Click Click: First Fringe of Spring
What's a lovely spring day in the District of Columbia good for? Spewing vitriol! Yesterday, residents of the District had their choice of irrational flavors: deranged right or nutbar left. The National Mall grounds nearest to the Capitol played host to a tea-party rally -- it does not ever stop being funny that adults voluntarily self-identify as "tea partiers" -- while various lefty activists assembled at the White House.
No one pays any attention to the anti-war left protesters calling for President Bush's impeachment, so who knows how that rally went. Apparently, they want to see more Lady Gaga. But the tea partiers' goals are better covered and more direct: The right opposes health-care czars. And politically correct speech. Politico's Marin Cogan reported from the Tea Party, where some potty mouths were overheard:
The Democrats' health care plan wasn't the only thing the Tea Partiers found time to protest. They also booed Europe and a list of Latin American leaders. One protestor shouted an anti-gay slur at Rep Barney Frank (D-Mass.), and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said that he heard from Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) that another protester called him the N-word. A spokesman for Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) issued a statement Saturday night saying Cleaver had been spat upon.
Is that any way to behave in the nation's capital?
Certainly the entire convention cannot be held responsible for the disgusting behavior of a few. And of course, none would ever, ever dare suggest that a barely concealed contempt for the progress of homosexuals and minorities broadly characterizes the Confederate Flag–waving far right. Far be it to even suggest that this attitude is tacitly condoned by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and other leaders of the conservative movement. Perhaps, oh, someone like a Senate Minority Leader could take the mic and call off the dogs.
Thinking specifically about these pictures, one problem is that protest demonstrations encourage crafty oneupsmanship -- but the right is doing it all wrong. Who can come up with the most creative way to condemn President Obama and his comrades? Czar is a hell of a lot more creative than a racial slur, but "czar" is not very accurate, and still less convincing when it's scrawled in a manifesto on a placard. Someone needs to dial back that confounding Joker/Obama/socialism poster --- what the hell does that even mean? The tea partiers need to drop the hostility and maybe take up an art class.