Clyburn Says GOP Acted "Despicably" - Politico

[WillyT]

Clyburn says GOP acted "despicably"
March 21, 2010

<snip>

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Sunday night that Republicans should be "ashamed of themselves" and have acted "despicably" by embracing the antics of tea partiers, drawing a contrast to their protests this weekend to the Civil Rights Movement and the Million Man March.

Talking to a small group of reporters in Statuary Hall hours before a sweeping health care reform bill was slated to pass, Clyburn reflected somberly on the GOP's resistance to the pending legislation and the conservative protesters use of defamatory language toward House members in contentious protests outside the Capitol.

"We heard the same kind of debates back in the '60s. What was going to happen to this country if we were to pass Medicare and Medicaid, what would happen to this country if African Americans got the right to vote. My Lord, the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965. Strom Thurmond set the filibuster record in 1957 against the Civil Rights bill... because that was the first step to the Communists taking over the country," Clyburn said.

One of the House's top Democrats, Clyburn continued to air his frustrations with the "crazy stuff" he felt Republicans were engaging in, echoing sentiments expressed earlier Sunday afternoon by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a prominent and openly gay Democrat. Clyburn drew a direct connection between the GOP and tea partiers, but also said the American people—not just the Republican Party—should denounce the racial and homophobic rhetoric being used in the protests.

"This crazy stuff the Republicans are doing here, the stuff you heard yesterday, it's a throwback to that and they ought to be ashamed of themselves for bringing these people here to Washington, D.C. and they're acting like this. I'll never forget when the Million Man March was coming up and all these dire predictions about what would happen in the streets of Washington, D.C. It was the most peaceful day ever spent in Washington, D.C.

"But look what we had yesterday. Look what we had yesterday. Tremendous contrast. And I think the American people really need to denounce that kind of stuff in the firmest way. And for Republicans to applaud on the House floor while somebody is trying to disrupt proceedings from the gallery, it is despicable. Absolutely despicable. I don't know why they're applauding that sort of behavior. It's just crazy," he said.

--Meredith Shiner

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Link: http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0310/Clyburn_says_GOP_acted_despicably_.html?showall

:kick:

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. A voice of reason. Hope many get to hear it.

[livetohike]

2. Still nothing from the GOP hierarchy condemning their

precious teabaggers for yesterday's pathetic, disgusting actions.

[KonaKane]

6. They're afraid to, even though the 'baggers are a speck on the political radar

It's truly mystifying.

[livetohike]

11. Maybe they are afraid of Limbaugh, Coulter, Malkin and all

those other idiots.

[Jennicut]

3. DeMint called them "patriots"...if being patriotic means being a racist homophobe.

[Grand Taurean]

7. DeMint looks like a southern "gentleman" circa 1945.

Seriously, take a look at his suits. :wtf:

[Jennicut]

9. This is what I see when I look at him

A total idiot.

[mediaman007]

4. Let me be the first:

I am ashamed that so many Americans are willing to publicly display their ignorance and their pettiness.

[Liberal Veteran]

5. Wouldn't one require a conscience to feel shame?

I'm pretty sure they don't allow those in the republican party.

[MajorChode]

8. At least the GOPhers have been predictable over the last 4-5 decades

But, but, but, that's Communism. You're going to bankrupt the country. Old people are going to die in the streets (as if they care).

Lather, rinse, repeat...

[mindwalker_i]

10. The Tea Party "movement" is like a Boy Band...

Created with big money from a corporation (in this case, the GOP), to fill the emotional needs of a group with the same intelligence level as a pack of teenagers. They aren't a grassroots movement with real concerns, or even a group of people with real comprehension of what they're talking about. They're a group of crazies who have been carefully manipulated by the Republicans to behave a certain way and regurgitate the appropriate talking points.

Crazy stupid people have their uses.