I'm sure many in the GOP and the Tea Party in particular were offended by Charles Rangel calling them "white crackers" and whatnot. "How dare you call us racist!" they say. "We're not racist!" And yet it's hard to buy that with a straight face, especially considering the antics in Phoenix today. I mean, look at some of these comments:
"Bye Bye Black Sheep," the protestors shouted at one point, a reference to the president's skin color, according to the Arizona Republic
And they didn't ask if he had any wool either.
It got worse:
Another protestor carried a sign that said "Impeach the Half-White Muslim!"
“He’s 47 percent Negro,” one protestor shouted.
Nope, no racism here. And for most hysterical:
“We have gone back so many years,” Judy Burris told the Republic. “He’s divided all the races. I hate him for that.”
That monster! How dare he make us all racist!
But it's not just the yahoos in the base, at least if Tom Harkin is to be believed. In a recent interview with the DeMoines Register on the farm bill, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and other matters, Harkin sharedthis anecdote:
Harkin recounted one stinging example to the newspaper's editorial board, dating back to a July 15 closed-door meeting about filibuster rules, in which one unnamed senator said his constituents simply couldn't relate to the president.
“I’m not naming any names, but one senator got up from a southern state and said, ‘Well, you’ve got to understand that to my people down here, Obama seems like he’s exotic,’” Harkin told the newspaper. “That he’s just exotic, he doesn’t share our values.”
"Exotic?" Hmmmm, what could
that be code for?
I wonder...
Harkin had more to add:
Asked if he could name another American era as polarizing as today, Harkin said "Sure -- the Civil War."
Senator, don't give them any ideas.
No, no racism here. None at all. Simply ridiculous, right?