Whether it’ll amount to anything remains to be seen, but overt white supremacists want to see the Tea Party less “apologetic” about racism. They are clearly involved with the Tea Party, but who knows how much influence they really have?
In any case, David Duke, who was last in the news when he attended an anti-Semitic conference in Iran, is considering a run for President. Normally I would say that it’s bad news for the Republicans, but privately many Republicans have been looking for an out and a reason to buck the Tea Party. If Duke is perceived in any way as running with the support of a significant portion of the TP, it’s over. In fact, I would expect the conspiracy theories to fly.
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July 5, 2011 at 9:56 am
tra
Here’s a link to an article on David Duke considering a run for President:
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/david-duke-is-considering-a-white-house-bid.php?ref=fpb
July 5, 2011 at 10:08 am
AJ
My family watched Ferndale’s Independent Day parade. The Tea Party person handing out leaflets gave information to old white people near us, but conspicuously walked right past my non-white wife. She was confused because several other groups handed out leaflets and when we saw ‘em coming, we knew we’d be handed one. She understood after I explained a little about the demographics of the tea party.
July 5, 2011 at 10:10 am
AJ
(But in fairness, the Tea Party table at the Eureka Independence Day festival said hello to us both times we walked past their booth.)
July 5, 2011 at 10:32 am
tra
It is also interesting to note that Herman Cain (an African-American) is apparently a Tea Party fave. So apparently not all Tea Partiers are motivated by racism. That’s not to say that some of them aren’t, I’m sure there are plenty. But I’ve always thought that the idea that the Tea Partiers are all just a bunch of racists is just way too simplistic.
July 5, 2011 at 11:17 am
Anonymous
Yes TRA. Some of them are racist and the rest are just “skittish” about talking race. At least give the honest racists credit.
July 5, 2011 at 12:16 pm
tra
Well I think most people are “skittish” about talking about race, and understandably so.
July 5, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Eric Kirk
Skittish? Why?
July 5, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Mitch
tra,
I think you’re a bit behind the times. Finding a black face to provide cover for racism is already a tradition among American conservatives (and a great high-paying job opportunity for persons of color).
Do I really need to name names?
July 5, 2011 at 3:40 pm
tra
Mitch,
Yeah, I’m aware of that, and then there’s also that fascinating variety of racism where the racist insists that they like black people just fine, it’s just the ones who are actual “n_ggers” that they dislike. I grew up around a fair number of people who took that approach. I haven’t heard it expressed that bluntly in many years, but then again I tend not to hang out with people who have those sorts of views.
But my point was this: A lot of the left commentary on the Tea Partiers takes as its central claim that the Tea Partiers are mainly motivated by fury over the fact that a black guy got elected President. Well, that may be true for some Tea Partiers, maybe even most of them — but it’s hard to see how those who support Cain for President can really be put in that category.
July 5, 2011 at 5:31 pm
Plain Jane
I’ll wait and see how many of them really support Cain before I’ll form an opinion on that basis, not that I believe all of the TP is racist by any means. I think they’re mainly classists, regardless of the class they belong to, and racism isn’t antithetical to that ideology.
July 5, 2011 at 5:59 pm
Eric Kirk
I think they’re mainly classists
Would that include Stravinsky, or do you cut it off at Chopin?
July 5, 2011 at 6:05 pm
Anonymous
Some candidates for 2012 are already filling paperwork. “White people need to wake up to the fact that we’re becoming a minority in our country,” says John Abarr, a 41-year-old former organizer for the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, has filed to begin raising money for Montana’s lone U.S. House seat. He’s not worried that the Republican Party isn’t backing him: “I don’t think public opinion is all that much against us. Montanans are independent thinkers.” His key platform? Abolish the Fed, raise the military age to 21 to stop what he calls the “barbaric” practice of sending teenagers to war, end the death penalty, legalize marijuana (he doesn’t smoke or drink himself), establish a 5 percent flat tax, and help whites by fighting entitlements (like affirmative action and immigration) that he says favor minorities. He describes the Klan as a Christian, white civil-rights organization, and glosses over the brutality that has earned the group its bad name. “I can’t agree with lynching anybody for any reason, but that was a different time in our history.” He adds: “We already have a black president, and I’m not sure when we’ll have a white president elected again.”
White Supremacist libertarianism?
July 5, 2011 at 6:35 pm
Bunny
Here’s an excellent article that captures the goofy B.S. that the Tea babies have brought to the table…..Mr. Bunny
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/07/why-cant-the-gop-get-to-yes/241437/
July 5, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Eric Kirk
6:05 – that’s a good quote, but I’m especially impressed with the comment by the Klan leader complaining about Internet censorship who said, “let’s just say that Facebook wasn’t founded by the Irish.”
It was founded by two Jews, an Hispanic, AND and Irish-American named Chris Hughes. But maybe he doesn’t count as Irish because he’s openly gay.
July 5, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Anonymous
NPR makes me puke. Yesterday they interviewed some right wing magazine writer who stated that the statisics from the census show that in ( ) years, fifty percent of the population would be non-white males. How bout that?
Racist AND sexist.
Or is the implication is that there will be NO white males at all?
July 6, 2011 at 5:57 am
Plain Jane
Not too clever, Eric.