What a fascinating coincidence it is, some days ago it was Maxine Walters telling the Tea Party to go to hell, last week another member of the Congressional Black Caucus insisting that unspecified Tea Party members of Congress and/or the House are all ready to get out the white KKK robes and start hanging Negroes from trees. And now, the good Reverend Jesse Jackson, Jr. (again – what church is he from, exactly?) chiming in. Umm – Slavery Amendment. Try as I can, I can’t bring to mind what the heck he meant by that, unless he is saying that because the Tea Partiers and the pre-Civil War South (and the segregationsists too) both favor states’ rights, then therefor they are exactly the same, practically.
Anyway, to the very best of my recollection, it was a Dem the late Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia who started his political career as a member of the KKK . . . but in the current political climate, such accusations are about as well-considered as throwing gasoline on a bonfire. It is also as insulting as hell towards fiscally responsible, constitutionally strict fans of the free market, such as what Tea Party activists and sympathizers happen to be . . . and let it be noted that yes, indeedy, there are quite a few of such who are not, by any stretch of the imagination, white Anglo-Saxon Protestants.
It just looks like it is just about the only weapon left to hand, for a certain cadre of established politicians . . . and not just the CBC. They’re being only the screamingly loudest with it, of late. Just as an aside, are there any prominent long-time members of the CBC who are not bigoted, incompetent, mad as a hatter, badly-educated, infamously corrupt, repeatedly re-elected from gerrymandered slum districts, and with reputations as being absolute hell to work for? No, seriously, I am wondering. I know Col. Allen West is not any of the above, although I’ll bet that he would be seriously exacting to work for as a staff member . . . but then, he may not be a member of the CBC for much longer, so . . . is this just a case of 98% giving the rest of them a bad name?
Anyway, what it may all indicate why the Tea Party has attracted such animus from this particular direction, and I’ll bet just about anything you like that this is a PR offensive ordered from the top down is that Andre, and Maxine, Chollie and Sheila and the rest of them can see the writing on the wall. In this case, the indications that the money spigot will be turned off. No more easy goodies for their districts, no more chances for personal swag and graft. Hard times are landing on all of us . . . and historically awful and damaging practices in managing a district, a community, a city, a state . . . are getting to be pretty obvious. And it’s also getting pretty obvious that many historically black districts have been appallingly served by those who have always painted themselves as the stalwart champions of same although some have escaped investigation and prosecution by the skin of their teeth and one suspects judicious application of the race card.
Indeed, it could be argued that most attempts to remedy the ills of the inner-city minority populations have made matters much, much worse. Hence the ear-piercingly loud squeals of those who suddenly visualize themselves being abruptly cut off from guzzling at the government trough; just as much as the Tea Party activists and sympathizers are pissed as hell at government waste and mismanagement, it’s a pretty certain bet they’ll have no patience at all in tolerating political corruption and incompetence.
Aside to Allen West? Quit the CBC now. Really, you’ll look like the stand-up guy that your district elected you to be a real mensch. A real American and not a race-hustling corruptocrat and poverty pimp, looking for the nearest handy spigot of money and influence. My advice take it for what it’s worth.
Note: And now, in the additional squealings on Labor Day from Jimmy Hoffa, we may take note of exactly how heart-felt were those Democrat party calls for civility and decorum in public debate following upon the Giffords shooting in January. Hypocrisy, much?
“Democrat party calls for civility and decorum” were nothing more than demands that their opponents shut up, capitulate, and go away.
Nope. Not happening.
States Rights, in the black community, is code for the right to enslave. It’s a real hot button term, so when Republicans or Tea Party supporters or Libertarians go on about States Rights, slavery is what black people hear.
Blame their state controlled education/indoctrination that the term has no wider or deeper meaning than that. I wouldn’t sweat it though. Blacks are going to vote in the 90+% range for Obama regardless, so we shouldn’t let the CBC deter us.
Another factor that is affecting them is the fact that the black middle class is about 50% government employees. It isn’t just the poor who are threatened by attempts to shrink government.
I guessed as much, Michael K – that the middle-class black government employees will be looking over their shoulders, nervously at the Tea Party.
Mike – I knew that “Slavery will be reinstated” was a sweaty urban fantasy among certain demographics – but I didn’t realize it was that much of a dog-whistle issue among the black community. Those members of it that I know are either military or military veterans, or neighbors in Texas; they tend to be rather more level-headed, so my perceptions are warped by reality, I guess.