This is what I woke up to this morning:
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) issued a statement late Saturday saying that he was spit upon while walking to the Capitol to cast a vote, leading the Capitol Police to usher him into the building out of concern for his safety. Police detained the individual, who was then released because Cleaver declined to press charges.
“They were shouting, sort of harassing,” Lewis said. “But, it’s OK, I’ve faced this before. It reminded me of the ’60s. It was a lot of downright hate and anger and people being downright mean.”
Lewis said he was leaving the Cannon office building across from the Capitol when protesters shouted “Kill the bill, kill the bill,” Lewis said.
“I said ‘I’m for the bill, I support the bill, I’m voting for the bill,’ ” Lewis said.
A colleague who was accompanying Lewis said people in the crowd responded by saying “Kill the bill, then the n-word.”
Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., told a reporter that as he left the Cannon House Office Building with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader of the civil rights era, some among the crowd chanted “the N-word, the N-word, 15 times.” Both Carson and Lewis are black, and Lewis spokeswoman Brenda Jones also said that it occurred.
“It was like going into the time machine with John Lewis,” said Carson, a large former police officer who said he wasn’t frightened but worried about the 70-year-old Lewis, who is twice his age. “He said it reminded him of another time.”
That’s right. If you support health care for all Americans, you deserve to be belittled, insulted, and spat upon.
Republicans, I ask you to consider what “your side” is doing and how “your side” is acting.
When you allow these extremists to speak unchallenged, you allow them to speak for you.
YOU hurled homophobic insults at a member of Congress. YOU yelled racial slurs at a 70 year old veteran of the Civil Rights Protests. YOU spit in the face of a Congressman.
When you allow extremists to go unchallenged, when you accept their version of events without consideration, without evaluation, then you are no better than those cursing and spitting.
I’ll note that the Republican party is the party that has claimed the mantle of the party of God, and the party supporting religion.
Funny how Conservatives are willing to bring out the bible to support prayer in schools and to support forcing evangelical Christianity upon all Americans. Yet the actual messages of faith seem missing when it comes to their politics.
To be without health insurance in this country means to be without access to medical care. But health is not a luxury, nor should it be the sole possession of a privileged few. We are all created b’tzelem elohim — in the image of God — and this makes each human life as precious as the next. By ‘pricing out’ a portion of this country’s population from health care coverage, we mock the image of God and destroy the vessels of God’s work.
— Rabbi Alexander Schindler, Past President, Union of American Hebrew Congregations [1992]
The health of a society is truly measured by the quality of its concern and care for the health of its members… The right of every individual to adequate health care flows from the sanctity of human life and that dignity belongs to all human beings… We believe that health is a fundamental human right which has as its prerequisites social justice and equality and that it should be equally available and accessible to all.
— Imam Sa’dullah Khan, The Islamic Center of Southern California
Every person has the right to adequate health care. This right flows from the sanctity of human life and the dignity that belongs to all persons, who are made in the image of God… Our call for health care reform is rooted in the biblical call to heal the sick and to serve ‘the least of these,’ the priorities of justice and the principle of the common good. The existing patterns of health care in the United Sates do no meet the minimal standard of social justice and the common good.
— Resolution on Health Care Reform, U.S. Catholic Bishops [1993]
Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.
— Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Now because the Spirit of Christ is implanted within Christians, we are to show great, transforming, sacrificial and unmerited love both to other Christians and to the world.”
–John 13:35
Addendum the First:
I was thinking about this a little more while I was baking, and what I was thinking addresses Jim’s point.
Yes, the Teabaggers are not necessarily Republicans, however, the Republican party has been more than willing to use their momentum and their outrage to push their own agenda. When the ideas of this fringe group mesh with their own ideas, Republicans are more that willing to give them support, either implicit or explicit. (See: Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman etc)
The Republican party is more than willing to accept Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck as mouth pieces to fire the party up and get Conservatives behind the conservative agenda. They allow Americans to believe that these individuals speak for the Republican party. They’ve enjoyed the momentum given them by the “Tea Party” activists, and do nothing to counter the outright lies. They do nothing to distance themselves from the vitriol and hatred, but instead point to it as “the anger of the American public.”
Bullshit.
That is not the anger of the “American public” but instead the anger of a handful of extremists who know how to gain the attention of the media, and have the money to spread their lies.
What I’m saying, is that if Republicans want to use these extremists to rally their base, then they need to accept that these individuals are going to represent them, unless they speak up and condemn those individuals.
