Frank Rich: The Rage Is Not About Health Care

[cal04]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/opinion/28rich.html

THERE were times when last Sunday’s great G.O.P. health care implosion threatened to bring the thrill back to reality television. On ABC’s “This Week,” a frothing and filibustering Karl Rove all but lost it in a debate with the Obama strategist David Plouffe. A few hours later, the perennially copper-faced Republican leader John Boehner revved up his “Hell no, you can’t!” incantation in the House chamber — instant fodder for a new viral video remixing his rap with will.i.am’s “Yes, we can!” classic from the campaign. Boehner, having previously likened the health care bill to Armageddon, was now so apoplectic you had to wonder if he had just discovered one of its more obscure revenue-generating provisions, a tax on indoor tanning salons.

But the laughs evaporated soon enough. There’s nothing entertaining about watching goons hurl venomous slurs at congressmen like the civil rights hero John Lewis and the openly gay Barney Frank. And as the week dragged on, and reports of death threats and vandalism stretched from Arizona to Kansas to upstate New York, the F.B.I. and the local police had to get into the act to protect members of Congress and their families.

How curious that a mob fond of likening President Obama to Hitler knows so little about history that it doesn’t recognize its own small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht. The weapon of choice for vigilante violence at Congressional offices has been a brick hurled through a window. So far.

No less curious is how disproportionate this red-hot anger is to its proximate cause. The historic Obama-Pelosi health care victory is a big deal, all right, so much so it doesn’t need Joe Biden’s adjective to hype it. But the bill does not erect a huge New Deal-Great Society-style government program. In lieu of a public option, it delivers 32 million newly insured Americans to private insurers. As no less a conservative authority than The Wall Street Journal editorial page observed last week, the bill’s prototype is the health care legislation Mitt Romney signed into law in Massachusetts. It contains what used to be considered Republican ideas.

(snip)
That a tsunami of anger is gathering today is illogical, given that what the right calls “Obamacare” is less provocative than either the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or Medicare, an epic entitlement that actually did precipitate a government takeover of a sizable chunk of American health care. But the explanation is plain: the health care bill is not the main source of this anger and never has been. It’s merely a handy excuse. The real source of the over-the-top rage of 2010 is the same kind of national existential reordering that roiled America in 1964.

[MadMaddie]

1. Ding! Ding! Frank Rich speaks the truth

Yes, it is true the repugs hated Clinton but this amount of rage is above and beyond what Clinton faced.

[CBHagman]

10. I know. Sometimes I'm actually nostalgic for the 1990s.

During impeachment I remember Charlie Rangel (D-NY) addressing his Republican colleagues: "You have brought hatred to this floor!"

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/20/nyregion/most-moderate-republicans-in-northeast-vote-with-party.html?pagewanted=1

But in retrospect impeachment seems mostly a terrible waste of time and money (and a lot of abuse of less-powerful people, frankly).

But the tea party movement, the all-expenses-paid right wing ego trip movement (e.g., Beck, Limbaugh et al), with their vitriol, their ignorance, their ill-defined but virulent rage, are something more pernicious. They scream, they spit, but it is for a less just nation, and a more divided one.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

39. Back in the 1950's and 1960's

Mainstream Republicans tried to distance themselves from groups like the John Birch Society when their views became more and more extreme (and bizarre). To the extent that Barry Goldwater was their endorsed candidate and several JBS membes were high-profile supporters, it gave credence to the popular view that Goldwater himself was an extremist. Goldwater later denounced the JBS as well.

The modern Republicans have embraced the modern incarnation of the John Birch Society. They group is still around, and you pretty much bet that their members hold dual-citizenship in the Teabag Movement. They're doing this at their peril; trading short-term gain for long term irrelevance.

[WinkyDink]

56. "The John Birch Society", as sung by the Chad Mitchell Trio:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG6taS9R1KM

Oh, we're meetin' at the courthouse at eight o'clock tonight
You just walk in the door and take the first turn to the right
Be careful when you get there, we hate to be bereft
But we're taking down the names of everybody turning left

Oh, we're the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society
Here to save our country from a communistic plot
Join the John Birch Society, help us fill the ranks
To get this movement started we need lots of tools and cranks

Now there's no one that we're certain the Kremlin doesn't touch
We think that Westbrook Pegler doth protest a bit too much
We only hail the hero from whom we got our name
We're not sure what he did but he's our hero just the same

Oh, we're the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society
Socialism is the ism dismalest of all
Join the John Birch Society, there's so much to do
Have you heard they're serving vodka at the WCTU?

Well you've heard about the agents that we've already named
Well MPA has agents that are flauntedly unashamed
We're after Rosie Clooney, we've gotten Pinkie Lee
And the day we get Red Skelton won't that be a victory

Oh we're the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society
Norman Vincent Peale may think he's kidding us along
But the John Birch Society knows he spilled the beans
He keeps on preaching brotherhood, but we know what he means

We'll teach you how to spot 'em in the cities or the sticks
For even Jasper Junction is just full of Bolsheviks
The CIA's subversive and so's the FCC
There's no one left but thee and we, and we're not sure of thee

Oh, we're the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society
Here to save our country from a communistic plot
Join the John Birch Society holding off the Reds
We'll use our hand and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads

Do you want Justice Warren for your Commissar?
Do you want Mrs. Krushchev in there with the DAR?
You cannot trust your neighbor or even next of kin
If mommie is a commie then you gotta turn her in

Oh, we're the John Birch Society, the John Birch Society
Fighting for the right to fight the right fight for the Right
Join the John Birch Society as we're marching on
And we'll all be glad to see you when we're meeting in the John
The John, the John Birch So- ci- i- teee

[Lifelong Protester]

61. thanks for posting this! I'm old enough to remember it and

the (until now) incomplete lyrics have been rumbling through my head.

[MadMaddie]

94. This time around though the environment is different

if they keep on the path they are going they will be deemed "Domestic Terrorist", under the Patriot Act. This country will not tolereate another Timothy McVeigh terrorist act.

[Fire1]

77. Quite true. n/t

[AlbertCat]

86. but this amount of rage is above and beyond what Clinton faced.

Indeed

And it's not as silly.... with Illuminist witch hunts and crack pipes on the White House Christmas tree.

Death Panels and the end of life as we know it are lies, just like the above lies, but much more frightening and believable to the credulous.

Here's the telling sentence from this op ed:

The Republicans haven’t had a single African-American in the Senate or the House since 2003 and have had only three in total since 1935. Their anxieties about a rapidly changing America are well-grounded.

Anyone who thinks the Teabaggers are not racist needs to think again.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. He's right: the rage is about racism.

[blue neen]

6. Yep.

All the haters I know predicted in 2008, "If Obama gets elected, this country will erupt in a race war."

It seems to me that they are doing everything they can to make that a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's disgusting.

[KillCapitalism]

29. Classism also.

The bill will assist in covering 32,000,000 additional Americans who are mostly the working poor. They don't like their tax money going to support "deadbeat" who don't work. They know nothing of the plight of our poor who often work two min. wage jobs just to get by, and I bet nearly all of them work harder than the teabaggers.

Thousands of uninsured low-income people die due to lack of health insurance and the teabaggers would like to continue to see them die off.

[eridani]

38. It is the health care bill itself that is classist

People will still die because the lowest tier of income-rated 'coverage' is virtually useless. The Bronze people in the disposable human garbage sector will be forced to buy policies which leave 40% of their expenses to be paid before the insurance company kicks in a dime. If they have ongoing health care needs, this requirement makes it even harder for them to pay for care. And they have to pay three times as much if they are over 50.

[Nikki Stone1]

31. No. The rage is not about racism. It's about the GOP creating rage to win in November

The tea parties are being run by Dick Armey and Freedomworks; the Republicans in Congress, roundly beaten in 2008, decided to make themselves "relevant" by banding together. It's all about rebranding the GOP and winning in 2010 and 2012.


There is REAL outrage about the health insurance giveaway bill, but that is from those of us who know what it really is. And we're not with the tea party or the GOP.

[Skittles]

34. CORRECT

Nikki NAILS it

[newspeak]

103. yep, Nikki's right

This is a faux creation to aid the GOP.

[Hansel]

73. Part of the rage is about racism.

You have to be in significant denial not to recognize that the racist dog whistle is being used to gin up the rage and attendance at Tea Party rallies. That along with homophobia and sexism.

Your opinion on the bill is just that, your opinion. You can choose to be outraged by it, but your outrage isn't the result of knowing what is in the bill. Your outrage is because you have chosen to see it in the most negative light possible and because you have chosen to get outraged over it rather than to see it as a good first step.

[Nikki Stone1]

83. It's a tool, not a cause

Look at the larger strategy.

[Bobbie Jo]

74. Riiight...

Keep defending these pathetic racist thugs. :puke: Rebranding, my ass.

[newspeak]

102. that liberty cartoon? Is that supposed to be a cartoon?

Is the grossest piece of shite I think I've ever seen.

[Bobbie Jo]

107. Just another "faux creation," I suppose.

Vile....just doesn't do it justice.

[AlbertCat]

87. decided to make themselves "relevant" by banding together....

... with racists.

It IS about racism. Get a clue.

It's a version of the "Southern Strategy".

[Posteritatis]

89. The GOP strategizing and the general public freakouts can be two different things

I don't doubt that the GOP wants to work up a nice froth of rage for the election, but I also don't doubt that a lot of people involved in the production of that froth at ground level are thinking of any number of other things.

[leeroysphitz]

97. +1

[pampango]

40. I have wondered if Hillary had been nominated and won, would this be happening? I think it would.

When I worked in community organizing in the South in the 1970's, whites were resistant to African American challenges to their hold on power. But when the women's movement started challenging male dominance in the family and work place, the resistance from the "good ol' boys" was even more apparent.

To many whites, then, civil rights might you might have to hire a few more Blacks, pay the janitor a little more, or maybe even elect one or two to the city council. They didn't like it, but as business men sometimes you had to adapt to conditions and keep on going. In most instances it didn't really challenge overall white power too much in reality at least not immediately. White men though didn't relish the women in their lives sharing power within the family or the ideas of having a woman as their boss at work. That was touching too close to home for them.

While teabagger reaction to a Hillary presidency obviously wouldn't be based on racism, and the presence of so many women at bagger rallies might change, sexism would ensure that there was a lot of resistance to the image of her as the president. It would have been (and will be) interesting one day. :)

[TheMadMonk]

42. Might have once. Not so much today. Women do have too much presence...

...in every echelon below the peak of the peak for sexism on the same level as the racism being directed towards Obama to be tolerated.

As you say, token black faces in a few places, plus a few finally allowed to ram their way to the top with sheer excellence sufficed to satisfy the appearance of civil rights adherence. And even today dark skinned folk of either gender are heavily underrepresented in any but the more menial of positions.

A general strike by non-Eurasians would be an inconvenience, but at current unemployment levels enough strugglers could be convinced to turn scab. A general strike by women would be devastating, particularly if carried into the bedroom.

[KittyWampus]

45. Yes it would be happening if it were Hillary or Biden. Race is one flashpoint used by the Right

to stir up people who haven't developed their Higher Brain functions and who are dominated by their Reptilian Brain stem.

[AlbertCat]

88. Race is one flashpoint used by the Right

A very very big one.

Some GOP flashpoints are more equal than others.

They don't have to wear white hoods for racism to be their main event.

[Mojeoux]

67. The Faces of Hate from Brown vs The Board of Education

look like these people.

American was repulsed back then and people all over the country are cringing away from the Tea Bag "movement" with the same revulsion.

[newspeak]

105. race and religion

both are useful tools for the neo-cons and FEAR, lots and lots of FEAR.

[The Wielding Truth]

3. Every person who considers themselves teabag-leaning should

be dipped in they truths.

[leeroysphitz]

99. Every teabagger should be rounded up and forced to submit to the tatooing of the word McVeigh across

their forheads so that in years to come if they try to associate with decent people no one will be fooled and everyone will recognize them for treacherous animals and rightly shun them.

[babylonsister]

4. Mr. Rich is worth the wait. Rec'd. nt

[BlooInBloo]

5. Everybody knows it. Most prefer to lie about it.

[izzybeans]

7. "...curious that a mob fond of likening President Obama to Hitler knows so little about history that

it doesn’t recognize its own small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht."

Indeed. Apt description. They've lifted the taboo on comparisons to nazi's by becoming them.

[madaboutharry]

8. Frank Rich, Bravo. As always.

[DainBramaged]

9. Those stoopid tea bagging wrinkle factories will soon be a minority

The week before the health care vote, The Times reported that births to Asian, black and Hispanic women accounted for 48 percent of all births in America in the 12 months ending in July 2008. By 2012, the next presidential election year, non-Hispanic white births will be in the minority. The Tea Party movement is virtually all white. The Republicans haven’t had a single African-American in the Senate or the House since 2003 and have had only three in total since 1935.

[gtar100]

64. Wow, what a coincidence that study came out only a week before the vote.

I'm sure it was just a coincidence.

[Hekate]

11. KnR

[unkachuck]

12. K&R....n/t

[MajorChode]

13. Their irrational rage only insures that HCR will be successful beyond their wildest dreams

[UTUSN]

14. K&R #19 for, I say for free what big, famous pundits say for cash and prestige!1

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8031436

But my man Frank seems to set the begining of wingnut rage to be racism against OBAMA. I believe that rage is a core value of wingnuttiness, along with racism, and that all their talk of constitutionality, "freedom," and capitalism is ALL window dressing. They were shunned and looked down on from the '40s through the '60s or even into the '70s and therefore have a gigantic chip on the shoulder, hence the rage. Why is one of LIMBOsevic's biggest bugaboos the Boomers, a generation of which he is a member?!1 Their rage was having their NIXON bear the ultimate shame, while they claim hypocrisy in JFK and CLINTON. Racism towards OBAMA is certainly a facet, but their rage goes WAY back.

[Rage Inc.]

15. Yep. I didn't see ANY of these people.......

.....protesting and screaming themselves hoarse when George W. Bush was spending our future and restricting our liberties!

[lunatica]

16. I agree with everything except his last sentence

"...if G.O.P. leaders of all stripes, from Romney to Mitch McConnell to Olympia Snowe to Lindsey Graham, are afraid of these forces, that’s the strongest possible indicator that the rest of us have reason to fear them too."

The reason these Republicans fear the teabaggers is because if they dare criticize even in the mildest of ways the teabaggers will turn their take no prisoners anger on them. We already have that anger aimed at us, and we're still winning. The Republicans are realizing they no longer control their party because the scum at the bottom of the barrel who the Republicans thought they could control have spread like a deadly blight on the Republican Party.

Why should we fear that? The more powerful these scum become the more powerful we'll become. They're giving the Democratic Party a good reason to fight for our ideas and ideals.

[will_in_chicago]

20. Fear of the tea baggers

I think that the pundits on the right have created a monster that they cannot control, so I think that the GOP is afraid that they would be next. Indeed, a few teabaggers may run against incumbent Republicans.

The teabaggers may sense that their time is going. For myself, I judge others not by their race, origin, faith, or sexual preference but how they treat others. The teabaggers demand a uniformity that never really existed in America, as the past that they praise was one of inequality for many Americans. So, let us look forward to an America that truly judges people by the content of their character. As for the teabaggers, I expect that they will be joining the Whigs, the dodo, and the dinosaurs in oblivion. (Considering the age demographic of the tea baggers, that may only take a decade or two.)

[Kweli4Real]

47. I think the OP ...

wasn't talking about political "fear"; rather, I think he was talking about fear in the more conventional sense, as in safety/security.

There is no doubt that the tea partiers are heavily influencing the republican drift to the lunatic right. I think what the OP was saying is that with democrats continued victories despite the republican party falling into their line, the tea partiers will become even more unhinged and act on their violent fantasies.

I think that the tea partiers are alot like the classic profile of the perpetrator of workplace violence. They have a grievance . They feel "unheard" because "no one will listen." Because they lack the emotion intelligence to handle rejection, they feel completely justified in whatever act they commit. I think that's what the republican leadership fears and we should recognize.

[lunatica]

50. I got what you're saying but still think that the word fear is not correct

It infers we should cower in some way. And as FDR said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Once the deranged wing of the Teabagger Party step over the line and kill someone they will be dealt with quickly by either local authorities or the FBI. The other cowards in that wing will slink back under their rocks to save themselves. Fearing a handful of people is to become paralyzed. Sure everyone should be concerned and watchful, but to alter in any way our lives to accommodate terrorists is to do exactly what they want us to do. That's what the Republicans did after 9/11. Practically overnight (in the grand scheme of things) we became a police state with warrantless spying on us and we, the American people, became enemy combatants in potential and the Patriot Act was enacted to keep us in line. Who knows how many undeserving Americans have been put on no fly lists for nothing or are being carefully watched by the FBI and maybe even the CIA, yet terrorists from other countries are allowed on.

Bush decided HE was going to kick ass with our mighty military machine and show the world they can't fuck with HIM even in spite of millions of people the world over making it very clear we didn't want war. Now we're trying to extricate ourselves out of the fucking black hole war he created with his need to prove his machismo to his father. He decimated our economy, ruined our reputation (the little reputation Clinton had managed to salvage) and made us look like the bullying village idiot in the world community. There's a really good chance we will never recover, but then maybe that's a good thing. Bush is also a war criminal and as long as he isn't investigated and brought to justice we, our country, is just as guilty of his crimes as he is.

Teabaggers are nothing, nobodies. They can't spell or think or do anything but rage and cut their own noses off to spite their faces. And we're supposed to fear them?

[HughMoran]

17. Yep, I pointed this out last week

I said same in a lot fewer words ;) http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=4313648#4314006

[aquart]

18. If they're insanely angry over this, we should have gone with single payer.

That's what they think it is, anyway.

[pnorman]

19. I really liked the accompaning Tea Bag image!

I'll probably use it elsewhere pretty soon!

[butterfly77]

21. Kicked&Recommended!

:kick:

[bridgit]

22. Sure, none of these phony-ass republican fuckers want to *own their own shrieking words* and so...

Boehner now, as would a proper weasel says, "'Armageddon' is just a word" well, and of course it is, John...but for that fact that Armageddon is not a word such as: creme-puff, or twinkle-toes, or fake-fucking-tan-with-pout-rage-attached can be or is applicable in every raving RW Nazi-esque waking nightmare (they just happen to be experiencing) is able to sustain and that's why he & all the tired-ass republican doctor-lobbyist' and disgruntled white bigots need THEY FUCKING NEED of all idiot people: Sarah Palin, to re-fire their failed & sputtering little rocket motor - now *I* ask *you* just how fucking sad is that? Cause I say its pathetic though of course as is my way...

I digress,


Because it isn't just about racism, as large a stigmata as that bleeds

"How curious that a mob fond of likening President Obama to Hitler knows so little about history that it doesn’t recognize its own small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht."

Botta BING! Its all about brittle, intransigent minds cause you can be as simple as an alluvial moon pool feeding a brook that feeds an ocean and *not* be ignorant of your place & function in this world - paraphrased as a summary matter from Fritz Perls, 'It is better to be the river than a rock' but there's no way for republicans to get there from the pits, trenches & dog runs they've dug for themselves poor dumb fuckers :(

[Raksha]

23. K & R - great article and very true.

[Raksha]

24. Duplicate

[spanone]

25. mr rich hits the nail on the head.....thank you sir!

[lunasun]

26. I still say ......

they wouldn't dare be this angry and disrespectful if the president wasn't black /biracial . simple as that

[riverbendviewgal]

27. Our rage should be directed at the drug companies.

I watched a Canadian TV program tonight on CTV...
It is called PILLS, PATIENTS AND PROFITS.

It shows how the Pharmaceuticals are receiving government welfare while making 29 percent profits from captive customers who need the drugs to keep them alive.

I highly recommend you all watch this.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100326/w5_pills_100326/20100327?s_name=W5

It concerns the high cost of health care due to rising drug costs in both USA and Canada.

[Major Hogwash]

28. I wish just once that Obama would look straight in to the camera and say . . .

"I'm a socialist, so what of it?"
Just look dead pan serious, like he is at a funeral.

And then 8 or 9 seconds later say "Naw . . just kidding."

Just so we can watch their heads explode.

LoL

[alp227]

30. Of course not. It's mostly about unfounded attacks and doomsday theories.

Frank Rich is awesome. Those protesters know it's real easy to dismiss health care reform as a government takeover, socialism, and images of Obama with a Hitler mustache or Joker colors. And the Teabaggers will keep complaining about HCR bankrupting government, the Congressional Budget Office's findings be damned. But I wonder if they feel the same way about BUSH destroying the Clinton-era surplus because of tax cuts and increased spending on wars?

[Nikki Stone1]

32. Both the GOP and Democrats misled everyone into thinking that HCR was "socialist" / "social program"

The bill is decidedly corporatist, hatched at the Heritage Foundation, and creates a siphon for taxpayer money to feed the health insurance industry by mandate, under penalty of fine, or, in certain cases, imprisonment. (And yeah, I've read the bill. If you don't pay your fine in a "timely" manner, you could be imprisoned).

[upi402]

33. This is the browning of the shirts

Gonna say it til it hurts.

It's the propaganda media whipping up people in hopes that the nuts among the radicals will act violently and cause chaos which will require a reaction like post 9-11 fascism. But extend it. It's authoritarianism on the rise. Right here. Right now.

[Hekate]

35. I think I found the key paragraphs at the link: White population is declining to a minority...

The entire article is worth the read, but I think this is the most significant part: "By 2012, the next presidential election year, non-Hispanic white births will be in the minority."

Susceptible people are feeling hyper-anxious and very threatened. People like me and my hubby think "How interesting," but we don't feel threatened, nor do the majority of our friends and relatives -- the majority of whom are white. Here's what Rich says:

>>> If Obama’s first legislative priority had been immigration or financial reform or climate change, we would have seen the same trajectory. The conjunction of a black president and a female speaker of the House — topped off by a wise Latina on the Supreme Court and a powerful gay Congressional committee chairman — would sow fears of disenfranchisement among a dwindling and threatened minority in the country no matter what policies were in play. It’s not happenstance that Frank, Lewis and Cleaver — none of them major Democratic players in the health care push — received a major share of last weekend’s abuse. When you hear demonstrators chant the slogan “Take our country back!,” these are the people they want to take the country back from.
>>>
>>> They can’t. Demographics are avatars of a change bigger than any bill contemplated by Obama or Congress. The week before the health care vote, The Times reported that births to Asian, black and Hispanic women accounted for 48 percent of all births in America in the 12 months ending in July 2008. By 2012, the next presidential election year, non-Hispanic white births will be in the minority. The Tea Party movement is virtually all white. The Republicans haven’t had a single African-American in the Senate or the House since 2003 and have had only three in total since 1935. Their anxieties about a rapidly changing America are well-grounded. <<<

"How's that hopey-changey thing workin' out for ya?" says the charismatic rabble rouser in the spike heels. Her audience feels hopeless and anxiety-ridden, and for them, Change sucks.

Hekate

[Rozlee]

52. Therein lies the rub. In the 2008 election, Hispanics gave Obama almost 75% of the vote. Jews gave

him almost as much. Catholics gave him about 70%. Blacks gave him 96%, which was almost the same amount as they gave Clinton. I don't know about Asians. But, if the pattern is repeated in '12, the Rethugs will be in trouble. I remember how the Jewish vote tilted dramatically to Obama after Palin was chosen as McSane's running mate. They disliked her immensely from the get-go. If the teabaggers keep going the way they are, I don't see the demographics changing much, although I'm not sure how the Catholic vote will go. But, the looming immigration issue might determine that. Many Catholics are Hispanics. I'm Hispanic and with the exception of me, all my family is rabidly Catholic. Not that that made a difference. With the exception of one winger sister, they all voted for Obama. But, if the teabaggers carry on as viciously about Latinos in the immigration issue--and I 'spect they will--who knows which way the Catholic vote will swing? With the teabaggers, the Rethugs have the proverbial tiger by the tail: they can't let go of it, but they can't hold on to it forever.

[Hekate]

57. Now that's interesting -- the "Catholic vote" used to be Irish; now the Irish are well-assimilated

I think that the Catholic vote has traditionally been "ethnic" ... and the ethnic balance has changed. I find this very interesting... I also think you're so right about the viciousness of the anti-immigrant talk seriously undercutting Repub attempts to capture the Catholic vote.

The Repubs created their monster and now they have to deal with it. Too bad we all have to fear what that monster may do before it goes back to sleep again (it never truly dies, does it?)

Hekate

[newspeak]

100. so how long before we become a giant melting pot?

Just because someone may look white doesn't mean they don't have other ethnicity. I think of Hawaii, where there is more of a blending--I'm not saying there's no bigotry but there seems to be more mix--Hawaiian, Japanese, European, African Etc....And, since I'm almost albino white, I've thought that if the ozone barrier gets thinner--people like me will be indoors more or slathering more and more sunscreen. There is an up side for having more melanin. Maybe some are just jealous because they read that "white" might be a genetic mutation.:shrug:

[lamp_shade]

36. I find it hard to believe that 16% of teabaggers claim to be Democrats.

[RC]

58. Not so hard to understand when you realize that the real political center is

over the horizon to the left. Even the perceived center is way to the right of any real Republican.
Case in point is the profits of the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Every other country that cares for it citizens has done what was needed to correct the problem of excessive power and autonomy of insurance companies.
What have we done? Passed a "health care bill" written by the self same business that it clams to rein in. And then they claim it is socialism, a government take over of the health care system, when it is no such thing.
Why did they do this? To prime the faithful for the next step. The goal is a fascist dictatorship in this country.
The health care bill is nowhere near as wonderful as some claim. A bucket and shovel to stem the incoming tide.
And for the tea bags, they are just disposable tools being utilized for the above mentioned goal.
What do you do with a tea bag when you are done with it? You squeeze the excess water out of it and toss it in the trash. That is what will happen when the goal is reached. Most of us will be at the bottom together, no matter our political leanings.

[DCBob]

37. Excellent article.. everyone should go to the link and read the whole thing...

well written and spot on. This paragraph should have been included in the OP..

If Obama’s first legislative priority had been immigration or financial reform or climate change, we would have seen the same trajectory. The conjunction of a black president and a female speaker of the House — topped off by a wise Latina on the Supreme Court and a powerful gay Congressional committee chairman — would sow fears of disenfranchisement among a dwindling and threatened minority in the country no matter what policies were in play. It’s not happenstance that Frank, Lewis and Cleaver — none of them major Democratic players in the health care push — received a major share of last weekend’s abuse. When you hear demonstrators chant the slogan “Take our country back!,” these are the people they want to take the country back from.

[newspeak]

101. This reminds me of the readings I did in my environmental science

class in the eighties. I still have my class notebook created by my professor with essays from some of the leading conservatives at the time. Wm. F. Buckley, Gordon Liddy, etc... We discussed this in class, some of the essays were about whites becoming a minority in the future. Now this was in the eighties and these cons were already stirring up the shite about white minority status.

What is the big damn deal? So what, whites won't be a majority--hey I got kids with different skin tones-I won't be shaking in my shoes anytime soon!!!

[The Wizard]

41. They want to take the country back

We want to take the country forward.
It's like driving. You put it in D to go forward and R to go backward.

[Lifelong Protester]

62. Whooo-hooo! That is a good one. May I use it?

n/t

[The Wizard]

85. Go ahead

I stole it, probably from someone on DU.

[BumRushDaShow]

43. K& a BIG BIG F'n R! Hits nail right on the head!

:applause:

[WillyT]

44. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[classof56]

46. K&R!

:kick:

[orbitalman]

48. KK&RR

[Fire1]

49. I didn't need Frank Rich to tell me that. K&R

[patrice]

51. Opposition to HCR is SO none-sensical as to reveal that SOMETHING ELSE is at work here & FR nails

what that something else is.

:applause:

[Leopolds Ghost]

104. Yeah, opposition to mandatory private health insurance is racist.

That's why it's, to quote Frank Rich, a Republican Idea which "delivers" 35 million uninsured Americans into the hands of private insurance. Because they couldn't afford insurance now, and thanks to this bill, they will. They'll have to ''find'' a way to afford it..

:sarcasm: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

Do we have a smiley for superciliousness?

[Mithreal]

53. I wonder if the economy has anything to do with the underlying problems.

It really is easy to manipulate people with their prejudice and other irrationalities when they're hurting. That doesn't explain people like the spouse of a certain justice of the SCOTUS.

When Dems took up with the corporations, the Regressives had fear, anxiety, racism and what else. Did you all think they were going to return to reason and the Republican Party of old. New Dems are the Old School Republicans, or something less in many ways. Regressives could only move right. As much as the Republican party was moving right on its own, the Dem Party moving right is backing them into a kind of corner. Did you all expect they wouldn't lash out? Are we really surprised by their violence?

A lot of us are cheering the demise of the Republican Party while our party becomes more conservative. Irony. We kill the brand while absorbing the sane ones. Congratulations. One party in this country will work out just fine.

[me b zola]

54. Mr Rich hit two points that the media have continuously misrepresented

1- The violent acts we have seen are not from a "fringe minority" of teabaggers, thats who they are, that is what they have been advocating all along.

2- This didn't just begin with the passage of HCR, this began during the election and ramped up during the town hall meetings over the summer.


Most of us here were alarmed from the beginning of the dangerous rhetoric and the free pass that the frothing at the mouth RWers have received. We begged for law enforcement to take the dangerous rhetoric and behavior (carrying guns to a political gathering, ripping a sign out of the hands of a HCR supporter) seriously before people began getting hurt and the violence spread. To date most of the media continues to enable tea baggers and the violence.


Thank you, Mr Rich, for a well written column that hopefully will get some attention on the Sunday news shows.

[Bobbie Jo]

108. +1

[WinkyDink]

55. In brief: Racism.

[socialist_n_TN]

59. Rich says what I've thought for a while...................

but nobody in the MSM has articulated. This ENTIRE RW outrage personified by the Teabaggers is simply a result of people who've had their entire world view overturned by the electorate in '06 and '08.

It's easy to see with even a cursory recap of history. They've been told for 30+ years that they are the REAL Americans and that any opposition to RW policies comes from traitors and lunatics (like us:). Now the voters have shown them that they ARE NOT a big majority. That's leading to this situation that tells them they've been WRONG for 30+ years. Add in race and sexism and you've got a lot of folks who don't know how to handle it. It also feeds into their conspiracy fantasies. I'm just glad SOMEBODY in the MSM seems to be seeing this holistically rather than disconnected parts.

[Lifelong Protester]

60. This was an excellent editorial.

He's right of course, it would have been about ANY legislation or policy that this administration had taken on. And he's also correct in his musings and wondering as to why NOT ONE 'moderate' republican has called this group out on their over the top anger and inciting of violence...

[LaPera]

63. All republicans are simply frightened hateful ignorant racist - This is an ovious & proven fact.

Today's modern era republicans are racist, there's no getting abound the facts, is it just coincidence, as Rich wrote, that there has only been three African-Americans representing the republican party in over 75 years, THREE - more as three tokens than anything else.

Republicans fought all civil rights legislation tooth & nail, until when it clear and much of the legislation became obvious that it was going to pass, only then is when a few republicans jumped on board...

And for years the republican party would single out African-Americans for abuses in Affirmative Action, using blacks as image of Welfare fraud (many times made up meant to upset the republican white folk voters).

Over & over overt racism by recent republican passed legislation (when republicans controlled congress) regarding drug laws and far longer prison sentence for blacks.

We just seen how the republicans trashed and destroyed ACORN a organization that was very effective in registering tens of thousands of minorities each year to vote.

Now the Republican party is made up of teabaggers. who are very hateful racist.

And to see the republicans past leader in Haiti made it no easier to see the obvious.

[Captain Hilts]

69. No, all Republicans are NOT racists. nt

[LaPera]

70. No, just not the ones who vote republican and for republicans ideology?

Republican ideology, philosophy & agenda of course is fact....

As clear as any republican platform. are actions, which indeed speak much, much louder than words!

The Republican party ideology has proven to be a racist, anti-worker, anti-women rights, homophobic, union busting party, it's absolutely the republicans ideology proven through their actions....

Republican ideology is also pro corporations and corporations right's over people, and removing all corporate regulations, massive tax cut for the rich, the destroying of all social programs & privatizing everything that's government run in favor of a few for corporate profit.

Again, i.e. Republican Ideology!

Republican and their party is a hateful, greedy, corporate fascist, racist, lying, vindictive elitist organization - Supported by the same, or extremely ignorant sheep and the voluntarily blind!

[Mithreal]

65. Keep stirring the racism pot. No danger in that.

[LaPera]

68. If the shoe fits - Then there's only danger in ignoring it & pretending it doesn't exsit....

as a very real reason it's never mentioned, the hidden reason of fear, causing some of the violence....ignoring the facts is morally wrong and more important. And it can NEVER just get better and correct itself on it's own it can only get worse....Especially, if it's stays hidden and people are more worried and more concerned about "stirring the pot" than the actual problems.

[Mithreal]

93. Wrt actual prejudice and racism, I am right there with you.

There's something that doesn't feel right, like we might bring on what we fear the most, but I just can't put it into words atm.

[Hansel]

79. Shhhh. There's racism but it will go away if we ignore it.

Not.

It is not stirring the racism pot to point out racist behavior when it happens. It's stirring the racism pot to engage in racist behavior. The "danger" is in pretending it will go away if we ignore it.

The broadcast and print media need to have it pointed out to them as much as possible that this group is not the wonderful cross section of "real everyday hard working law abiding patriotic Americans" they like to pretend they are. MOST self-respecting Americans would not defend or associated with these folks no matter how much they dislike the HCR law.

[Mithreal]

92. I don't disagree. There is something about this that bothers me, that

I can't quite put into words yet. Part of it is that so many DU'ers are grouping all the teabaggers together as racists. If I think about it long enough, I might be able to put it into words at some point.

[Joe Chi Minh]

66. Just a suggestion, but is it possible that they are mostly enraged because they have, in effect,

made Obama's job as President so much easier. Intransigence on the part of the underdog (having evidenced their own deranged character) obviously comes at a price. You won't play ball, we'll take the bat and ball and play among ourselves, and the public will be more pleased than ever.

You don't like the taste of 'knuckle pie'? Too bad and too late. You should have acted like responsible adults, never mind responsible public officials. Who do you think you are? Now pipe down and do what you're told. Like everyone had to under Bush.

As a Constitutional expert, Obama obviously hadn't wanted to confirm the bad precedent left by Bush, but you left him no choice, rope-a-dopes.

[Bobbie Jo]

71. K&R

Hammer meet nail.

[femrap]

72. He is so right....

someone may get hurt if these right-wing racists aren't educated on what is civilized behavior.

[ddeclue]

75. The Teabaggers are just the 21st century Klan..

it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

[GreenTea]

76. I agree with Frank Rich again as I usually always do.

[Cha]

78. Of course, it's not..it's about stupid

fucking ignorance..glad Rich is getting it out there in the Sunday NYT.

[bos1]

80. It's a good article but leaves out the FreedomWorks angle, the intentional agitation angle.

That's another factor to consider in the "why, now?" question.

[Bobbie Jo]

81. The intentional agitation of racism, that is...

which has nothing to do with health care, and more to do with distracting from the actual merits of the legislation.

Now, they have to own it.

[grahamhgreen]

82. No, it's about MANDATING WE PAY TAXES TO PRIVATE HEALTH CARE CORPORATIONS!

[bos1]

84. really? that's what the Tea Party's are about?

Don't think so.

[Leopolds Ghost]

106. Who gives a shit what the Tea Partiers think? Us LIBERALS oppose this bill.

Right wingers and centrists can go continue their fake war on the teabaggers, setting up meaningless propaganda hatfield and mccoy skirmishes while the Ruling Class continues to fuck up our society. Oh, I forgot, you guys think that mandatory private health insurance is necessary for the good of the nation.

[bos1]

109. uh, hate to break it to you, but there is no bill to oppose anymore.

It's law now

[FourScore]

90. k/r

[humbled_opinion]

91. I don't agree, I work with these people...

I try and find out what the real concerns are, what I have determined is that the reason many people independents and conservatives are railing against the government is as follows:

1. They all have a belief that limited government works best for the people, by and large they have been convinced that flawed government regulations on banks allowed loose lending terms to cause a housing bubble, which has burst with many people just bailing out of their house with no real concern for the incurred debt in other words many conversations cite a lapse in the area of personal responsibility in general.

2. They are convinced that the government is on an unsustainable debt path bailing out financial institutions, insurance companies and irresponsible individuals as well as creating more government entitlement programs and not solving the inevitable insolvency of Social Security and Medicare.

3. They fear complete economic collapse in the USA.

4. They have been convinced of an economic truth that government is raising taxes and spending money to create more government positions and offices those offices and people are put in place to oversee the regulations on businesses. They believe then that the business turns that cost outlay into increased consumer prices for their goods and services. In other words they believe that they are getting screwed twice once by the govt and then again by the business and in some cases by both in partnership i.e., the health care reform individual mandate is cited as an example of this partnership.

5. They do not believe that the Stimulus worked, I questioned them in depth about this particular issue because proof that the job losses have stemmed are undeniable, and I quote; "Proving that the Trillion dollar stimulus saved jobs is akin to believing that because Bush took out Saddam he saved thousands of American lives that Saddam would have inevitably killed", the gist I got is that you cannot prove something that never happened.

Many but not all believe that Obama's transformational change means the destruction of capitalism and a rebirth of the U.S. as a Socialist country. I argue that it would basically take a Constitutional rewrite to accomplish that but many are unswayed with my arguments and yes of course there are some extremes i.e., racists that jump on because the movement suits their diabolical purposes as well.

I do the best I can educated people to the truth.... too many are talk radio fans most are just true political cynics

[rhett o rick]

95. I disagree. Those that I know are afraid, very afraid. But none are as ecucated as you describe.

They are afraid only because O'Reilly and Hannity and Beck and Palin tell them to be afraid. They are afraid the liberals are going to kill their children. They are gullibles.

[humbled_opinion]

96. Well I can only account for those that I work with

Miliatry base with very few liberals, even those that say they are Democrats are not really liberals they are moderates akin to Independents but the majority here are dyed in the wool Conservatives, many are very educated and express themselves well, but to your point about listening to the talking heads that part is most definately true, I can't count the number of times I have heard excepts from Limball or Hannity and they all love Sarah Palin. Yes they are being led to believe that the governments economic unsustainability is going to result in a loss of Freedom for their children, I have been told exactly that, so yes they are afraid.

[rhett o rick]

111. I feel if we the people are to succeed in the reestablishment of freedom

we need to figure out a way to counter the propaganda of the reich.

[bos1]

110. You have a point, but we are talking about the rage. You are talking the calmer (if still misled)

[RoccoR5955]

98. I've been saying all along, it's about the racism! n/t

[Scurrilous]

112. Kick

:kick: