Posted on 04/16/2009 11:58:07 AM PDT by lewisglad
If the Obama administration has taken flak for suggesting that conservative groups might be home to domestic terrorists, it looks like some House Democrat leaders are willing to go even further:
But in an interview on Fox TV in San Francisco, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chalked up the GOP grass-roots effort as “AstroTurf.”
“This initiative is funded by the high end; we call it AstroTurf, it's not really a grass-roots movement. It's AstroTurf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class,” Pelosi said.
Other House Democratic leaders took a different tack: One senior aide has been circulating a document to the media that debunks the effort as one driven by corporate lobbyists and attended by neo-Nazis...
In addition, the tea parties are “not really all about average citizens,” the document continues, saying neo-Nazis, militias, secessionists and racists are attending them. The tea parties are also not peaceful, since reporters in Cincinnati had to seek “police protection” during one of the events, it states.
The suggestions that these tea parties are driven by DC-based groups is laughable; Liz Mair takes a critical look and concludes the charge is baseless. Besides the points that Mair makes, it's worth noting that while there have been dozens of tea parties, few have featured conservative candidates or representatives of DC think tanks and lobbying groups.
As far as the charge that these rallies are composed of Nazis and terrorists, that's hard to reconcile with the pictures of participants. There are too many young children and grandparents. Further, even a strong Obama supporter like Susan Roesgen didn't turn up any violent types at the Chicago Tea Party, despite her best attempt to provoke a strong reaction.
There probably aren't many Democrats who genuinely believe the charges levied by their leadership. Nate Silver guesstimates that about 250,000 people have attended the tea parties - so far. Do Ms. Pelosi and other Democrat leaders think they're all neo-nazis?
If this is a conversation they want to have, however, perhaps Ms. Pelosi can explain the role of Marxists and North Korean sympathizers in the U.S. anti-war movement, or discuss how George Soros bought such influence in the Democratic party. It's not a debate that would help Democrats, since it's relatively easy to show the role of fringe extremists in the Democratic grassroots.
'Senior Democrats' ought to have the courage to publicly assert what they're whispering to the media. But if they're afraid to admit that they're slandering hundreds of thousands of grassroots organizers and activists, is it too much to hope that some reporter will share a copy of these secret talking points?
House Democrat Leaders: Tea Partiers Are Racist, Nazi, Gun Nuts
______________________________________________
Wow. Guess the black people and Asians that showed up to our protest didn’t get the memo. /s
Just keep talking, Nancy & Harry. We’re listening and people who weren’t listening before are now. Keep talking.
ok loonie liberals...liberalism is a mental disorder
She is soooo funny ;)
I saw 2 police officer's in Phoenix, 2.
I don't own a gun, but when I was peacefully praying outside Tempe Planned Parenthood with my 4 kids A guy drove by holding a pencil at us like a gun pretending to shoot us. Didn't see him at the tea party......
Same here. At the one in my town, there was a black preacher and a number of hispanic buisness and civic leaders.
Nope.
Nazi
Nope.
Gun Nuts
Hey, I resemble that remark!
If we were all neo-nazi's ... I think stretch may be projecting here ... Ms Pelosi et al would already be out of office ... the hard way. BUT we are not the Nazi's and we do things the legal AMERICAN way
“Racist, Nazi, Gun Nuts”
`Projection’ from race-baiting, command economy (commie) gun grabbers.
Tulsa police were at our S. Tulsa tea party...they were standing in a group, just observing and looked like they were enjoying the nice day...I waved at them and thanked them.
Nancy Pelosi can kiss my AstroTurf.
They forgot “religious fanatics”. Not the Muslim kind either.
>>Gun Nuts
>
>Hey, I resemble that remark!
I was tempted to wear my revolver to the local tea party... it IS an open carry state after all.
I welcome these bastards to put me on some kind of enemies list.
Come on you Sonsabitches. This is America.
Put me on your list!!!
Tea Partiers Are Racist, Nazi, Gun Nuts
These fascists are just ASKING for a pitchfork and torch mob to show up on their front lawns...
But they were all tax paying citizens, unlike the liberal bed-wetters that show up for destructive anti war, pro abortion rallies.
See! These are the fascist DemoNazis that are politicizing, criminalizing, and Gestapo-izing the Dept of Homeland Security. These closet totalitarianists wil soon be directing Homeland Security to arrest anyone they don’t like.
Gosh, our local tea party was full of older folks, families and regular average Americans. We had one apparent nut (she held a sign about saving the trees with an Easter Bunny on it). Otherwise, they were people I would have a backyard barbeque with. Those are the folks that TERRIFY hard core liberals like our House Speaker.
Wow — it’s increasingly obvious we’ve gotten deep under their skin. If this were simply a fringe movement, they’d ignore it. But, given the vitriol directed at the Tea Party attendees and organizers, the fact we’ve caught their notice and put fear into their hearts is quite clear. They ignore us at their political peril.
NAZI’s were leftist’s just like the democrat party.
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