a bone in his nose isn’t racist.” – honest Tpartier
So there’s possibly a bad apple in the mix. Like I said where were the Obamas for 20 years with Rev Wright. That jerk you may have found in no way represents the good people within the tea parties. You are the prejudiced racist if you are smearing people by a stray bad apple. That’s exactly what prejudice is. Obama sat in Rev Wright’s church and listened to his racist rants and did nothing.
I’ll say it again, the Obamas have resorted to gutteer politics. Outrageous!!!!
Zachriel and I exchanged the following:
Me: Zachriel, xenophobia is the uncontrollable fear of foreigners. Unless you are a “birther” this charge makes no sense.
He: It also refers to fear or hatred of strangers, in this case, “Unamerican.”
One need not be a stranger or foreigner to be “UnAmerican.” Those are called “traitors.” The history of the world is filled with those who thought that radically changing their government was patriotic. The Rosenbergs, Kim Philby, Aldrich Ames, Alger Hiss…
Regarding the St. Louis Tea Party’s pre-emptive ‘response to the NAACP, I believe it is preferable to confront the lies head on. However, a tit-for-tat exchange of racist labeling may not be the best way to set the record straight. Perhaps a restatement of tea party principles and a clarification of the inclusivenes of the movement would have been a better approach.
Maybe I’m missing something somewhere, but I downloaded the St. Louis Tea Party document and I don’t see where they called the NAACP “racist”. Rather, they seemed to be focusing on the deterioration of the NAACP from a once-respected organization into an organization which would falsely defame others for political gain.
They did say that the NAACP was “lowering itself to the dishonorable position of a partisan political attack dog organization”, however. Which might be considered to be name-calling by some.
In any case, the NAACP seems to be toning down its rhetoric on this issue some.
EJHill: One need not be a stranger or foreigner to be “UnAmerican.” Those are called “traitors.”
Excellent example. You made the point quite clearly. Political opponents are called “traitors,” under the influence of “outside agitators” or “foreign influences,” or laboring wittingly or unwittingly on behalf of “communists” or “terrorists.”
KarenT: Maybe I’m missing something somewhere, but I downloaded the St. Louis Tea Party document and I don’t see where they called the NAACP “racist”.
They said the resolution was bigoted.
St. Louis Tea Party: Be it further resolved that we demand that the NAACP withdrawal their bigoted, false and inflammatory resolution against the tea party for any further consideration …
And that the NAACP was “a partisan political attack dog organization.”
The St. Louis Tea Party also made factual errors in their resolution.
St. Louis Tea Party: Whereas the NAACP decided to launch their 101st National Convention with a resolution condemning the Tea Party movement and labeling millions of their fellow Americans who subscribe to the movement as “racists”,
The NAACP did not condemn the Tea Party Movement. “NAACP delegates passed a resolution to condemn extremist elements within the Tea Party, calling on Tea Party leaders to reputiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches. In other words, they drew a distinction between extremists and the body of members.
Without any sense of irony, the St. Louis Tea Party also called for increased taxes on the NAACP.
Zach, read Christian Adams on the Justice Department handling of the New Black Panthers and other violations of voting law which will no longer be prosecuted if the offenders don’t look like traditional oppressors, as defined by the left.
To attribute any of this travesty of justice to the Bush Administration is a foolish attempt to spread misinformation. So cut it out.
I’ve followed the Tea Party story closely and have never heard of Mark Williams. I’d say you are inflating his significance and turning him into a straw man. No surprise.
Glenn Reynolds links to another J Christian Adams piece exposing the racial corruption of the Obama/Holder Justice Department. I don’t expect Zach to actually permit facts to change his opinion, but others may learn what’s going on. Zach is simply a good soldier fighting for the causes dictated by the Party leadership.
If Michelle Obama is trying to start a race war, she’s doing a darned fine job.
————–
“I don’t see this as being helpful.”
Elizabeth: If you don’t push back against lies immediately, the Left sets the narrative and it becomes set in stone. Andrew Breitbart has demonstrated–to my satisfaction, at least–that it works.
Zachriel: You are ill-informed. Why demonstrate it in public?
Now I see there are billboards from an Iowa tea party group with pictures of three “socialists”: Lenin, Hitler, and Obama. We cannot solve problems in this country but we can sure bash each other.
This torches Zach’s Justice Department straw man. Zach is either dishonest or ignorant. I hope it’s simple ignorance.
Doc: read Christian Adams on the Justice Department handling of the New Black Panthers and other violations of voting law which will no longer be prosecuted if the offenders don’t look like traditional oppressors, as defined by the left.
We are aware of the accusations. The source admits to no first-hand knowledge of the allegations.
Doc: To attribute any of this travesty of justice to the Bush Administration is a foolish attempt to spread misinformation.
The criminal charges were dropped during the Bush Administration due to lack of evidence, in particular, no voter complaints.
Doc: I don’t expect Zach to actually permit facts to change his opinion, but others may learn what’s going on.
You didn’t provide any facts, just accusations.
ahem: You are ill-informed.
Turns out that the criminal charges really were dropped during the Bush Administration due to lack of evidence.
C’mon Zach…don’t link to a 117 page pdf. How can you say there was a lack of evidence when the voter intimidation was captured on video? This is silly. Read the Corner post, which explains why criminal charges were dropped in favor of civil charges in January of ’09. Justice had the civil case already won, when Holder’s crew ordered the charges dropped. Obama doesn’t want the laws enforced evenly. It’s tougher for Democrats to steal elections when fraud is prevented.
Zachriel,
They said the resolution was bigoted.
“Bigoted” and “Racist” are not the same. There were reports of bigoted statements about the Tea Party at the NAACP convention prior to the adoption of their final resolution.
And that the NAACP was “a partisan political attack dog organization.”
That could be considered name-calling, as I noted. You’re not suggesting that political considerations are not primary in the modern NAACP’s agenda, are you? How to you explain their hostility toward Ken Gladney other than in political terms?
The St. Louis Tea Party also made factual errors in their resolution.
St. Louis Tea Party: Whereas the NAACP decided to launch their 101st National Convention with a resolution condemning the Tea Party movement and labeling millions of their fellow Americans who subscribe to the movement as “racists”,
The NAACP did not condemn the Tea Party Movement. “NAACP delegates passed a resolution to condemn extremist elements within the Tea Party, calling on Tea Party leaders to reputiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches. In other words, they drew a distinction between extremists and the body of members.
You have made a factual error. The St. Louis document was written BEFORE the final NAACP resolution was adopted, when reports indicated that some at the NAACP convention were proposing characterization of the entire Tea Party movement as racist, or as responsible for the occasional racist elements (including some of the La Rouche contingent, liberal plants, etc.) attending Tea Party rallies. Negotiations of the final wording of the NAACP resolution were made behind closed doors. There is some possibility that the St. Louis resolution may have softened the language of the final NAACP resolution.
And you must be fully aware that racist elements at Tea Party rallies are already vigorously repudiated, pointed out as “plants” and/or shunned. To call on Tea Party leaders to repeat this repudiation at the direction of the NAACP is to falsely accuse the Tea Party leaders of condoning racism.
Without any sense of irony, the St. Louis Tea Party also called for increased taxes on the NAACP.
I expect that the St. Louis Tea Party organization would be O.K. with the NAACP retaining tax-exempt status as long as other similarly political organizations enjoyed the same status.
Doc: Justice had the civil case already won, when Holder’s crew ordered the charges dropped.
That is simply incorrect.
Asst. Atty. Gen. Perez: After reviewing the matter, the Civil Rights Division determined that the facts did not constitute a prosecutable violation of the criminal statutes. The Department did, however, file a civil action on January 7th, 2009, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief under 11(b) against four defendants.
…
Based on the careful review of the evidence, the Department concluded that the evidence collected supported the allegations in the complaint against Minister King Samir Shabazz. The Department,therefore, obtained an injunction against defendant King Samir Shabazz
The Bush Administration decision about the criminal charges preceded the civil action. Then the Obama Administration obtained a civil injunction against Shabazz.
And just to clarify further, the reason there was no criminal prosecution is because there were no voters who claimed to have been intimidated.
Civil Rights Commissioner Arlan Melendez: Citizens should be able to vote without intimidation, and it is our Commission’s duty to investigate complaints from citizens that their voting rights have been infringed.
In this case, however, no citizen has even alleged that he or she was intimidated from voting at the Fairmount Avenue Polling Station in 2008.
These guys are union/leftist plants. I’ve seen them at Tea Parties. The best response is humor, as in following them with signs which read: Liberal Plant or Union Thug. They are obnoxious and I actually watched one of them try to goad a tea partier with “Go ahead, hit me.” I call the police, who then followed him quietly. Their presence made the guy back off. Bottom line: Tea Parties are basically what I call the March of the Grannie Nerds – tame, even lame. The most emotional we get is when we sing the National Anthem or recite the Pledge.
As Dan Rather used to say (sorta): Humor!
Well, Zach, I clicked on the pdf and went to page 18…didn’t see anything very interesting there, but the following 25 pages or so showed Perez dancing like Sugar Ray Leonard. I thought I was looking at a replay of Bill Clinton redefining the word “is”. What a farce. Perez wouldn’t directly answer a single question.
And, Zack, white voters at the Philly polling station were observed approaching the polling place and leaving without voting after seeing the Panthers and their hostile posture and intimidating threats.
Who were these voters going to complain to, the same Philly Democratic machine that permitted these thugs to station themselves at the polling place in the first place?