According to Martin Knight, of the conservative, ergo GOP-leaning Red State blog:
-- first of all, the reported yelling and screaming of racial and homophobic epithets at John Lewis and Barney Frank very obviously didn't happen, and the bulk of these so-called attacks on Democrat offices and threatening calls are being coordinated from Washington DC - and most likely the people responsible have their day-jobs at the DNC."
Common sense and recent history dictate that neither claim could be true. Given their rhetoric, along with the still-incipient movement's underlying desire to be viewed as a legitimate political coalition instead of a babbling coterie of pitchfork carrying kooks, it's unreasonable to presume that Tea Partiers would permit outside agitators to disrupt and discredit their movement by engaging in such actions. Once it was confirmed that they were, in fact, outside agitators, police protection for them would most certainly have been necessary.
In fact, I'm aware of no reports of angry Tea Partiers displaying the courage to discourage spitters, shout down name-callers or physically remove them or attempt in any significant way to put a stop to the acts. Where was the outrage against either the "outsiders" or the movement's "rogue" element that one would expect to hear from its core supporters? Such copious silence is perhaps to be expected if those who committed these acts did so with the approval -- tacit or otherwise -- of Tea Partiers present when it occurred.
Unfortunately, some politicians and pundits on both sides of the political spectrum seem compelled to soft-peddle the seditious nature of the Tea Party movement. They have purposely avoided the ugly scenery that"s a part of this march of the budding Tim McVeighs by instead taking the politically-correct route they insist is traversed by ordinary "concerned" citizens. In fact, to a degree the pols and pundits are correct. There's little dispute that however misguided, some movement followers certainly meet the criteria as individuals with genuine concern.
Yet, far too many, it appears, do not meet this standard. And it's time for the Tea Party's GOP enablers to read the tea leaves a bit more closely and reach for the political courage and personal integrity needed to finally start calling those of the McVeigh wing of this low-level insurgency movement exactly what they are: Bin Laden's flunkies.
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