Appropriate Placard Slogans for the Objectivist "Wing" of the Tea Party Movement

[Peter]

Placard slogan:

“Whatever the buzzards in DC need to do to get their agenda passed, they will do.”

Peter Taylor

TIA Daily • March 23, 2010

The Long War Against the Left

3. N-Word-Gate

by Jack Wakeland and Robert Tracinski

Editor's Note: The article below makes repeated reference to an old racial epithet as "the n-word." Now, we all know what that word is, so my first response was simply to reprint it as a full word, on the grounds that you are not children and do not need to be shielded from the ugly realities of life. But the "n-word" has acquired the status of a borderline obscenity, largely for a good reason: the now deeply ingrained cultural prohibition against racism. In fact, you can get in more trouble for using the "n-word" than you would for using a fully fledged obscenity like the "f-word." For that reason, I expect that spelling out the whole word could cause us problems with filters designed to block unsolicited message—e-mails known by another word we can't use; let's call is the "s-word." And in this hypersensitive era, even having the word printed out—no matter what the context—could potentially cause problems for subscribers who read TIA Daily at work. Hence the clumsy use of the politically correct placeholder, and this apology for using it.—RWT

The nationwide headline: tea party protesters in DC spit at members of the Congressional Black Caucus and called them [the n-word]. This story will be the only headline that the establishment press will carry about the tea party protest.

The central part of the story is an account by Congressional Black Caucus members John Lewis and Andre Carson that they were repeatedly called [the n-word] by members of the crowd as they walked by the Tea Party protesters. House Majority Whip James Clyburn, also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, who was some distance behind the two, says he heard the epithet, too. Based on initial reports, it appears that the statements that two of the congressmen made to the press were spontaneous and unrehearsed.

But these claims may be a fabrication, a deliberately coordinated act by the four Congressional Black Caucus members who made the accusation: Representatives John Lewis, Andre Carson, Emanuel Cleaver, and James Clyburn (the House Majority Whip).

In this video, the four men can be seen walking together in a group of eight, including some of their staffers.

The fact that they all walked so closely together through the tea party group in front of the Capitol Steps casts a different light on the men's stories about the supposed incident. The incident was supposed to have happened in front of the Capitol Steps during a one minute and 30-second period, the middle half of which is recorded on the above video.

In the video, there is no audio record of a group of Tea Party protesters chanting [the n-word] together 15 times. There is no audio or video record of any altercation with someone spitting at Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. There is no audio or video record of a DC policeman momentarily detaining the attacker, talking it over with Rep. Cleaver, and then letting him go.

Given these physical circumstances, we must conclude that there is no corroborating evidence that anything these four men accused the crowd of doing actually happened.

Given the history of the past 20 or 30 years of repeated instances of entirely fabricated claims of "racist acts" made by black leftists, we must infer that four of these Congressional Black Caucus members—leftists—could very well have made an entirely fraudulent accusation. It is entirely possible and reasonable to ask: did the four slander the tea party marchers on the DC Mall? Did they slander them in a deliberately coordinated act?

On the FOX Financial Network cable TV show, "America's Nightly Scoreboard" tonight, Andrew Breitbart observed that not one single video or audio of the shocking racist words or the assault have been posted at YouTube. He challenged some one to come forward with cell phone or camcorder video that shows the epithets and spit being hurled at the four black Congressmen. Mr. Breitbart challenged some one to come forward with video that shows heads turning with shock at [the n-word] being yelled. Are there videos showing the DC police detaining a protester and talking with Rep. Cleaver?

If a group of leftists had planted themselves among the tea party protesters to hurl the racist insults, Mr. Breitbart noted, they surely would have recorded the event and it would be posted on YouTube.

Andrew Brietbart noted that the entire body of the establishment press took the word of the four Congressional Black Caucus members as fact, as if no source independent of this four-man, self-corroborating team was necessary to establish the truth of the claims.

Editor's Note: Now here is my addition to Jack's note.

When I saw this story, I was immediately suspicious of it, because it does not fit with my experience of the tea party movement, where racism has been totally absent. But it does fit perfectly—too perfectly—with the Democratic Party's line of attack against the tea parties.

It is now becoming clear what this frame-up of the tea parties was meant to accomplish. Representative Lewis and his fellow conspirators were trying to stage a re-creation of the Selma civil rights march, in which blacks demanding their civil rights walked through a gauntlet of violent attacks. Forty-five years later, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus are still trying to cast themselves in the role of brave martyrs facing down ignorant rednecks.

Here are the passages, from the Washington Post report linked at the top of this article, that give the game away:

Democratic leaders and their aides said they were outraged by the day's behavior. "I have heard things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to get off the back of the bus," said House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest-ranking black official in Congress.

And Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a statement, "On the one hand, I am saddened that America's debate on health care—which could have been a national conversation of substance and respect—has degenerated to the point of such anger and incivility. But on the other, I know that every step toward a more just America has aroused similar hate in its own time; and I know that John Lewis, a hero of the civil rights movement, has learned to wear the worst slurs as a badge of honor."

"This is not the first time the congressman has been called the 'n' word and certainly not the worst assault he has endured in his years fighting for equal rights for all Americans," said Rotert, Cleaver's spokesman.

This is how desperate the Democrats have become. The last really good thing the liberal Democrats did was their early backing for the civil rights movement (which was opposed, not by Republicans, but by Southern Democrats). So they have to keep re-living the one historical moment that gives them an aura of moral authority.

In this case, it may well turn out to have the opposite effect. If it is confirmed that this was a hoax perpetrated by the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus, then it should be a major scandal. Let's call it "N-Word-Gate." It is an incident that removes every last vestige of President Obama's promise of "post-racial" politics, and it will further inflame public outrage against the Democrats—and give further credibility to the tea party movement.