Taunted Parkinson's Victim has a doctorate in Nuclear Engineering from Cornell. Watch his response:

[mod mom]

Post from Dave Harding's Blog:
Video: Targeted by the Tea Party - Parkinson's Hero Speaks
By Dave Harding, ProgressOhio - Mar 19th, 2010 at 11:17 am EDT

It was the video that shocked the nation - Tea Partiers mocked a man with Parkinson’s, as he sat quietly.

The man with Parkinson’s from the video, sat down with ProgressOhio yesterday.

Watch now and find out what he was thinking during that fateful moment and why we must pass health care now.

Watch It:

http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/daveharding/CXYm

The despicable taunt can be found here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-mary-jo-kilroy/stand-up-for-decency_b_504778.html

[mdmc]

1. I've noticed that teabaggers seem to have lots of users of

socialized medicine..

[malaise]

2. Get thee to the greatest page

Thanks for the video. :cry:

[mod mom]

3. Cols Dispatch:Parkinson's patient gains national attention from health-care rally confrontation

A demonstrator at a Columbus health-care rally who was chided for looking for a handout "on the wrong end of town" actually is a former nuclear engineer with a doctorate from Cornell University.

Robert A. Letcher, 60, had no way of knowing that attending the rally would make him a flashpoint in the raging national health-care debate.

But the treatment of Letcher, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, by two opponents of health-care legislation instantly became the topic of Internet chatter and bloggers and was given a prime spot on cable-news programs in the past two days.

-snip

Letcher, a Steubenville native, said he has helped design nuclear-power plants, worked as a community organizer and taught at the college level. He has been politically active most of his adult life, usually on the "progressive-leftist" side.

-snip

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/03/19/angry-protesters-warp-focus-of-debate.html?sid=101

[Spazito]

4. Anyone who suggests the 'left' has ANYTHING in common with the teabaggers...

are the furthest thing from left, imo. What was done to this man by the teabaggers is unconscionable, despicable, contemptible, damn, I can't find a word to adequately express my outrage.

As to the courageous gentleman victimized by these animals, his dignity in rising above this is praiseworthy indeed.

Thanks for posting this, it is much appreciated.

Recommended.

[athenasatanjesus]

12. The media must portray the left as having some equivalent to the right

Every time the right does something crazy(no matter how crazy),otherwise people might realize that the left actually has some valid answers to many political issues that most on the right simply lack an understanding of.

[Spazito]

20. It's not the media that bothers me, they have little credibility with me as it is...

it's those self-describing themselves as 'left' yet believe there is commonality to be found with the teabaggers to whom I was making reference.

[CTyankee]

22. Exactly. Joe Scum covered it this morning then launched into "excesses on the Left"

but didn'tmention anything comparable. A bit later he made a HUGE deal out of that teacher that hanged an effigy of President Obama...naturally...

[Peregrine Took]

13. THom Hartmann, are you listening? He drives me insane when he makes

those comparisons ("I don't disagree with you...")

[Lochloosa]

73. +1000

[ClassWarrior]

23. So "they're all the same?"

:eyes:

I agree with the fact that it's a hate-fueled movement, and the majority of those freaks are haters. But we'll never win them over anyway.

However, there are plenty who identify with the teabag movement to some degree who are more reasonable, and if we appeal to the positions we have in common with them -- opposing massive bailouts for irresponsible, greedy "too big to fail" corporations, for instance -- we can peel 'em off and drain the teabaggers of their power.

Make sense?

NGU.

[Spazito]

28. And how do you determine the reasonable ones?

Those who stood back while others taunted their victim? Those who attend teabagger rallies but don't carry racist, homophobic signs but say nothing against others carrying them? Those who proudly self-identify as teabaggers yet remain silent while others in their midst, also self-identified teabaggers, continue to do the loathsome, contemptible things for which they are now 'infamous'?

[ClassWarrior]

34. You don't. They'll come over when they realize they have more in common with us...

...than with them.

Sometimes people are silent because they're not sure. They may not be condoning anything. So we should be ready to give them an opportunity to condemn it.

NGU.

[Spazito]

36. They have NOTHING in common with 'us', that's the point...

If they did, they would NOT be teabaggers in the first place, they would have been protesting against the bush cabal over the 8 years where they were NOWHERE to be found. Bailouts were the name of the game for the bush cabal, tax bailout, corporate bailouts and on and on yet it is only when a Democratic is in the White House that they just 'discover' this outrage.


Do you honestly believe they genuinely just happened upon their outrage and it is only 'coincidental' that their protests began only after the repubs lost the White House? If so, that is very naive, imo.

[ClassWarrior]

37. And the ones who have NOTHING in common with 'us' won't come over, that's the point...

I said there are people who "identify with the teabag movement to some degree." People who think the baggers speak for them.

That's the first lesson you learn at Camp Wellstone. You'll never win over the hardcores (thank goodness, in this instance). It's the "undecideds" and "leans" who the smart organizer targets.

NGU.

[Spazito]

39. The 'undecideds' and 'leans' are not self-identifying teabaggers...

those who have advocated joining with the teabaggers are the ones to whom I have voice, virtually speaking, my disgust. You are talking about a distinctly different group of moderates as opposed to teabaggers, imo.

[ClassWarrior]

41. And you're letting your two-minute hate blind you to an opportunity.

NGU.

[Spazito]

43. Hey, if you feel you share commonalities with the teabaggers...

go for it. I have NOTHING in common with them and am very proud of that fact.

[ClassWarrior]

44. You don't oppose massive bailouts for irresponsible, greedy "too big to fail" corporations?

NGU.

[Spazito]

45. Nice fat red herring there!

I opposed the 'massive bailout'aka TARP at the time it was done, during the bush cabal's reign which you seem to forget to mention. Repeat, this massive bailout was done in 2008, BY BUSH, the President the teabaggers loved!

Did you see them in the streets protesting in 2008, when the bailout occurred? NOPE, not a teabagger in sight.

[NNN0LHI]

56. Back during that time the teabaggers were lining up like cattle to get into a Palin rally

They didn't give a shit about any bailouts when their guys were the ones doing the bailing out.

These guys aren't kidding no one but themselves.

Don

[Spazito]

57. Exactly! n/t

[ClassWarrior]

122. Exactly. They're followers, not leaders. So does that mean we shouldn't try to lead them into...

...the light? That we should simply forfeit them to the RW manipulators?

NGU.

[wolfgangmo]

79. I respectfully disagree.

ANd if I may point out, seeing a political opportunity to turn some of their number to our side is not agreeing with them.

In fact I do agree with the fact that TARP has been a clusterf*** from day one and I do have that in common with many of those who have attended a teabagger rally. And while many who have attended have identified with the sentiment the teabaggers have expressed, many of them are not hard core beleivers. The believers will never be swayed, and yes, they are ugly, mean, psychotic, inhumane assholes.

For example, my brother in law attended a few rallies. He hates the bailouts and the deficit and I agree with him on those things. But I have been able to talk to him and point out the other things that the teabaggers do and stand for as well as their corporate connection and backing, things that he was not aware of. Those things troubled him. I then pointed out that the progressive caucus believed in the same things he did and were fighting for them every day AND not fillibustering everything is sight.

In short, if I didn't make him a progressive, at least he no longer goes to rallies and he no longer listens to that shit. There are many folks like him.

In any movement there is only a small minority of hard core believers, most are camp followers. THOSE are the people that a good political operative will work to either convert to their cause or at least cut from the opositions herd.

These are things that are taught at camp wellstone. They are how Paul Wellstone, a populist progressive with no political or corporate connection won and kept winning in parts of Minnesota where it is hard right wing, working stiff, roughneck, jack pine savage, 2 teeth, voted for Michelle Bachmann-cause-I-liked-her-legs, kind of area. He split the oposition and he did it by leaving the majority of the other herd thinking about where their best interests lie.

No human is beyond redemption. Keep that in mind and look for a way.

[Spazito]

92. Your post, in no way, negates the point I made..

I do appreciate the respectful manner in which you responded and will attempt to respond in kind. My point is that the teabaggers were NOT aggrieved with the bailout done in 2008 by Bush, they were nowhere to be found at that time. They only discovered their 'outrage' when the repubs lost the White House. Was your brother protesting in 2008 when TARP was instituted? If not, why not?

I commend you for informing your brother of the facts surrounding the teabagger scam but I must respectfully submit convincing a family member of the 'error of his ways', so to speak, is very different than encouraging the left to join with the teabaggers with whom there is, in reality, no commonalities.

I see no teabaggers out protesting in front of repub Representative or Senate offices in their constituencies. I have NEVER seen coverage of teabaggers protesting anything related to the republicans, their very appearance began with the election of a Democratic President.

[ClassWarrior]

123. That's because the RW manipulators saw a real discontent out there, and turned that against...

...a Democratic President. When we should have been out there turning it against the Rape-Publican preznit who deserved it.

NGU.

[bvar22]

97. Did YOU protest the Bailout "in the streets"?

Didn't think so.

I have more Economic Interests in common with the Teabaggers than I have with the current Anti-LABOR Centrist Democratic Party Leadership.

[Spazito]

109. Did you?

I didn't say I protested, I said I opposed the bailout when it happened. I pointed out how those supposedly outraged by the bush bailout only discovered their "outrage" AFTER the repubs lost control of the White House.

If you think the teabaggers, you know the ones who victimized a courageous man with Parkinson's, are REALLY against ALL bailouts and are against Health Insurance Reform because it doesn't go 'far enough', I think that is naive to say the least.

[bvar22]

98. Bailout done by Bush?

The Democratic Party held a Majority in Congress at the time, and Senator Obama lobbied FOR and played an active role in pushing through the "no strings attached" Transfer of Wealth.
Bush & The Republicans could NOT have done the Bailout without the active participation of the Democratic Party Leadership.
THAT is the TRUTH.


NOW we have Your Children’s Money too !!!
And there is not a fucking thing you can do about it!
Now THIS is “Bi-Partisanship” !
Better get used to it!!
Hahahahahahahahaha!

[Spazito]

108. TARP was done under the bush cabal's reign....

2008, you can avoid that central point all you like, the fact remains TARP did NOT occur under Obama's Presidency. You also cannot dispute the fact the teabaggers were nowhere to be found protesting this bailout OR any other bailout during the bush debacle and that is the CENTRAL point being argued.

To get back to the initial point: The left has NO commonalities with the teabaggers, teabaggers are racist, homophobic rabid right wingers.

[bvar22]

112. You are spinning your wheels blaming the Republicans for TARP.

The Democratic Party Leadership were willing co-conspirators.
THAT is simply the historical truth no matter how much you stamp you feet.
Do I need to post the photo of Pelosi and Reid standing with Paulson again?

There is certainly a race drive component to the Teabaggers. Most of them are beyond help.
There is also a very justified RAGE at the last 30 years of the bi-partisan betrayal of American's Working Class.

The "common ground" I share with the "Teabaggers" is my Working Class background.
Unless you are a Wall Street Banker or a Health Insurance Exec, you also have this common ground.
You just haven't realized it yet.
As long as "they" can keep us divided, "they" will continue to WIN.

[Spazito]

113. You are spinning your wheels avoiding the fact this was done under...

bush's "watch", you can try and ignore that fact but it doesn't change the fact.

"The "common ground" I share with the "Teabaggers" is my Working Class background.
Unless you are a Wall Street Banker or a Health Insurance Exec, you also have this common ground."

Wow, just wow!

So people with working class backgrounds share common ground with people who carry racist, homophobic, anti-choice signs or else they must be wall street bankers or insurance execs?!? So people with working class backgrounds share common ground with people who taunt and victimize people with disabilities who disagree with them?!? NOT the working class people I know!

I am most assuredly of a working class background and I would NEVER, repeat NEVER align myself with those who do such despicable things.

If you feel you have commonalities with those people, go for it. I have NO commonalities with them and am very proud of that fact.

[ClassWarrior]

125. What? You expected Dick Armey to spend time and money organizing them against Bush/Cheney**?

:eyes:

NGU.

[JohnWxy]

117. The TARP was made necessary by years of GOP policies of DEREGULATION and inflationary monetary

policy. Also, the policy of increasing the tax burden on the middle class and lightening it up on the richest in the country was crucial to the demise of our economy. (when the middle class loses buying power your economy slows, finds it hard to create jobs and grow).

THe Bush tax cut, passed by reconciliation, - the top 10% by income received 50% of the tax cut.

This reduces buying power of the middle class. Doesn't produce a strong growing economy.

Easy money policies needed to keep cost of exploding national debt down inflated prices in all asset categories.

NO REGULATION OF PREDATORY LENDERS. When 50 States Attorney's General tried to take action to rein in Predatory lenders the Bush administration went to court TO STOP THEM!

The Commodities Futures Modernization Act - slipped in as rider (like an ear-mark) to a must pass Governemnt funding bill (an 11,000 page document), made trading in Credit Default Swaps LEGAL AND UNREGULATED (the bill was written by Wall Street lawyers). These instruments made Collaterized Debt Obligations composed of Sub-Prime Mortgage loans much more marketable as investors thought the CDSs would protect them from loss due to default of CDOs. This caused Securitized Mortgage market and demand for subprime loans (provided by unscrupulous, unregualted, Predatory Lenders) to explode.

This set the stage for the Great Credit Catastophe and brought about the Great REPUBLICAN DYSTOPIA we are now suffering through.

[bvar22]

118. Except that Wall Street was de-regulated under the Clinton Administration...

...and the "necessity" of bailing out Wall Street is questionable.

The FACT that the Wall Street Banks did NOT use the TARP funds as intended (to "free up credit") PROVES that the justification for the Bailout was s pack of lies, and nothing more than a bi-partisan SCAM designed to bilk the Working Class of a Trillion Dollars.

[ClassWarrior]

120. Of course it was done by Bush**. And they weren't protesting in the streets in 2008 because...

...no one had organized them. The RW took advantage of the opportunity -- for their own advantage -- and we didn't.

So let's keep making the same mistake? Talk about a red herring.

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

121. You have ONE MAJOR THING in common with them.

The tendency to dismiss people based on your own stereotypes.

And given your attitude on this thread, you're very proud of that fact.

NGU.

[wolfgangmo]

75. I was at camp Wellstone in 2003.

I can't recommend it enough. Great organization.

They train progressive activists, candidates and campaign managers.

consider making a donation so they can continue their good work. http://www.wellstone.org/

[jwirr]

111. I think they will come over BECAUSE they realize they are identifying

themselves with this evil bunch. I would guess that this video is the last straw for many of them. Especially when they realize who he was and how wrong they were.

[ClassWarrior]

124. Why just sit on our hands and blindly hope? Why not actively convince them?

Of course, this video -- and the more recent stories about how the freaks treated Reps. Lewis and Frank -- will be the last straw for many. But how many will just drop out and do nothing, bitter about the whole system? Why shouldn't progressives be there to catch them and channel their frustrations when they drop out of the teabag movement? Why shouldn't we be there to encourage even more to drop out?

NGU.

[skepticscott]

83. Except thay they AREN'T silent

Simply being there willingly, knowing what the group represents, is making a statement. That's why they organize group protests and rallies in the first place.

[WinkyDink]

84. Give it up. If "they" haven't figured it out since FDR, "they" are intransigent.

[wolfgangmo]

74. You don't identify them. They identify themselves.

All we need to do is to stand up for what is right and decent. If I went to a rally I would stand with the teabaggers, not because I agree with them but because you can accomplish more as a mole, than you can as a shouter on the other side of the street.

[ChiciB1]

91. True Incident!! This Happened To ME At a Gas Station Last Week!

The man in front of me kept looking at me when I went in to pay for my gas, came out and pumped my gas (by this time he had finished pumping his) and kept looking at me. I became a little concerned and started wondering about him. He stood for a while longer while I finished up, started to get into his car, then stopped and approached me.

I began to worry a little, but knew there were a lot of people around so wasn't really afraid. In Florida you only need to have one license plate on your car, on the back. On the front of my car when I was in D.C. for a rally once I bought a license plate that looked like the American flag with the word Democrat on it. It's been on my car for many years, and frankly I really have forgotten about it.

He came over and asked my WHY I was a Democrat. So given that I have been distressed by ALL that I have seen by what MY Party has done lately I said "well, I'm not sure at times because I think most in D.C. have forgotten about "we the people!" He then proceeded to tell me that I was really on the WRONG track and I SHOULD consider joining the Tea-Party!!!

He stated he was from Chicago and used to be a Democrat! I laughed and tried to keep the conversation light by saying, "well, you know what... NO Tea-Party for me, but boy I REALLY think BLAGO has great hair, regardless of WHAT he may have done!" He then said, well Blago really did do some very good things for Chicago, which I had no real knowledge of. He mentioned two issues, I can't remember.

I then said to him IF HE WAS SERIOUS about being a part of them, then perhaps he might WANT to give them a message. That message being that they needed a REAL spokesman who would come forth and DENOUNCE all the HATE-MONGERS and Insanity I've seen! I told him I UNDERSTOOD his anger because most Americans seem to be feeling it these day, but UNTIL the TEA-BAGGERS, and I told him I was using THAT term because it seemed appropriate, I didn't think they were doing themselves ANY good. I told him that going ROGUE like that WOULD never be an OPTION for me because I have more LOVE for my fellow citizens! He tried to say "most" weren't like that, so I told him then perhaps it was UP TO HIM, to start a real campaign to convey to them just HOW many people REALLY saw them. And while I was sorely unhappy by much of what has been going on, that I would go COFFEE PARTY before I would ever entertain even looking to them!

He was very nice, and proceeded to tell me that the place he was staying DIDN'T have the FOX channel and how the manager of his hotel said he had MANY complaints about this! THIS is when I decided some of what he had been saying was a little OFF KILTER!

I live in a RUBY RED county and for hotels NOT to have FOX seemed strange to me, especially because it didn't seem possible! Maybe true, not sure. He said he came here every year because it was a great place, and it had great restaurants and he could go to theater shows, etc. I got the feeling he may have had a few bucks that I don't have given that this place is known as the "cultural center of the Southwest."

I asked him if he KNEW just where he was visiting and just WHO represented this place and who HAD represented this place for two terms in D.C. He DID NOT KNOW! I told him it was Katherine Harris, and that he was in a very Republican County, of which I've lived for almost 30 years and have YET to see a Democrat elected! So I said to him, perhaps he might want to give me the name of the place he was staying because THIS DID interest me!

Funny thing, he declined! So then I said to him it was nice talking to you, you HAVE been very nice and respectful, didn't scream or holler, but I DO THINK you "blew it" by your last statement! I think you're LYING to me about FOX and now I really MUST go! I wished him well, but said he really should "think" about ALL that he was saying and perhaps he might be more effective! I told him, had he left the FOX reference off I would have considered that he was a concerned citizen but still maybe not on the right track. Then while I got in my car I couldn't resist saying that I usually watched MSNBC, and READ a lot, and maybe he might want to look into watching something else!

The last comment was something I may have left off, but hey... I do think HE WAS LYING, but he never said yay or nay! So I assume by not standing his ground about FOX, he was probably not speaking the truth!! Still, I could be wrong! I DO think he was wrong for joining the Tea-Baggers, but that's his choice, scary or not!

It was an interesting conversation though, and he DID seem to have previously been a Democrat because of the comments he made about Blago... so I don't know! Still, it's scary that he MIGHT have been a Democrat! I certainly have had thoughts about changing, but NEVER to a Tea-Bagger!!

Just sayin'
:shrug:

[jwirr]

110. I agree when you see evil and just stand back then you are part of

the problem. The rest of them were as guilty as to two jerks doing the harassing.

[SkyDaddy7]

72. I love your sig!!!

Thank-you!

[Larry Ogg]

90. America is not divided between Republicans and Democrats,

and it is not divided between the Left and Right self defeating political paradigms or the lies you choose to swallow; but it is divided between the hypnotized and the politically aware. And until you understand what psychologist, sociologist and scientist discovered about the Authoritarian character trait and how politicians in both parties (left and right) use it as means to divide and conquer the unsuspecting masses for the benefit of the predator class; and until you understand there is no "Left" you will have much more in common with the teabaggers than you would ever think possible.

[earthlite]

105. It's ugly human nature

Whenever you put a counter demonstrator in the middle of a larger demonstration bad behavior is bound to happen.

[cilla4progress]

5. I'm ashamed to be of the same species as these people

I keep thinking about the recent French game show experiment based on the former Yale experiment, testing the ability of people to resist orders to torture from higher-ups.

All I can say is, I suppose we ALL have the potential within us, in ways large and small to be cruel to others - esp. those less powerful. I for one every day will work to tap into the higher power, better angels, greater consciousness and sense of connectedness inside, that keeps my compassion fresh and my awareness whole.

Wow. Powerful stuff.

[Enthusiast]

70. These people have bought

into the "government handout" complaint. I have heard several decry the use of handicap placards. It's always the same story, "There's nothing wrong with those people, they need to get a job." As if somehow tea bagger judgment of all things medical is unimpeachable.

[nebenaube]

77. that's one attitude I have always been frustrated with...

I don't want to get a job I want to create my own and even that isn't working out now.

[kestrel91316]

93. I'm in the same boat. The career and business I have worked 18 years at is

now floundering. What's a cantankerously independent self-starter to do??? I'm supposed to embody the American Dream and since Bush it's been an unmitigated nightmare.

[Enthusiast]

119. According to these Randians

you will be successful if only the poor and sick would get out of your way.

[Missy Vixen]

6. Why are we surprised at anything the teabaggers do?

They're not human. They're animals.

Karma's a bitch. I look forward to seeing their comeuppance.

[mod mom]

21. That's an insult to animals. I would love for these guys to be outed.

There were several request to out these guys at the Columbus Dispatch article's comment. I hope someone does.

[frylock]

7. kicking..

so i can catch this later.

[NYC_SKP]

Very Proud to read that Ohio Rep Mary Jo Kilroy took it to the Floor of the House this morning!

http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/daveharding/CXYl

:patriot:

[ihavenobias]

8. K & R. This story needs to be spread far and wide.

I emailed friends and family with it, and obviously we covered it on TYT. I assume we'll discuss it again when Cenk gets back Monday.

[mod mom]

11. You might want to contact Dave Harding @ Progress Ohio if interested in contacting

this gentleman:

http://www.progressohio.org/

[ihavenobias]

40. Thanks! n/t

[timtom]

9. Nasty buggers!!!

Now I remember why I truly despise rightwingers... They are utterly reprehensible and loathsome. Evil sick sublimely selfish putrid.

[mzteris]

10. that was in RALEIGH?

omg - I can't believe that it happened in Raleigh. I guess I don't want to believe that there could have been people I know either participating in, or doing nothing to stop - the taunting. How awful. I wonder if those people who did it have seen themselves in this video. I wonder if it would make any difference.

[supernova]

27. He's saying "rally"

I went over to the rally.. "

It's a little muddled. He's saying the Parkinson's interferes with his speech right now. Poor dear.

But you're right it does sound like "Raleigh"

This was in Ohio.

[mzteris]

30. oh. Thanks.

It's still terrible, no matter where it happened. I wish someone could identify those bastards and "interview" them after letting them watch themselves on tape.

[Peregrine Took]

14. I wonder if the "people" who harassed this man would feel at all guilty

watching this film?
I very much doubt it. They are sick sick sick in their spirits. I have 2 in my family and they are vile haters of everyone.

[graywarrior]

15. No.

They are self righteous. Just wait til one of them is in the same situation. Bet all their parents are on social security and medicaid.

[Rozlee]

51. Same here. And it's my own sister.

And it all started so insidiously. She was only conservative on one issue. Abortion. She'd lived in Germany with my ex-brother-in-law who was civil service and used to praise their socialized medicine to the skies. Then, she started getting involved with more radical anti-abortion groups and conservative Catholic groups like ALL and the Catholic League. They pointed her in tangents to World Nut Daily and other ultra conservative sites. Now, she never remembers having said anything about how wonderful socialized medicine was overseas. She tells these canned horror stories about it that I just know she got from some freeper site. Then, she tells me the old canard about Obama's mother-in-law practising voodoo in the White House and the Obama girls getting secretly genitally mutilated when they were younger. She's been turned into a pod person.

[Withywindle]

53. What....WHAT?!?!?

Off-topic, I don't want to hijack the thread, but this is new to me and literally caused a cartoon brake-screeching noise in my brain.

"the Obama girls getting secretly genitally mutilated when they were younger."

THERE ARE PEOPLE REALLY SAYING THIS? :wow: I know it's hard to pick the MOST sick-and-wrong bit of wingnut bullshit ever, but this has GOTTA be it. :puke:

[WinkyDink]

87. That's some tainted insane "blood" there.

[wolfgangmo]

80. The ones who harassed him may not feel guilty.

But that is not the important question from a political view.

The question is, who would feel guilty of disgusted by that behavior, who might otherwise identify with the tea baggers? Those are that people we need to this video to. And then we should refrain from evangelizing to them but rather just leave them with a question, "what do you feel about this kind of behavior?"

Get them to think and come to their own conclusions about the teabaggers.

[WinkyDink]

Bwahahahaha! They'll probably bring the popcorn!

[Taverner]

16. I actually heard two assholes joking about it this morning at the gym

"That old hippie was probably faking it - such an attention whore"

"We showed them"

Yes, I should have jumped them and decked them, but I am a coward (especially since they were both pretty big guys)

[BlueIdaho]

17. Why dont we know their names?

C'mon - SOMEBODY must know who these teabagger assholes are!

[WinkyDink]

88. Same way the MSM never ID'ed the D.C. Repubs in the "mob" stopping the Miami voting re-count.

[Turborama]

18. K&R Thanks for posting

No doubt those Tea Party brown shirts are being hailed as heroes by the demons in freeperville.

[Marr]

19. You notice how excited the Teabaggers seemed as they taunted that guy?

They're little more than elderly playground bullies. They get so excited at the opportunity to harass someone who's helpless-- especially if they can make a little show of it and impress their friends.

[sakabatou]

24. The shitheads make me sick

The video is right: If the Teabaggers win, we lose.

[medeak]

25. husband has Parkinson's

thank you modmom for finding this. I was so disturbed by initial video and wondering who this poor man was.

[chat_noir]

26. guy in white shirt and tie tossing dollar bills....

"I don't have a name, but someone I know works with the guy who threw the money. He's well paid, in sales for a medical equipment company."

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/columbus-dispatch/THQJF0PMHEARVEV22/p11#c215

[supernova]

29. That jackass ought to have

some good old fashioned internet bile thrown his way.

I condemn him to within the next couple of months, needing any or all of the devices he sells.

[mod mom]

31. I saw this @ Cols Dispatch comments and sent it w a request to find out more

about these guys to a friend who is a journalist in Ohio. Would love to find out!

[guitar man]

35. what he needs is

A good old country ass whoopin'...that jackass needs to learn some respect and manners :grr:

[PA Democrat]

47. Delete.

[frylock]

62. I'll leave it to others to completely out him....and from the talk internally, it will happen.

:bounce:

[olegramps]

32. Everything should be done to identify these Nazi bastards.

I hope that they are identified and run to the ground.

[guitar man]

33. I wish I could have been there

There would have been a fight. And yeah, I know it's wrong. And yeah, I know there's a bunch of them and only one of me....but that hasn't stopped me before. I'm fucking crazy that way. If I had been there and seen them picking on that defenseless man, there would have been a fight...and it would have been a good one. :grr:

[GiveMeFreedom]

49. Wrong !!

guitar man, If you and I were there it would have been two of us on the the same side, just sayin'.

I don't know why I am that way, I have had several friends who are disabled or suffering from one condition or another. I feel that they are the people who need extra special acknowledgments even it's to say "Hi there" when passing on the street. So many disabled are ignored by the general populace and these tea bagging asshats do this? Could have been blood every where and I am getting use to the idea, just sayin' again!

[guitar man]

55. Right on brother!

We' d go down swinging back to back anyway. :thumbsup:

My wife has worked with the disabled for over 20 years and through knowing her and her passion for the work I have developed a special place in my heart for those who need our help the most. If I see someone abusing them I'm liable to go medevil on their ass. I've jumped when outnumbered before and am sure I'd do so again given the circumstances. As far as I'm concerned that man was being assaulted, I would not hesitate to help given the opportunity.

[frylock]

61. me three..

i'm generally a pacifist, but i see shit like this and i wanna go billy jack. that prick would might just learn a valuable lesson from receiving a shattered arm. unbelievable.

[WillyT]

67. Me Four !!! - Goin Billy Jack... I LOVE That, ROFL !!!

Perfect!!!

:hi:

[mod mom]

38. doesn't this point to the fact it's the GOP who WANTS DEATH PANELS?

Here we have a productive member of society who comes down with a horrid debilitating disease and it's these GOP thugs who tells him to go fend for himself and expect no help. They want the DEATH PANELS!

[1776Forever]

42. I can relate to this so much. I am a mother of a 40 year-old with Progressive MS & you just can't

imagine the pain you go through when you can do nothing for someone you love so much! We fought for 2 years to get his SSI so he would have Medicaid and without it he would be dead now. Like Bob said, how many other families will have to go through this misery and pain! It should NOT be this way in the United States of America! We should be better then this! It is time to start down the right road to give all who need care a chance to live the best quality of life they can in the greatest country in the world. Then we can start to say that with conviction!

Blessings to Bob and his family! You, Bob, are a great man!

[Daphne08]

46. My uncle was a college professor, and I watched him

slowly deteriorate because of Parkinson's.

He had been an active, intelligent man all his life, but that disease robbed him of all dignity before he passed away.

I really was shocked by the contemptible behavior of those Tea Party people, and I'm ashamed to admit that they are my fellow countrymen. They are completely devoid of human decency.

I just don't know what else to say.

[ScreamingMeemie]

48. When I saw the man with the baby (to the left) with that huge smile

on his face I wanted to vomit. How can we be this way to each other? How can we teach our youngest citizens to be this way?

[Quantess]

66. I feel sorry for his baby, having a jackass like that for a father.

Maybe he's a decent father in most ways --who knows-- but as a role model he is not good.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

50. Is this getting a lot of play on Corporate Media?

I ask because of the "shocked the nation" claim. These teabagging fucks are absolutely despicable.

[earcandle]

52. Thanks for sharing this. He is a hero!

[Mind_your_head]

54. Very cruel.

Unacceptable. Period.

[Ken Burch]

58. The bastards that did that need to reminded of Matthew 25:40

(New Living Translation)

""And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'

[CoffeeCat]

60. These tea-baggers are so far from being Christ-like...

Aren't the tea baggers part of the religious right? This contemptible, evil behavior
is some of the most anti-Christian behavior I've ever witnessed. To treat a helpless,
disabled man like that--in such an in-your-face way. It was so brazen and devoid of
compassion and empathy. How does a person even get that callous?

These people really are sick.

Does it bother these people that an untold number of people wept after witnessing their mean spiritedness?

[Ken Burch]

63. No...but then again. the teabaggers would've shouted for Barabbas

if they'd been there "back in the day".

[4lbs]

59. So... the guy is 100x more intelligent than nearly all the teabaggers that mocked him.

Sounds about right.

[WinkyDink]

85. Try adding a few more zeroes.

[4lbs]

104. It was a 'conservative' estimate.

;)

[medeak]

64. Bill Mahr just showd vid on Real Time on hbo

YAY!!!

[mod mom]

102. Thanks-found the Bill Maher video here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?comments&v=106350459385190

[TK421]

65. If anyone witnesses the trademark movements, reactions of someone with Parkinsons

and thinks it is a joke...then somebody should go cut that fuckers head right off





that's all

[AllyCat]

68. Marking for later. Heard it on the radio and that was bad enough.

Not sure I can watch this.

[Kind of Blue]

69. Well, thank goodness the baggers didn't know that

They may have killed him on the spot and all that science he represents.

KnR

[juajen]

71. This breaks my heart.

My dear brother, highly educated with three degrees, was diagnosed, but did not have insurance except VA. He was not offered surgery when he was diagnosed about eight years ago. I do not know why. He died last year of this disease, which had taken his voice so that we could no longer communicate, as we were thousands of miles apart. Does anyone know what kind of surgery this was? I would have given anything to be able to communicate with him in his later years. His wonderful brain was a true loss to this country, as he was actively doing research.

[Turbineguy]

76. He is one

o'dem educated elites!

[DrZeeLit]

78. As my father always used to say, "There but for the grace of God go you or I" and

until I grew up and traveled and read and learned and opened myself up to experiences, I didn't fully understand.

But that's exactly it.

This wonderful man is YOU OR I.

But also.... that ignoramus throwing money and spouting off... is YOU OR I.

Every moment of your life is a choice. And that's the GRACE.

And we are called to seize the grace and make our life something amazing.

[Divine Discontent]

114. amen, great point. the one man has chosen to fight for the less fortunate, the others live in fear.

[Triana]

81. is 'teabagger' another way to spell 'psychopath'? seems like it. n/t

[harun]

82. Wow

[janet118]

86. Teabagger attitude in this Boston Globe letter to ed

Why should we pay for irresponsible choices of others?
March 20, 2010

AS REQUESTED by the March 16 editorial “Mothers’ lives at stake,’’ I undertook to “think of the expectant mothers who lack coverage, at risk to their lives and those of their babies.’’

And I in turn ask why a woman lacking such coverage would get pregnant. And why the Globe thinks such an irresponsible choice (for it is nothing else) should be financed by others.

William Vaughan Jr.
Chebeague Island, Maine

LINK

I'll bet he's anti-choice and Christian and on MediCare. These assholes have no compassion or shame or sense of irony.

[WillVaughan]

126. Response by janet118

janet118 says of me: "I'll bet he's anti-choice and
Christian and on MediCare." 

Wrong on all counts. How much were you betting?

[WinkyDink]

89. Nazis: They're not just for the 1940's any more.

[TxVietVet]

94. The true colors of the teabag

pieces of sh!t. Show it to the world their comtempt for other, but what is more insulting is that they have shown their contempt and insulting someone who cannot stand up to them and their insults. Physically, that is. However, this incident has shown how some people, whom the prejudiced view as insulting, is MORE of a human being than the :puke: teabaggers are. Probably more in the ways of the :puke: teabaggers' Christ than they are.

They should all be ridiculed in public and have their lives trashed for insulting this guy. Give the man with the Parkinson's a medal for his heroism. Heroic actions in the presence of :puke: teabag idiots.

[Faygo Kid]

95. They can't be allowed to win. Pass the bill.

I know it's far from perfect, but it does have good provisions and its defeat will mean the end of so many things in this nation that are decent that I can't even count them up. It's more than health care now. Pass the bill.

[LongTomH]

96. More evidence that Conservative and Liberal brains are different!

Conservative brains seem to lack the capacity for compassion and empathy. That's not true of all the conservatives I've known; but, it is true of a majority.

Speculation: Is this necessarily genetic - or does years of exposure to conservative dogma and rhetoric dull their capacity for compassion and empathy? Just a thought!

[lonestarnot]

101. Yes they are.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7946731

[mod mom]

99. two Master's Degrees and a PhD from Cornell. He taught at the University of Michigan

not that his education level should matter, but it showcases how terrible illnesses can befall highly productive citizens, and what the GOP solution is to the illness-"fend for yourself, I've got mine". Assholes!

source of info:

http://www.examiner.com/x-15870-Populist-Examiner~y2010m3d20-Parkinsons-patient-gains-national-attention-from-healthcare-rally-confrontation

[mod mom]

100. Chris Mathews coverage on Hardball (video):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/18/matthews-to-health-care-r_n_505196.html

[Skidmore]

103. Wish someone could find his tormenters and interview them,.

Cowards in a crowd. Bullyboys.

[fatbuckel]

106. Taunted Parkinson's Victim

I would mock the teabaggers but I don`t know how to imitate a useless bag of brainshit.

[DemoTex]

107. Schopenhauer would point to a pure immorality in these people.

Simple: Morality = Compassion. End of story.

[Octafish]

115. Kick for Truth

Wish I'd seen sooner, so I could Rec, as well.

Thank you, mod mom. What a country -- produces both scholars and jackboots.

[Shining Jack]

116. OMG,that's beyond disgusting !

How can those heartless creeps sleep at night ? :cry: