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How truly pathetic it is when House Minority Leader John Boehner of what was once called "The Party of Lincoln" addresses an enraged Tea Bag protest group at our nation's Capitol.
As stated various times about the dangerous roots of the Tea Baggers and their historical antecedents, they showed their true colors in a way that would have caused Abraham Lincoln to feel a sharp wave of revulsion.
Lincoln had the Know Nothings to deal with in his day. The Tea Baggers are the successors of the Know Nothings as well as the Liberty League, the McCarthy-Nixon smear brigade, and the John Birch Society.
At the 1964 Republican Convention in San Francisco the wild-eyed John Birch Society element was so strong that African American delegates were terrorized on the floor of the Cow Palace while one was actually set ablaze.
This was also the convention in which NBC commentator John Chancellor was arrested on the floor, delivering a famous signoff line of "This is John Chancellor somewhere in custody."
There were those signs at Palin rallies as well as subsequent Tea Bag convocations with pictures of Obama bearing a simian look to give the impression that he is a monkey. What is that but blatant racism?
The only thing missing yesterday with the Tea Bag hordes, those extolling the agenda of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, was the execution of some nifty goose steps. They otherwise closely resembled storm troopers of thirties' Germany.
Not only were there reported incidents of spitting when Democratic legislators sought to jostle past the angry hordes and into the Capitol.
There were those ugly evocations of the N-word. Congressman John Lewis, an Atlanta foot soldier in the ranks of Martin Luther King, stated sadly that the frightening exhibition harkened back to an earlier period of bigotry.
When Barney Frank moved past the throng to enter the Capitol a flurry of homophobic epithets were unleashed at him.
We know what the Glenn Becks and other apologists say when this type of behavior is criticized as sick bigotry. The point is made that this is just a tiny element of a much larger picture, people concerned about the fact that government has failed them that seeks answers.
Walk down the street of any major American city, be it Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Seattle and what does one see? The diversity of the culture is seen with individuals who are Anglo, African American, Hispanic and Asian.
What does one see at Tea Bag demonstrations? Angry white faces. The signs in evidence so often represent what these same individuals classified as treason in the face of so much less from those protesting the policies of Republicans such as George W. Bush.
When President Obama sat in his limousine that took him from the White House to the Capitol yesterday those same individuals so quick to shout "traitor" at anyone opposing Bush delivered angry and hateful gestures toward him.
Remember when it was impermissible to oppose George W. Bush on anything in the aftermath of 9/11? When his irresponsible tax cut legislation was opposed the apologists exclaimed, "You cannot oppose Bush! We are at war!"
There is a cultural war occurring right now between the forces of tolerance and those of bigotry. That bigotry has been notably manifested in the Tea Bag movement. Demagogic commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are delighted to continue stirring up a fuming kettle of hate.
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