I've had my shower, but I still feel dirty.

Atticus

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Sat Aug-28-10 07:51 PM
Original message

I've had my shower, but I still feel dirty.

Edited on Sat Aug-28-10 08:13 PM by Atticus

Ugh! Believe it or not, Teabaggers are even nastier in person than they are on TV.

I'll try to give an account of our "adventure" today, but it will likely tend toward stream-of-consciousness rambling. I---we, my wife and I---are exhausted.

Our day began with waiting for the shuttle to take us to the Metro. As mentioned yesterday, we are the only non-Teabaggers at this hotel. We hadn't been waiting more than a minute or so before one guy approached us to ask "What do you have against the Tea Party?" (We were decked out in our brand new tee-shirts with "Tea Party" in blue inside an orange circle with an orange slash through it.) I asked him why he supported them and he said he was concerned about our country. I said we, too, were concerned about our country, but we consider the Tea Party and the hatred it encourages to be one of the greatest threats to our country. The shuttle came and we separated. I never saw him again.

On the Metro, which was packed wall to wall with Teabaggers. I wound up standing next to 400 pounds of "I'm white, therefore I'm right" Grade A Tea Bagger asshole. He was maybe early thirties and was lecturing the entire car about "Glenn" and "liberals" and US history. He was literally leaning against me when he finally had to ask why we were wearing those ridiculous T-shirts. There was about 18 inches between his nose and mine as I gave him a big smile and said "Just to piss people like you off."

Gordo wasn't expecting that. He finally laughed and informed me that the Beck rally had nothing to do with the Tea Party. I laughed in his face and told him that was about the kind of nonsense I expected.

He then ignored me for a while while he told everyone about how all the liberal protestors were being paid, probably by Soros, to attend and disrupt the Restore Honor function. He also explained how, last September, the Tea Party had 1.7 million supporters on the Mall. He hadn't been there, but had "seen it on FOX." I again laughed out loud and he again ignored me. (We were there last September. AP estimated 60-70 thousand Teabaggers)

After instructing the rest of the car on how to handle liberal disruptors, Gordo eventually again turned to me and said "Can I ask you a serious question?" I replied "I doubt it. You don't look like the type." He blustered ahead.

"If you bothered to study your history, the Democrats were the Slavery Party. What do you say about that?"

"I say"---again with the big smile---"that a man could make a good living giving helicopter rides in your mouth!" This drew a few chuckles even from "his people" and he turned his back to me for the rest of the trip.

We set up our sign by a bench along the walk near the Washington Monument. Our sign said, on the left half, top to bottom: "Beck is a WHINER"; "Palin is a QUITTER"; "Nugent is a DRAFT DODGER". On the right half, very large: "WHERE is the HONOR?????"

Most of the Teabaggers just passed us by, some smiled some shook their heads, some took pictures. But, quite a few just couldn't resist "being themselves".

"COMMUNISTS!" ------RESPONSE: "I doubt you'd know one if they bit you on the ass. Have a wonderful day."
"Your sign is all wrong!"----------"No, sir. Those are all facts. I understand why you have trouble recognizing them."
"You should come and listen to Glenn." ---------"I've never lost my honor. I'm sorry yours needs restored."
"You two are a DISGRACE!"-------"No, Ma'am, Beck is a disgrace. Palin is a disgrace. Bush and Cheney were disgraces. We're American patriots. See the difference?"

I could go on, but you get the flavor of the first part of our morning. We then packed up and took the Metro to Dunbar High School where a lot of nice people restored our faith in the human race. We're white. Most of the crowd for the Reclaim the Dream march were black, some Latino, a few Asian. But, both my wife and I felt the contrast in spirit between the crowd we'd just left and the crowd we'd just joined. These were OUR people. And, it occurred to me that that is, I believe, how Dr. King wanted us to consider one another. I obviously don't "know" any of the people we met today. But, I think I can say I saw more than a little of the "content of their character" and I certainly know which kind I want my children and grandchildren to live among.

In closing, over and over again this morning, I heard cocky Tea Baggers boasting "Wait until November. Then we'll see who will run this country." Really, that was a common, arrogant, over-the-shoulder parting shot from these people. I wish I could put it in a bottle and pour all of you just a sip or two of that bitter, bitter concoction. It has me ready to again pull out all the stops to turn back the "Tea Party Tsunami" that these budding Nazis (to hell with Godwin!) are confidently predicting.

Another poster here this evening said he was close to getting "militant" again. Go for it, brother. It is time.