I know! Shocked me to read this:
When the man yelled a racial slur and spit on Cleaver, he crossed a line that was drawn in blood and tears.
To chant slurs at a gay person is another aggressive act of hate.
Interestingly enough, so far there haven't been any reports of angry Tea Party protesters shouting the "c" word at female lawmakers.
Nor have there been reports about these upset folks spitting on white male legislators who supported the health-care bill.
Who knew? Who knew that a rigidly dogmatic group of people from the lilly-white heartland of America would be, you know, hostile to people with different skin color or lifestyles?
No. Not hostile: hateful, violent, rage-gasmic, outrageous.
UnAmerican, in other words. And if you aren't with us, you are with them:
It is foolish for anyone, including the congressmen, to act as though extremists (and anyone who spits on an elected official is an extremist) are not a real threat to the president's safety.
Letting these radicals off the hook is letting them go much too far.
This is terrorism, pure and simple. Nine-Eleven changed America, and if it's terroristic to threaten a planeful of people with your underwear, it is terroristic to hold a body politic hostage to threats of violence and rage. Tantrums belong to two year olds.
No one is advocating the suspension of the right to assemble, even if that possibility was passed in the Patriot Act (reaffirmed, sadly, by President Obama). No one is advocating the suspension of the First Amendment, even if that possibilty is also raised in the Patriot Act and enforced by the knownothings of rightwing politics and the conservative-leaning mainstream media who have long advocated against even peaceful dissent from American policy, particularly when we are in a time of war.
Like we are now and will be for the foreseeable future.
The Teabaggers have taken it to a new level. If the Students for a Democratic Society or the Weather Underground were domestic terrorists despite not harming anything beyond property (except their own members), then these Teabaggers should properly be listed as a terror organization and surveilled closely. That the potential for injury or death to a representative of our government (ed. note: make sure you check the comments) or a law enforcement official protecting that official exists should be more than sufficient grounds for this classification.
It's funny, because when Bush was president, there was no organized movement that threatened his life, merely his impeachment. Liberals live within the laws and accept that elections have consequences.
Conservatives, ehhhhhhhh, not so much! What a shock. Little children with big boy toys ought to have their toys taken away and their hands slapped for 12-15 in a high security jail.
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