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Mar 19, 2010 at 11:05 AM
Front Page arrow Opinions arrow Beneath The Spin arrow The Teabaggers Want their Country Back-- Preferably, Circa 1860
The Teabaggers Want their Country Back-- Preferably, Circa 1860
Written by Eric L. Wattree Sr., (Columnist), on 11-19-2009 00:00
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The Teabaggers Want their Country Back-- Preferably, Circa 1860

I just saw another one of those videos. You know the ones--the kind that Fox "News" loves to show of the clueless teabagger with tears in her eyes, complaining that she wants her country back. They're designed to tug at our heartstrings, but they have just the opposite effect on me. What I see is a social bigot who thinks the world is about to come to an end because Barack Obama is the president instead of the White House butler.

The complete irony of that clip is the fact that, that very Black man that she's complaining about is actually the one who's trying to give her a country that she can call her own, while the Republican that she's crying to, secretly looks upon her, and her kind, as ignorant trailer trash, that's only good for contributing to their wealth and power, pumping out babies that they can grind up in their war machine, and making a fool of herself in their staged videos. The man can barely disguise his disgust as he's looking at her.

I find myself making the very same point article after article, but what else can I do when such a large part of the population has been so thoroughly brainwashed that they can't see what's right before their eyes? Let me amend that. I think they can see it, but they refuse to recognize a reality that they don't want to accept.

Not all, but many of these people know that it's driving them crazy that a Black man is in the White House. But since it's no longer socially acceptable for them to be blatantly racist, they have to disguise their racist attitudes by couching them in other issues with a wink. "It's not that I hate that Black man in the White House, it's just that I hate everything he represents, even if what he represents directly benefits my family." These people are indulging in a classic example of cutting off their nose to spite their face.

One might argue that many people were also against health-care reform under President Clinton, and he was White. That is true, but they hated Bill Clinton, liberalism, and the Democratic Party almost as much as they hate Obama, because all three advocated the "slippery slop" that led to Obama.

The GOP is very good at marketing, and they mounted a brilliant campaign to demonized the word "liberal" in the political lexicon. During the sixties they mounted a campaign against liberalism by equating it with the push for civil rights, being "soft on crime," and promoting welfare-- which was politispeech for coddling Black people. Then by repeatedly combining these concepts, the word liberal became associated, at least, in the uneducated mind, with "those who coddle Black people, who are criminal, lazy, and want to take your money while they sit on welfare, and take drugs." Through the use of that tactic the GOP successfully turn the word liberal into now, what is essentially, a racial slur.

So it's no wonder the Teabaggers are up in arms. As far as they're concerned, the country is being run by a criminal (who's probably taking drugs in the White House), who wants to take their money so he can set up his lazy people to lay-up on welfare and have babies at their expense.

Many of these people have been programed all of their lives to believe that propaganda, so that Mindset is as much a part of them as their religion-- and the Republican Party is continuing to reinforce that belief with every sound bite. So in short, with every teabag rally, the GOP is purposely trying to incite insurrection.

Am I overstating my case? Is it possible that the GOP is legitimately concerned about the plight of the American people? I don't think so.

The Republicans have become so blatant in their attempt to manipulate the people that they've become predictable. I did an experiment. Right after I heard about the Fort Hood shooting I rushed to Twitter to record my prediction that GOP supporters were going to find a way to twist the facts to involve President Obama as part of their demonization campaign:

Twitter:

Let's see how long it takes for the Republicans to try to twist the Fort Hood Shootings into a political attack on Obama. 12:39 PM Nov 5th from web.

The next day's entry:

Yesterday I said let's see how long before wingnuts blame [the fort Hood] shooting on Obama. Well... http://bit.ly/uLhxS, 6:31 PM Nov 6th from web.

Just as I predicted an article was published in the WorldNet Daily, a publication founded by arch conservative, Joseph Farah, claiming that the shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was an advisor on President Obama's transition team. But of course, it was a lie.

And Farah's not just some blogger who didn't get his facts straight. He's a life long "journalist" and long time conservative operative. Prior to founding WorldNet Daily, Farah was executive editor of the now defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and later, the editor of the Sacramento Union. While at the Union, he persuaded Rush Limbaugh to write a daily front page column. He also collaborated with Limbaugh on the book See, I told You So, in 1994.

Farah is also a prominent birther, who's quoted as saying regarding the birther's claim that, "It'll plague Obama throughout his presidency. It'll be a nagging issue and a sore on his administration, much like Monica Lewinsky was on Bill Clinton's presidency," and, "It's not going to go away, and it will drive a wedge in an already divided public."

So there you have it-- not in my words, but in the words of a prominent conservative operative. The Republicans' primary agenda is not to pull the people of this country together in order to weather two wars, the loss of homes and jobs, and the deepest recession since the Great Depression, but to "drive a wedge in an already divided public."

What a fine bunch of patriots, these Republicans. Every time the word "America" comes out of their mouths, it makes me want to throw up.

 

Eric L. Wattree wattree.blogspot.com

Last update: 11-19-2009 00:00

Published in : Op-Ed, Beneath The Spin
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Users' Comments (6) RSS feed comment
Posted by Early Times, on 11-21-2009 15:05,
And the motivation for Farah's input into the well of explosive conservatism is made all the more interesting considering his Syrian and Lebanese heritage! Just what was the genesis of his brand of conservatism?
 

Posted by Eric Wattree, on 11-22-2009 01:05,
That's a great question, Early Times - and a hard one to grasp. But then, the very same question can be asked about Clarence Thomas, Michael steele, or any woman or gay person who chooses to be a Republican.
 

Posted by Mike Sawyer, on 12-20-2009 14:21,
It was Republicans who beat Democrats in the Civil War, thus feeing the slaves...It was Democrats who started the KKK as it's military wing to intimidate the (largely black) Republican party who were running the south after the war.......can a leopard change it's spots?? are the Democrats now the party FOR the black people after being against them for so long? So many of you are duped by the Devil's trickery...a few table scraps from massa's table and you run right back to his side....the Democrat is the racist.
 

Posted by Early Times, on 12-22-2009 14:13,
You definitely have a point, Mr. Wattree. Some strange bedfellows, for sure. 
 
I guess you could say that everybody's trying to get to The House!
 

Posted by Eric L. Wattree, on 12-30-2009 09:22,
Part I 
 
Mike, 
 
You asked a very interesting question. You stated, then asked: 
 
"It was Republicans who beat Democrats in the Civil War, thus feeing the slaves...It was Democrats who started the KKK as it's military wing to intimidate the (largely black) Republican party who were running the south after the war.......can a leopard change it's spots?? are the Democrats now the party FOR the black people after being against them for so long? So many of you are duped by the Devil's trickery...a few table scraps from massa's table and you run right back to his side....the Democrat is the racist ." 
 
In answer to your question, yes a leopard can change it's spots - and anyone with a set of eyeballs should be able to see that this leopard has. 
 
The Republicans and Democrats have completely changed their relative political positions since the Civil War. Prior to the Civil War the Republican Party was made up of big business interests and Northern aristocrats, and the Democratic Party was made up of Dixiecratcs and Southern agrarian interests - farmers and slave owners. But that began to change during the Great Depression when Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the side of the people with his "New Deal for the American People." With the New Deal the Democrats usher in worker's rights, social security, so older people wouldn't have go to the "Poor House" when they became too old to work; and unemployment Insurance, so people would have something to fall back on if they lost their jobs.  
 
At that point, the Democratic Party began to be associated with the common man. Then during the fifties the Democratic Party to support the Civil Rights Movement. So during the fifties and sixties the old Dixiecrats became disenchanted with the Democrats and migrated to the Republican Party.
 

Posted by Eric L. Wattree, on 12-30-2009 09:42,
Part II 
Mike: 
 
So now, the Republican Party is a coalition of three separate constituencies with confluent interests. The first group is made up of traditional conservatives. These are highly patriotic Americans who believe in limited government, the primacy of the people over government, and fiscal responsibility. But the other two groups that have coalesced within the GOP are much more malevolent - international business interests, and social bigots. 
 
It is the former of these two, international business, that controls the GOP. It's made up of highly educated individuals with huge resources and plenty of clout - and they use every bit of their resources and clout to manipulate what has become their citizen army - the social bigots.  
 
The social bigots are the people we see armed to the teeth at presidential speeches, disrupting townhall meetings, and fighting against their own interests. In short, these are the Joe the Plumbers of the world who are being deluded by fascist propaganda, and the flat-out racists who are still fighting to promote a segregationist agenda. 
 
So the fact is, the leopard has indeed changed it's spots - and in a very big way. If the Civil War was being fought today, the Republicans would be the Confederacy. And apparently, based on your comment, you'd be right along beside them, having been brainwashed into fighting against the rights of Black people.  
 
You know, there were many Black people doing just that during the Civil War, but Union soldiers didn't suffer them lightly. If they were captured, the Union soldiers would blow their brains out, on the spot.  
 
Eric L. Wattree
 

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