Tea Party Racists Steal the Spotlight

While most protesters at the "Kill the Bill" rally directed their anger on the Democrats' health bill, the media's attention was focused on the few reports of racist and homophobic slurs.

Several news outlets have reported that protesters on Capitol Hill have made racist and homophobic comments at certain members of Congress. While helpful in building a portrait of the Tea Party movement, the rally itself was largely about the healthcare bill. If racism is on the minds of members at the rally, it is not what they are focusing on.

At Mother Jones, Suzy Khimm has background on the incidents in question:

Rep. John Lewis was called "the N-word" when he was on the floor of the House earlier today by "a heckler from the Tea Party, a protester," Kristie Grecho, a press secretary for House Majority Whip James Clyburn, said this afternoon. She added that another protester allegedly tried to spit upon Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, another black Democrat, as he was walking from the Longsworth House building to attend Obama's speech. In a separate incident today, Rep. Barney Frank, who is openly gay, was called a "fag" as he was leaving the Longsworth building.

Sam Stein of the Huffington Post also reports the comments made by Representative Cyburn, and how Clyburn feels that the comments made at him evoke the racist attitudes of the 1960’s:

"It was absolutely shocking to me," Clyburn told the Huffington Post. "Last Monday, this past Monday, I stayed home to meet on the campus of Claflin University where fifty years ago as of last Monday... I led the first demonstrations in South Carolina, the sit ins... And quite frankly I heard some things today I have not heard since that day. I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus." [Emphasis added by FrumForum]

Some of the flags and paraphernalia at the rally do lend credence to the impression that several of the attendees  have sympathies that would be out of step with the mainstream. While no Confederate flags were cited, both the Bonnie Blue Flag and a South Carolinian secessionist flag were identified:

However, the mood of the entire event was confrontational. This video below shows Maxine Waters and an additional congressman (from the distance, it is hard to identify who) being booed for their support of the healthcare bill. Whether the fact they are African-American makes the booing easier is hard to know, people at the rally booed anyone who supported the bill irrespective of their skin color:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUZO8upJC7k

The main goal of the rally was not to target representatives based on their skin color or sexual orientation, it was to get vulnerable and targeted House members to change their votes. At the rally, speakers would give out the number for Rep. Jason Altmire’s office, and would encourage everyone on the lawn to go to his office. (While FrumForum has not yet found a third party estimate on how large the crowd was today, Freedom Works claimed there were around 40,000 people.)

As a result of this, Altmire’s office had one of the longer lines inside the Congressional office buildings:

The most recent reports suggest that Altmire’s vote is a confirmed no. Whether Tea Party pressure had a role in this decision is currently unclear, but it is certainly an example of a Tea Party target switching his vote in a way that they would prefer.

Several members of media have chosen to focus in on the racism and homophobia of the Tea Party:

There is no defense for the actions they describe. Whether individuals at the rally consider their opinions on race and sexuality to be more important than their opinions of the piece of legislation being discussed however, is a separate issue.

Brain Beutler of TPM argues that these incidents reveal conservative hypocrisy:

The general point of the tweet is valid: the Tea Party does attract members with distasteful opinions. The problem for liberals trying to explain why these people are protesting is that these opinions may not necessarily be driving the entire Tea Party movement. The problem for the GOP is that even though the focus of the Tea Party is healthcare, the movement has thrown its lot in with a segment of America with opinions that are utterly alien to college-educated and independent minded voters. Very few people outside these rallies think that “states' rights” is a convincing rallying cry for conservative programs.