Feb. 20-21, 2011
Former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), set off a firestorm when she described dozens of Tea Party protesters across the U.S.A. by saying, "They’re carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on healthcare." Some reporters and pundits used the pejorative term, "Tea Baggers" for the Tea Party people and implied they were a bunch of right-wing extremists, intent on no good. In general, liberals agreed with Pelosi and the Democrats, but conservatives defended the Tea Party demonstrators. The latter claimed the protests were peaceful and that no single demonstrator carried a swastika. It was difficult, if not impossible to find a nasty sign, or an angry protester while watching news stories on the subject. But, left-wing blog sites backed up their defense of Pelosi by finding a couple of photos which proved there were indeed such signs present at some of the rallies. Next, Tea Party organizers claimed they had nothing to do with the signs.
What should we believe? As a right-winger I tell you that the Health Care debate had nothing to do with Nazism. If there were a couple of nuts in the Tea Party crowd using such comparisons, I condemn them. On the other hand, how do we know the signs weren't planted there by left-wingers who could have easily slipped into the crowd? If true, is it possible that they wanted to make the Tea Party look bad?
Fast forward to the recent, pro-labor protests in Wisconsin's state capitol, Madison, over a bill introduced by Governor Walker (R-WI), which called for a reduction in teacher's benefits and a limit to their right to collective bargaining. Clearly one can hear chanting in nearly every report, and see nasty signs from every angle. Many of the posters called the governor imperial, and several likened him to the recently deposed dictator, Hosni Mubarak, of Egypt. They labeled Walker a king, an emperor, a fascist dictator, Hitler, and called him the 'b' word, a turd, and clueless. It's easy to see that these protesters are far more hateful than the Tea Party crowd. Yet, neither Republicans, conservatives, libertarians, nor Tea Partiers tried to silence them, or tried to make them look bad. They did that job well - all by themselves! Teachers are supposed to be role models for students, but they were shown obtaining falsified doctor's notes from doctors who were also heard criticizing the governor. Teachers and doctors collaborated to fake illnesses. If learning is the all-important aspect here, what will the students learn from this?
Sarah Palin used targets in a political campaign, and this angered many on the left, yet there were signs in the Wisconsin rally with the very same target symbol super-imposed over Republican Governor Walker's face with the word 'Reload' over it. I saw one which said, 'Up Yours, Walker, Not Ours' and one with the false generalization, 'Why do Republicans Hate People?' And, where were the Democratic State Senators during the crucial Senate debate over Walker's controversial bill? The upstanding lawmakers were holding up state government by hiding out in a hotel in Illinois!
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