As I was scrolling down yesterday through a large collection of photos of the 9-12 Tea Party in Washington, I was struck by how very unlike a typical anti-Bush/anti-capitalism protest it was. It was a lot larger, for one thing, but what really stood out was that the protesters looked like regular folks who’d been picked at random from a cross section of mostly over-thirty Americans. Some of the placards mocked Obama (“Obama Rx Kool-Aid,” “Gangster”) but most were either of the “don’t tread on me” variety (“Enough!”) or about patriotism, liberty, and the Founding Fathers. Despite the huge crowd, there was no window-smashing, and nothing resembling a riot.
It’s not a coincidence that these peaceful protesters are the first in recent memory to be openly characterized by high-ranking Democrats and their pro-Obama media partners as a dangerous, dumb mob. MSNBC’s Keith Olberman – having apparently slept through the protests of the Bush years when comparisons of George Bush to Hitler were as predictable as the movement of a second hand on a clock – said, accompanied by the onscreen graphic “Political Terrorism,”
“When Hamas does it, or Hezbollah does it, it is called terrorism. Why should Republican lawmakers and the astroturf groups organizing on behalf of the health-care industry be viewed any differently, especially now that far too many tea-party protesters are comparing president Obama and health care reform to Hitler?”
Two weeks ago House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, responding to a leading question about the overall “tone” of the debate, suggested that all this anti Obama-agenda talk is dangerous, and that those who engage in such rhetoric will collectively have to shoulder the blame for any future acts of violence that might be committed. As you watch the video pay special attention to how she *deliberately* chokes up, and in so doing perfects the art of using maudlin hypocrisy for political advantage:
“I think we all have to take responsibility for our actions and our words. We are a free country, and this balance between freedom and safety is one that we have to carefully balance. I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw this myself in the late seventies in San Francisco, this kind of rhetoric was very frightening, and it gave, it created a climate in which violence took place, but I wish that we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made, to understanding that some of the people that the, ears that it are falling on, are not as balanced as the person making the statement might assume. But again, our county is great because people can say what they think and they believe, but I also think that they have to take responsibility for any incitement they may cause.”
I don’t recall Nancy Pelosi or any Democrat choking up and giving a lecture about the necessity of taking responsibility for “incitement” when a documentary-style film about the assassination of George Bush (which, incidentally, won the International Critics prize at the Toronto International Film Festival) was released three years ago. When Bush effigies were being hung from nooses, and burned and pelted with rocks (and later, shoes), and as agitated people screamed themselves hoarse, there was never a suggestion, let alone a lecture, from either the media or the Democrats about how such protesters needed to “take responsibility for any incitement they might cause.”
Oh well. When anti-capitalist/anti-Bush protesters were expressing their views, it was just pure, sweet, gentle, fun for the whole family, and all for a good cause. It’s an entirely different and more ominous spectre, obviously, when the policies of a crypto-communist are being opposed by peaceful, utterly non-radical, middle-American taxpayers.
Be sure to watch the hypocritical Pelosi in action.
Beautifully written EBD, I’ve loved your contributions, and those of others.
Yes, her maudlin emotions are awful.
I think she is concerned about her legacy (she is finished).. What ever happens she becomes the heavy.. push too hard & body bags do come into play…
The big difference between the left and the right is we don’t hate Obama, we hate his politics. Us ‘Neo Con” rightists don’t hate him or his family, just his politics. These leftovers hate everything that doesn’t agree with them and their Hitleristic view of the world. We don’t want to lynch anyone as the anti bush “democratic” head cases do and we don’t have to have a riot to get our point across.
This about says it all for me, a long time business acquaintance of mine was telling me that his son, a cop, was very unhappy at having to put in overtime because of this demonstration. His comment was, get this, it’s like looking after a bunch of my neighbors having a block party.
Billshut, as usual.
“Billshut, as usual.
Posted by: Harry J. Balsac at October 4, 2009 7:28 PM ”
O.M.G. Hairyballs got another right! That is exactly ALL we get from lefturds…BS. hey guys/gals. Ya think maybe scrotum is hauling his head out of his a**?
(BTW…is little balls ulianov in disguise? Haven’t seen that commie lately)
Given that today is Life Chain Sunday, this post also reminds me exactly of the difference in pro-life and pro-choice protests – except, of course, that pro-life protests are simply ignored by the media. If they actually showed video footage, it would quickly illustrate that they’ve been lying for years about the peacefulness of pro-lifers, as well as how many people are willing to show up, year after year, despite a virtual media blackout.
Yes, Nancy, we should be careful with the rhetoric of hate and violence. We certainly wouldn’t want to recreate the type of violent atmosphere that led jilted successor and…sniff…lifetime Democrat Dan White to murder Moscone and Milk.
Western Canadian, that is a great distinction to make. I’m not into the “make fun of Michelle’s looks” brigade. I think it’s unnecessary. Obama’s policies and ways of thinking provide enough grist for the discussion mill.
On the topic of Town Halls, Kathy Shaidle (Five Feet of Fury blog)
http://www.fivefeetoffury.com/
has a recap of the Forest City Institute Tea Party on the steps of London Ontario City Hall on Saturday.
And thanks to Pierre Bourque’s Newswatch and Jack Davies Jacksnewswatch news Aggregators for the Heads Up regarding the Tea Party.
Bloggers from Erin and Forest Ontario myself from Woodstock made the trek to lend our support.
Pity that the London Free Press is not more strident in their concern for the welfare of taxpayers in London.
next years 9:12 will be right in the thick of the congressional elections, and possibly at the tale end of a short mid east war, I can’t imagine how it will compare. The lack of mass produced signs so evident at the pro government protests is what I find striking, the people look like my neighbors, no boobs in the streets, no flags burning, no Nazi signs, just thousands of very pissed off people, trying to make a point to someone that isn’t interested in listening.
Not sure where I saw or heard this.
A US reporter researched incidents of ‘violence’ during the town hall meetings.
She chronicled 10 incidents.
Seven were attributable to people with ‘left’ leanings.
Three were attributable to people with ‘right’ leanings.
That sounds about right, er, correct.
so, ballsack… tell me, do you believe in the apostles of hate on the left, such as Ayers, Wright, Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin? Do you believe in vilifying any point of view but your own, and screaming blue bloody murder when someone politely points out the fallacies in yours? Do you think leftist legislators have YOUR best interests at heart and not their own?
If you answered yes to all three, you win a seat on the naiveté train to oblivion. Thankfully there are more people who see through the leftist bullshit than there are who believe in it. Enjoy your ride among the blinkered minority… the blowback will be rough on your lot when it comes.
I think that there is something else unusual about these demonstrations.
First and foremost, as has been so well pointed out, these are really ‘grassroots’; they are ordinary people of all ages, all ethnicities and walks of life. But what is impressive is that they are displaying not an antipathy against someone, not a hatred of someone, as we saw with the Bush rallies, but a deep and open love FOR some thing.
For America. For everything that America has stood for from its very origins: freedom, the reality of and focus on the individual as the root of rights and responsibilities, the right to innovate, invent, work hard.
Therefore, they don’t want the policies of a socialist system that will harm this basic identity of America, which are what has made it the greatest site of innovation and progress we’ve seen in history.
Obama and the Democrats reject both this basic identity and its results but they also reject individual freedom, they reject the right to dissent, argue, question, debate.
They trivialize dissent to sedate coffee-table chats where the final conclusion is ‘let’s all agree’. They deny the FACT that some conclusions are right and some are wrong. In the relativist realm of Obama and the Democrats…all nations, all ways of life, all justice systems, all views of reality…are equal. We can merely describe them to each other around the coffee table. But, we must never, ever, evaluate and choose any one of them as being ‘better for mankind’.
Oh – except that’s exactly what Obama and the Democrats ARE doing. Hypocrites. THEY are declaring that there is only ONE way to live in America. Their way. They insist that Congress pass the bills to set up Their Way..without reading or debating those bills. We, the people, aren’t allowed to reject Their Way. We, the people, aren’t allowed to discuss, evaluate Their Way. Because They have decided..both that All Ways are equal, and strangely, hypocritically, that not all Ways are equal. No. Their Way is better. So there.
And when the people protest…Obama and the Democrats trivialize this protest…denigrating it, telling the people that such dissent is ‘unAmerican’, is a sign of rabidness, of serious psychological problems..etc.
Obama, as is his wont, acts as if The People Who Dissent..don’t exist. When asked about the Tea Parties, his slick response was that he’d never heard of such a thing. That’s the Obama Style. If he doesn’t like what’s happening..and can’t control it..that event/person simply ceases to exist for him.
Ask him about his 20 years of listening to the Rev. Wright’s racist anti-American rants? Obama denies hearing a thing.
Ask him about Ayers. His reply: Who?
His education certificates and marks? What?
Ask him about AIG bonuses. His reply: I’m outraged..when he knew about them months before and his administration had approved.
Ask him about Iran’s secret nuclear arms facilities? What?
He won’t announce it at the UN because he doesn’t want that real factual data to trump His Speech on Hope on ‘Let’s all Get Rid of Our Nuclear Weapons’.
So, to Obama and the Democrats, dissent and questions and concerns are simply not allowed. If they take place, they are trivialized, marginalized and denigrated.
This, in itself, is a ‘first’ in America. This rejection of the right of people to ask questions and expect answers, to evaluate policies and reject them if they are deemed, by the people, as unwanted. This dictatorial elitism..that’s a first in America.
Good point ET: the demonstrators weren’t motivated by hate against something, but rather, as you put it, “a deep and open love FOR something.”
They are also, as you noted, true “grass-roots,” yet Nancy Pelosi said they were part of “an initiative funded by the high end….it’s astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America.”
An absolutely ludicrous assertion when you consider the sheer numbers of protesters, and the fact that they were distributed all across America.
The freaky mindset of all these “in charge” leftists may be an indication of recreational pharma abuse. There was a study done after the Cuban missile crisis which suggested the excessive use of amphetamines by those at the top in Washington contributed to a lot of paranoia and bad decision making at the time.
Isn’t this just a great example of the old saying “nice guys finish last”?
Quite unfortunate that the ones that show respect are the ones that get least in return.
Thank you for the great read.
Knacker
Knacker:
The loser is the one who stops trying.
Get your facts in line and take Obama’s advice … push back twice as hard.
Yeah, the tea-party people do not hate OBOZO–just his policies.
The lefties really, really hate individual people…if Pelosi could have swung it she would have called out the riot police etc…..I really believe that—just see her emotional investment.
I for one counsel against political assassination—-it is counter productive—it just creates a martyr—-JFK was likely the worst POTUS until now—he made Carter look clever—an he was almost canonized…….
Nasser was not “openly” assassinated (rumoured—his own people quietly snuffed him)and now he is unknown.
Pelosi is finished and OBOZO is past his best before date….now only the useful idiots believe in them….
It’s quite the effrontery for any mainstream politician, Democrat or Republican, to say “we are a free country” when they’ve all been destroying freedom for decades.
In a free country, government wouldn’t require close to half the country’s income in taxes, for one thing. It would be under 10 per cent, and ideally much lower even than that.
Mr D: I posted about this when the party first happened.
I wasn’t there (and apparently a LOT of others weren’t either) to the point there are claims the photos were faked. something to do with an Museum being absent in the shot, thus dating it http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/tea-partys-fake-photo/red-handed/
that green helmet guy sure gets around . . .
curious_george, those crowd estimates of 1 million plus come from the BBC among other places. The BBC is a dedicated Labour Party propaganda organ as you know, they have -nothing- to gain by inflating those numbers.
Huffpoo and Daily Dork on the other hand…
This being the point of course. The Left operates by deception, violence and provocation. This is because your ideology is unrealistic and must be imposed by force. Pelosi is simply following the only avenue available to her, because what she wants to do is fundamentally destructive and everybody knows it.
The Tea Parties are attended by people who see what the Left are doing, don’t like it, and are pretty much daring them to try something. Come on Lefties, ban public demonstrations like they do in China. See what happens.
The Left has shot its bolt. They are losing in Europe, they are losing in Canada, and come 2010 they are going to lose bigtime in the USA. That’s not even a prediction, that’s an observation of what has already happened. They are f-ed and they know it. That’s why we see all these guys climbing down off the Healthcare bandwagon leaving Barry standing up there in the emperor’s new clothes.
For a prediction, I predict Barry may not even get the 2012 Democrat nomination at their convention. I predict he will have to fight for that nomination, and there’s an excellent chance he will lose. He may even be fighting Hillary. That’d be a giggle.
Phantom, I’d be glued to CNN CBS MSNBC and ABC if that happened … fighting Hillary again? I’m not saying it won’t happen… au contraire .. it would make Tv worth watching again for a few days, er hours.
It’d be like watching a train wreck over 3 days.
and what happened the last time a Democrat President in office was seriously challenged for the nomination? Carter won it over now dead Ted Kennedy, and had his ass handed to him by Ronald Reagan.
History repeats itself? I have that hope.
Jimmah was Machiavelli’s Prince compared to the burning stupid which is Barry Obama.
If the Republicans dug up Regan and ran his corpse in 2012, they could probably still win. They could run a stuffed purple dinosaur and win.
I do not view this as a good thing. The Republicans bear at least as much blame for the current state of the USA as the Democrats do, if only for letting the ‘cRats do it.
What I’d like to see is a full-up repudiation of Big Government by the Republican party, forced upon them by 100 million p1ssed off Republican party rank-and-file members and donors. I’d like to see them governing with a figurative gun to their head, held by twitchy conservatives primed to pull the trigger on them at the first sign of socialist policy creeping in.
I am resigned to the fact that I’m most likely not going to get what I want.
Curious George,
That picture is of the Promise Deeper’s march. Nobody knows who first put it up, but it was debunked immediately.
Here is the real picture.
http://www.freedomworks.org/files/capitol%20view%20lo%20res.jpg
You should be able to click on it for a hi res pic.
Aren’t you supposed to be smarter than us? Why are your facts always mixed up?
There were hundreds of local rallies in sympathy with the Washington rally.
Although there has been very little news about this, the fact is that many municipalities had rallies in sympathy and in coordination with Washington.
In Fort Worth it was estimated that 15,000 or 20,000 people showed up who for one reason or another couldn’t get to Washington.
If there were some way to know how many people across the country, it would swell the numbers to an even larger figure.
tim i v: so where is the museum that it’s claimed is missing in the debunked photo? that was my whole point btw, that the original pic was a substitute for the real thing. regardless who did the substituting.
regarding phantom prediction on the whereabouts of Ms Clinton come 2012; that would be likely. this is why she ‘politely’ declined the offer of vice-presidency which is a ceremonial job at the best of times.
p.s. tim: that would be promise keepers, not promise deepers.
No comment on the genuine pic I showed you? Didn’t think so.
Oh, let me guess. Photoshop? Look at the hi res version before you say that.
Iran can not be 100 % honest with west as they said they are Muslim nation and with different rules just every body know this fact , but can work that they find more secure and safe how to deal with USA and Europe and Israel when they ban their economic trade with Iran when they hold their money for 30 years when they keep harassing by Israel to attack Iran or by send FEB agent illegally to Iran and hate Muslim laws and hated Muslim country why they should have be honest now they come back to do some closer do not scared them more further far this is not benefit US except their prostiton women of them in republican senate and Fox news media like Hana Acorn actor who really play naked movied or Natanyahoo and Madoon’s bed not like Iran or David Lettermen employee sleep with him in NY
Iran should not respond too many things to those media at all just act cool and get close to them to destroy corruption in USA and destroy 5% corruption in Iran too and Iran must cut the sign of image of America as “The Great Satan” after 30 years of mutual hostility. Chants of “Down with America” are still a staple at Iranian political rallies do not show those imagine of US to public any more to have relationship peacefully among two counties people. Iran has corruption inside country I can guess 5% who got under table broker money and have position and those group you can see are doing illegal are change faced are remain of shah time still work for Iran regime must get change Iran must stop execute people and allow country change before end the life or ban torture by slash people is not solution for 2 million drug or old age or poor in Iran and neighbor security and so on. Iran must said about Palestine and now world knew it now they must focus to economic to fix it and they can not act so rationale with other Iranian who also Iran has multicultural and multi region and must watch spy and have security for all and stop hate speech and stop death to America must stop hate crime or any link with terrorist actives or suicide bombing is illegal.
Iran must allow more university to all young go to school and educated and gain any skills and give minimum life on table and food based on each city, Iran must ban children who born outside or Iran to force to go to army can travel to Iran freely and so many other problem Iran has and Iran can not change no Muslim to respect them fully and must ReliaStar and not rational to talk or deal with formulism country this is treat to Muslim live outside Muslim country if you bother any more try to do peace and act smart and fair both ways you can not made world heaven or all Muslim you must accept this fact and deal with them in more political ways. Iran has big mess economically they are have no treat to do any send bomb any where. If they deal with WEST are much better security to make them isolate it with sanction.
Unreadable new, and I usually give you the benefit of the doubt.
The Old World and our modern Democrats believe that community interests are more important than are individual interests, and since only they are able to define community interests, the Town Hall meeting is a threat, because individuals make their own positions and interests known. 19th century Democrats were the real libertarians following Jefferson to Cleveland believing in individual freedom and a resulting free market and prosperity, while 20th century Democrats eagerly follow Rousseau and Marx, as cited in THE CHANGING FACE OF DEMOCRATS (Amazon.com) and http://www.claysamerica.com.