Has racism played a part in the rise of the Tea Party in the republican party?

[brainhulk]

what do you guys think?

 

[Icepick]

Yes. Without a doubt.

 

[Phokus]

Yes. Without a doubt.

qft

 

[FerrelGeek]

The stock lib answer to anyone that opposes their messiah. Another day, another libertrol thread.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

Racism plays "a part" in every political movement. The term is too vague to have any meaning.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Without any question, yes. It is not coincidental that this movement arose after we elected our first non-white President. I don't think it's the case that most Tea Party people are overtly racist or even that they dislike the President because of his race - just that he is obviously different from them due to his race. This makes him seem more threatening than he would if he were white, and they feel more comfortable marginalizing and demonizing him than they would if he were white.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Waffles

 

[Charles Kozierok]

Without any question, yes. It is not coincidental that this movement arose after we elected our first non-white President.

This is a widely-held belief that I used to share, but it's not actually so. It certainly gained momentum at around the time Obama took over, but it began in 2007.

 

[nehalem256]

This is a widely-held belief that I used to share, but it's not actually so. It certainly gained momentum at around the time Obama took over, but it began in 2007.

It also gained momentum after the Wall Street Bailouts, trillion dollar deficits, and the thrashing of the Republican Party in the 2008 election.

But clearly Obama being half-black is the real reason for its popularity

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Racism is the hobgoblin of little minds. The issue is created to tag political opposition against Obama to it. But when disapproval is automatically linked to racism it's too strong a temptation. Crush, kill, destroy.

Having been accused of racism for my finding the Dems and Obama lacking it's not hard to see it applied more generally. I'm not cowed by the accusation, but I'm fairly sure if I found a group of like minded people and could be heard, we'd be "racists" too though it would be untrue.

 

[QuantumPion]

Republicans don't care about anyone's skin color, just the content of their character and their ideas. Hence why we hold up conservatives such as Clarence Thomas, Allen West, Condi Rice, Herman Cain, J. C. Watts, etc in such high regard. Because those individuals were strong enough in character to break ranks with the establishment that says if you are black and leave the democrat plantation, you must be destroyed.

 

[IronWing]

It really doesn't matter, the tea party has outlived its usefulness so the Republican Party has quietly retired the brand. If the party leadership see a new need for a populist front they'll either re-energize the tea party or field a new brand.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

Having been accused of racism for my finding the Dems and Obama lacking it's not hard to see it applied more generally. I'm not cowed by the accusation, but I'm fairly sure if I found a group of like minded people and could be heard, we'd be "racists" too though it would be untrue.

Despite what I said earlier, let's not pretend there is no racism at all involved in the hatred of Obama.

I think this chart speaks volumes.

 

[Mursilis]

Without any question, yes. It is not coincidental that this movement arose after we elected our first non-white President. I don't think it's the case that most Tea Party people are overtly racist or even that they dislike the President because of his race - just that he is obviously different from them due to his race. This makes him seem more threatening than he would if he were white, and they feel more comfortable marginalizing and demonizing him than they would if he were white.

I disagree. Bill Clinton, a white Southerner, got the right into quite a froth with similar ideas - gov't-sponsored healthcare and the like. Remember Hilary's charge of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" and the rise of right-wing talk radio? Similar conditions resulted in the rise of a short-lived third party back then, and it had nothing to do with race.

 

[xBiffx]

Despite what I said earlier, let's not pretend there is no racism at all involved in the hatred of Obama.

I think this chart speaks volumes.

So being from the South makes you racist? Favoring Romney makes you racist? Not sure what "volumes" that chart speaks but only an idiot or partisan hack would look at that and say its racism at play. Also, nice source link.

 

[nehalem256]

Despite what I said earlier, let's not pretend there is no racism at all involved in the hatred of Obama.

I think this chart speaks volumes.

I believe there were polls showing Romney polling approximately ~0% of the black vote.

Is that also racism?

 

[QuantumPion]

Despite what I said earlier, let's not pretend there is no racism at all involved in the hatred of Obama.

I think this chart speaks volumes.

Let's just pretend you aren't a retarded moron that doesn't know anything about statistics or logic. You can replace Romney/Obama with Bush/Kerry or Bush/Gore and get the same results. Just like how 90% of blacks voting for Obama doesn't mean blacks racist, because 90% of blacks vote Democrat regardless of candidate.

 

[Phokus]

So being from the South makes you racist? Favoring Romney makes you racist? Not sure what "volumes" that chart speaks but only an idiot would look at that and say its racism at play. Also, nice source link.

The south has a long history of racism, the ugliest kind. The modern day GOP wresting control from the Democrats in the South was entirely based on using racism to lure racist whites to the GOP from the Democrats.

 

[QuantumPion]

The south has a long history of racism, the ugliest kind. The modern day GOP wresting control from the Democrats in the South was entirely based on racism.

That's true, too bad they were all democrats.

The Democrat party was the party of slavery, the KKK, and segregation up until the demographics of the country changed enough so that Lyndon Johnson decided he could better win votes by pandering to blacks with welfare rather then racist whites.

I mean for fucks sake, the grand kleagal of the KKK was the 3rd highest ranking member of the Democrat party for decades, until he died just a few years ago.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Without any question, yes. It is not coincidental that this movement arose after we elected our first non-white President. I don't think it's the case that most Tea Party people are overtly racist or even that they dislike the President because of his race - just that he is obviously different from them due to his race. This makes him seem more threatening than he would if he were white, and they feel more comfortable marginalizing and demonizing him than they would if he were white.

A definitive statement based on a lack of evidence. I oppose Obama for many reasons. I suppose you consider me racist as well since my "immediate opposition" to those policies must be because he's of mixed race. Generally I have respect for your opinions even though I sometimes disagree I think your standard of evidence is far off here. Are some racist? I can't imagine not. Do I think "birther" arguments are and always were specious? Yes. I also think that Obama is the antithesis of what has become irrational, petty and short sighted ideology which is todays conservative movement. To be blunt I see the same mindless appeal to the bureaucracy as the "answer" to be equally foolish, however I don't see communists or racists under my bed. I see people who don't think, but they don't sleep there either.

 

[nehalem256]

The south has a long history of racism, the ugliest kind. The modern day GOP wresting control from the Democrats in the South was entirely based on using racism to lure racist whites to the GOP from the Democrats.

So you are arguing that the Tea Party is a movement limited to the south?

 

[Atreus21]

Racism is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Goddammit that is sigworthy.

 

[Phokus]

That's true, too bad they were all democrats.

The Democrat party was the party of slavery, the KKK, and segregation up until the demographics of the country changed enough so that Lyndon Johnson decided he could better win votes by pandering to blacks with welfare rather then racist whites.

I mean for fucks sake, the grand kleagal of the KKK was the 3rd highest ranking member of the Democrat party for decades, until he died just a few years ago.

And now their legacy lies in the GOP. Karl Rove's predecessor, Lee Atwater:

Bob Herbert, a New York Times columnist, reported a 1981 interview with Lee Atwater, published in Southern Politics in the 1990s by Alexander P. Lamis, in which Lee Atwater discussed politics in the South:
Questioner: But the fact is, isn't it, that Reagan does get to the Wallace voter and to the racist side of the Wallace voter by doing away with legal services, by cutting down on food stamps?
Atwater: You start out in 1954 by saying, "N*****, N*****, N*****." By 1968 you can't say "N*****" — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "N*****, N*****."[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

 

[xBiffx]

The south has a long history of racism, the ugliest kind. The modern day GOP wresting control from the Democrats in the South was entirely based on using racism to lure racist whites to the GOP from the Democrats.

LOL. Everything is based on racism in the mind of a liberal like you. Not sure where you came up with that bullshit you posted but I would sure like for you to explain MLK within all that luring the GOP did back in the day.

 

[Charles Kozierok]

Not sure what "volumes" that chart speaks but only an idiot or partisan hack would look at that and say its racism at play.

One could also say that only an "idiot or partisan hack" would pretend that there is no racism at play.