Remember this disgraceful display from a couple of days ago? If you don't feel like watching the disgusting video again, here's a quick summary from Progress Ohio:
On March 17th outside of Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy's (D-OH15) district office teabaggers mocked and scorned a man who had a sign stating that he had Parkinson's. They told him "he's in the wrong end of town to ask for handouts", called him a communist and threw dollar bills at him to "pay for his health care".
Hmm, "the wrong end of town". Interesting. It seems like I've heard that kind of talk somewhere before, but I digress.
It turns out the man's name is Bob, and funnily enough, he's not exactly what you'd call a "mooch":
He has two masters degrees and a Ph.D. from Cornell. He taught at the University of Michigan and worked as a nuclear engineer.
My guess--and mind you, this is just a guess--is that he is more accomplished than any of the pricks who threw dollar bills at him.
Still, he has a level of class that I will freely admit I simply could not equal under any circumstances, let alone the humiliating circumstances he was subjected to. In response to the question, "What would you say to the Tea Partiers who mocked you?", he responds:
Bob: I wouldn't tell them anything, I'd ask them questions. I'd ask them, for example, you have a sign that says "This is socialism". Well, what is it about it that makes it socialism? What qualifies "this" as being socialism and "that" as not being socialism? How do you distinguish the two, and how did you get to that position?
Well, Bob may be a nuclear engineer, but evidently he has little experience dealing with the Teabag crowd, because one simply doesn't ask them such intricate questions. These are the same people who declare "Keep your government hands off my Medicare". If mere reason is kicking their asses, how does he expect them to deal with the complexity of defining "socialism"?
He continues:
So I would just ask all kinds of questions until they got sick of me.
Dude, all due respect, you're like a nuclear scientist and shit, but they were "sick of you" the moment they laid eyes on you. Now you're gonna make them answer questions more complicated than "What color are your eyes"? What does this look like, Final Jeopardy?
He concludes:
It's a close one. Every vote counts. Just get out there. Everyone take your own action. If you can sit next to people like I did, great. If you can't, do something else. But do something. It's a once in a lifetime thing. I sure hope we get it through. Thanks for helping. That's community.
Just watch Bob for yourself, and observe his class and dignity, then (if you can stomach it), contrast it with the revolting teabaggers. Any questions?
Here's part 1:
And part 2:
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A note on YouTube clips: like many commenters, I'm also having problems with them intermittently not showing up. It seems completely random, and I also have this problem on the front page and elsewhere. I have the latest version of Flash, which is supposed to help. Any technical suggestions would be welcome.