Apes and African-Americans: The Obama Photo
An image e-mailed by Marilyn Davenport, a Tea Party member who sits on the Republican Party central committee of Orange County, California
I am truly astonished at the sheer number of ape references that have been used to characterize the traits of African-Americans in this country through some kind of discriminatory ape fetish. In case you haven’t see this, some lady named Marilyn Davenport, a member of the Orange County Republican Party, sent a distasteful email depicting President Obama as a baby chimpanzee sitting in the laps of his chimpanzee parents. Apparently, the caption read something along the lines of that being a possible reason why no one can find Obama’s real birth certificate, which implies that Obama is an ape, which would then imply that I, too, am an ape. Now Davenport claimed that she didn’t understand the magnitude of her implications, but I find that hard to believe. According to Davenport, she didn’t know that comparing African-Americans to apes was racist, as she compared comparisons of former President Bush to Curious George—another monkey. To Davenport, that represents a double-standard, but to me, it represents a doubled dosage of pure, purposeful ignorance clumsily disguised as simply being misinformed. Nevertheless, it was mean-spirited and racially insensitive, and it takes some serious unmitigated gall to try and justify it with a lack of understanding. So, please allow me to explain this alleged missing link between apes and African-Americans that many of the racially disgruntled conservatives keep managing to find.
So consider this to be a crash course in southern inhospitality about race. As many of you may know, there are many people in the “Bible Belt” south who vehemently despise the findings and teachings of one Charles Darwin, who opened the scientific, anthropological door to the possibilities of evolution from some form of the Great Apes, which basically theorizes that humans and apes have a possible common ancestor somewhere on one of our family branches, not to mention the highly publicized archeological findings of people like Dr. Louis Leakey and his “Lucy” project centered around the Olduvai Gorge area in Africa, which is very significant, because it challenges traditional, Biblical origins; physically and geographically! This is one of the classic confrontations between science and religion, and ideological disdains like these were a direct precursor to the future distrust that many in the “Bible Belt” would continue to have about science till this very day, specifically on issues such as global warming. Charles Darwin left the building a long time ago, but his theoretical platform lives on in theological infamy, especially with conservatives, the religious, the naive and the uniformed.
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It doesn’t matter if Darwin’s theories on evolution are wrong or right. The mere fact that they still exist to be studied, debated and possibly legitimized is more than enough to send the insecure, fear mongers into a genetic tailspin, and it didn’t take their White, Christian establishment long to water down and de-legitimize Darwin’s theory of evolution to a more suitable recipient, in African-Americans, and this is where President Obama’s chimpanzee picture comes in. Now what I’m about say is not for the faint at heart. Reader discretion is advised!
I’ve told this story before. So I will now tell it again. I had a Pentecostal preacher, who was an ultra-conservative and a true Tea Bagger look me dead in my eyes, and explain to me in detail—the alleged, highly racial, highly controversial, smoking gun of the ape to African-American linkage, and why it fits African-Americans like me, and not White people like him. I promised him that no matter how abhorrent it got; I would not become violent about it, and this is what he said to me. “Cain and Abel were brothers as you well know, and they were supposed to have each other’s back, but Cain was possessed by the darkness of Satan, as his evilness consumed him; causing him to slay his brother Abel. This angered God, and God decided to punish Cain for his atrocities by placing a mark on him for all to see. Do you, Bryian, know what that mark was? I’ll tell you. He turned Cain into a Black monkey, and banished him away in shame. Unfortunately for you, Bryian, Cain didn’t allow his new handicap to stop him from carrying on his warped seed, and unfortunately again—that warped seed is you—African-Americans! That explains why you are all were intended to be so dark like the chimpanzees, and that is why interracial consummation is frowned upon by God, but all is not lost for you and your people. Even though you’re not one of us—the White people, because we came from Adam and Eve, who came from God’s love, you and your people will still be allowed into the gates of heaven, but you will not be allowed into the main kingdom of God. I’m sorry, I hated to be the one to have to tell you this, but you need to know.
As far as I’m concerned, whether you know about how incendiary ape references are to African-Americans or if you don’t know, suggesting that there are different strands of human DNA separated by importance, genuineness, legitimacy, or superiority is as un-American, in-human, un-civilized, and un-religious in general, as any communist, Marxist, Nazi or genocidal war monger! In fact, I’d rank it about 10 rungs down from all of them. Just because you don’t believe that President Obama is a citizen who was born in America, it doesn’t give you the right to angrily progress your bile to an even more loathsome level by suggesting that President Obama was not even born of human parents at all. If you, Marilyn Davenport, and all who support you with their silent acceptance of your inhumane display are supposed to represent the civility of what true humanity is about, then I’d conclude that the apes still have us beaten badly on civility, and you idiots are no better than the baseless insults that you hurl. After hearing Davenport’s crude ideologies, I’m starting to reconsider ape evolution all together. Maybe ape evolution is too much of a stretch. Thanks to Davenport and many of the Tea Baggers/Republicans, I think that we might have to downsize our evolutionary pick from an ape to a jackass! And once again—the conservatives seem reluctant to man-up, as Sharron Angle “The Dangle” asked of Harry Reid, and face the music of the Jim Crow shuffle, and that should surprise no one! How would you like it if I compared you, Davenport, and the rest of your Republican, conservative, Tea Party cohorts to apes? Well, none of you will ever have to worry about that, because I wouldn’t compare any of you to apes. The humble, respectable ape populations don’t deserve that kind of punishment!
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I think it just needs to be pointed out that humans, ALL humans, ARE apes. We did not evolve “from” the great apes, we are one of them, of which there are four.
The racist drizzle of the ultra right wings is just a continuation of hate for which their past is filled, and for which there is no intelligent excuse for. It’s also not going to change. People interpret the bible or any other religious document to say whatever they want it to, while completely ignoring all of the stuff they don’t like or the multitude of contradictions present.
Maybe people should take a look at this so called story that apparently explains races and racism. Cain was the farmer, the agriculturalist. Abel was the pastoralist, the herder, like many tribal people. Yet Abel was the one God considered the good son, and he punished Cain for his evil against his brother. Sounds pretty anti-civilization to me, and the rise of civilization, and the search for support to slaughter those that didn’t agree with the expansion of the resources-hungry culture is the basis for all of these hateful myths to begin with.
Racists can’t be shamed. They are incapable of shame, they lack the morality for it.
I hear ya’, Bryian and agree that this preacher’s notions are more than silly. However, for the sake of fair and balanced documentation, let’s not forget the founder of the Nation of Islam Elijah Muhammad’s ‘vision’ wherin he learned that white people were created by a clever African geneticist to test people of African descent. According to this myth he bred his African neighbors with one another, killing the offspring if they were dark and keeping the lighter one’s alive until he created white people. There are dillusional people from the entire spectrum of humanity. I find that there are silly people from every sort of background and I’d love to put them all in a rubber room with each other so sensible people can enjoy our limited time on this planet without having to spend so much time arguing with and about them.
Er… Surely you realize that you are, in fact, an ape? The Hominidae family (including humans) belongs to the ape superfamily. And your understanding of evolution is not anything to write home about (and not anything to write on the internet about, either).
That said, the comparison is distasteful precisely because aims to denigrate by comparing a human being to an animal of a different species (and thus lacking human characteristics, such as high intelligence). It is unbelievable (and revolting) that people will actually stoop to such behavior.
Let me begin by saying that I am very much to the far left, especially in social matters. Economically I’m more inclined to the left as well, though perhaps not as much.
However, I don’t think that the stink being raised over this is really worth it. There are pictures comparing GWB to chimps EVERYWHERE online. Does that mean democrats tend to be racist against white people?
Until we get a picture with a caption along the lines of “Obama is a chicken-lovin’, watermeleon cravin’, crazy-dancin’, car stealin’ mulatto, I’m going to generally assume the majority of Republicans aren’t racist.
you must have missed the emails of the White House surrounded by watermelons? and the pictures of Obama dressed-mostly undressed-as a Tea Partier’s vision of a witch doctor complete with bone in his nose?
depicting GW Bush as Curious George was a play on his first name. and the fact that he tended to say and do some genuinely silly things…c’mon, the man is comedy gold. and i do not mean that disrespectfully-he’s just kind of a goofy person. named George. it was inevitable.
he was being portrayed as a chimp. he was being portrayed as a CARTOON character.
oops. was NOT being portrayed as a chimp, WAS being portrayed as a cartoon character-OF a chimp. sorry, but i do happen to see a difference, especially when the cartoon chimp in question is named George.
I remember listening, years ago, to a radio personality (I don’t remember who) say that all white people were basically racist, they just didn’t know it. As an example, he asked, if you were sitting in a car, next to a sidewalk. And you saw a black man coming down the street. Would you rill up your window and lock your door?
My answer? Yes. But then, I do that with anybody walking down the street toward me. It doesn’t matter what race or sex they are. So, does that makes me racist? I don’t believe so. I think it just makes me cautious of everybody, no matter who they are. Some would say that I have reason, and some would say that I don’t. But there it is.
As for the 2008 Dem primaries. I watched both Hilary and Obama a lot. I’ve always liked Hilary. A lot. But I decided that she came with far too much baggage and, even if she was elected, a very large part of the country would oppose anything, and second guess anything, that she did.
Obama was calm (watching the repub primaries was kind dizzing), he had people that he trusted around him, and he ran his campaign tightly. He had good, solid campaign platforms. And he was able to discuss them so that every one could understand them.
McCain. I have always liked McCain. He as always seemed to be willing to work with Dems to get legislation done. I liked that. A lot. But watching him, after he won the primary, was like watching a car accident. First, he drew Palin as his vice-president. I had no idea who she even was. And most of the US didn’t either. From the beginning, she pushed to go her own way. As though SHE was the Presidential candidate. Not McCain. She purposely made the suggestion that the people who came to see her were “real” Americans. Which implied, strongly, that there were Americans who weren’t real. There is, btw, no such thing.
But the biggest disappointment was McCain himself. He just wasn’t the same person that I had watched, and admired, all those years. I hated seeing him that way, but it was simply the truth. And near the end of the campaign, when he said that the economy wasn’t his strong suit, I knew that I couldn’t vote for him. There was, also, the fact that, in one of the debates, Obama and McCain were asked how long it would take to get our economy stabilized again. Obama said that it would take at least 10 years (which is what reputable economists were saying, and had been saying). McCain promptly answered “I can do that in one year”. I remember looking at the screen, thinking “does he think this is Name That Tune?”. The answer was so far out in left field it just didn’t seem real.
So, I voted for Obama and, for the most part, I’m very glad that I did. He has helped our economy quite a bit. But I’m, also, very upset with him on certain things. Like renewing the so-called Patriot Act! I have been very, very upset about that. That was a big disappointment.
Did I think about his race when I voted for him? I don’t think so, but I’m human, so I may have. All I know is that he was the best qualified candidate.
Personally I do find the picture to be EXTREMELY racist. Comparing blacks to gorillas/chimps/apes, etc, is just not right. This is the 21st century and it’s time for people to grow up. I am not into political correctness by any means, but this is not a joke either. I am tired of hearing how he won because of all the ‘minorities’. Black people voted for him because he is black. How is that ANY different from white people voting for another white simply because he is white, to keep a black person out? That has been going on for decades. Some people need to open their eyes and ears and learn to think for themselves. Yes, I proudly voted for him, I am white, and would proudly do it again unless he says something EXTREMELY stupid (haven’t heard anything yet!)
This picture is the reason why I will never vote republican. this is not politics. Very well written article.
I actually didn’t know the history of this connection – thank you for explaining it! The mental gymnastics and sheer tonnage of self-deception it must have taken them to come up with that “rationalization” of something they preferred to deny is mind-boggling! Clearly all men are not created equal!
Two things:
1) After I read the story of the minister, I had to relay it to my mom. I read the whole paragraph aloud, and we both had a good belly laugh. It’s just SO preposterous. We couldn’t even get angry (we are both black women).
2) As excited as I was that Obama was elected, part of me feared that folks would use it as a way of saying that it proved that racism no longer exists in America, when I know that’s not true. But the opposite seems to have happened. Bigoted people just can’t help themselves; having a black prez seems to have driven them out into the open.
There are some who would accuse me of playing the race card, probably conservatives, but this is a legitimate point to be made, and it was, once again, initiated by the conservative side, and trust me when I say this: if a liberal faction coddled this kind of “Bryian is the ape” ideology, they would be out of the door just as fast! Just like Christine O’Donnell stopped dabbling in witchcraft, people need to stop leaping into ignorance. If I, African-Americans, were more ape related or exclusively ape related in relations to other so called humans, we, as African-Americans, would not be able to pro-create across biological lines like we have always done and continue to do now! Contrary to in-denial-beliefs, this element is alive and well within the hearts and minds of our society; some more prevalent than others! The reason this story was brought to my attention at all was due to a White female that I was friends with at the time. She was the niece of the Penecostal minister. He used the genetics of my alleged apeish ties to justify why Blacks and Whites should never pro-create or engage in actions that could inadvertently lead to pro-creation. So I asked his niece if she believed this crap. Now even though she said no she didn’t believe it, she remained reluctantly unwilling to challenge her bone-headed uncle on it, because all of her family, including herself, were raised that way, and yes they were conservatives, but it was their cowardice that upset me more than their political ties! Now ask yourself this question. Where are the Mexican apes, the Native American apes, the Muslim apes, the gay marriage apes, the Arabian apes, the terroristic apes, the Jewish apes, or the Asian apes? I would argue that I could take an average, unknown African-American straight off of the street and draw more ape references with them than Osama Bin Laden ever thought about about garnering, even on September 12, of 2001. Now, do you really want to call that a “race card played coincidence?” There is a reason that African-Americans get ethnically branded as King Kong’s little cousins more than anyone else. I’m not bitching about it. I’m just that it is no coincidence, and it is also no imaginary bogeyman. Just because it’s not your reality doesn’t, it doesn’t mean that it is not a reality.
it’s true racisim comes in all colors and that a joke is a joke but as a person who hasn’t been compared to a Primitive Godless Ape i don’t you can really speak to this as being just a harmless joke. I agree that the bush gomparisson was distasteful but let’s not put them on equal ground and brush it off, bush often seemed like he had no clue and took action before thinking about the outcome. If you’ve read the curious george books that sounds familiar. Here’s a 2 part question was obama’s comparison to a specific primate for specific reason and is there a history of racial comparison to apes for white people. American history hasn’t been kind to black people and up untill about 50 years ago there has been a contant supression of our people through humiliation, wrongfull imprisonment, death threats, violence and death. Sympathetic whites were even killed alongside our people, such blind hate hasn’t dissapeared it has just been reduced and deluted in most cases. We have come a long way but to consider anything even racisim equal is a little nieve. Mabye when VR technology evolves to a point where you can see feel and hear the constant hate of our history, the struggles of then and now, witness the psycological effects on your vr self then come talk to me. I know i went a little sci fi there and that the same can be said to me but i’m not the one telling people they shouldn’t be outraged
And while we’re talking about the subject, the picture is of CHIMPS which are not APES.
Chimpanzees are in the ape family.
Chimpanzees are apes. http://anthro.palomar.edu/primate/prim_7.htm
Why is everybody that’s a Republican a racist? And if you’re a Dem why do you care? The Dems are in power and there aren’t any jobs. Why point your finger elsewhere? This is a good article and I understand your opinion but thats exactly what it is. Your opinion. You act like it’s only white people that are racist, or Repuclicans or the TeaParty and that’s not true and in fact it’s usually white people apologizing for something they don’t understand and damn sure wasn’t around for but they’re supposed to feel guilty anyway, right? Those pics have been going around by text as a joke for years so why are you just now getting upset over it? By taking this so seriously, it has done it’s job. You’re all upset over a joke. Albeit a bad joke, but a joke nonetheless. I think your anger and outrage comes through your article quite nicely, but I think your anger is more about politics and the upcoming elections and who is going to win. You’d think that pic was funny if it was Bush’s face and a white ape for example, but it’s not, so you don’t. Racism is not a just a Southern thang. I’m from the South and let me tell you, EVERYBODY is racist. Including black people, hispanics and all those Middle Easterners that have decided to invade the Gulf of Mexico. If you don’t believe it, feel free to just come on down. It’s an equal opportunity HATE.
>>compared comparisons of former President Bush to Curious George—another monkey. To Davenport, that represents a double-standard,<<
verbal comparison to a photo is not equal, I'll give you that. However, it IS a double standard when photos of an ape are photoshopped with bush's likeness and that is okay, but it is wrong to do the same to obama's likeness.
Treating people differently based on race, socially or legally, is defined as racism. As such, if it is wrong to put obama as an ape, then it is wrong to put ALL people as an ape, regardless of their race!
(I HATE bush and support obama, to set the record…)
I am a wasp, raised in NJ among all races and was taught that we are ALL equal in the eyes of God. As an adult, I still hold to those truths while remaining a Bible-believing conservative. Please do not include me, or anyone like me, into those extreme groups who distort the truth of God’s Word. Even if you choose not to believe what I believe is the truth, I can still respect you….and would hope you can do the same
Good article. I am a southerner, and not at all a redneck. There are good people here, just not as many as I would wish.
I am so sick of hearing about the south being racist. I’m pretty much as southern as one can get. Born and raised and proud of it. And yes, there are racists everywhere and there are a lot of racists in the south. But there are also a lot of racists in the north and especially in the mid-western states.
So, for the record, as a southerner, I despise the tea party and the republican party, I don’t hate black people and I do not fear black people.
There are ignorant rednecks everywhere. I’m so sick of this stereotype!!!
Cindy I do feel for you I don’t believe all white southerners are prejudice and all northerners are tolerant , it is the person prejudice does suck and sometimes i see reverse racism where i live (up north) but that is individuals not everyone. i just try to give everyone the respect i would want.
thanks for your articles btw i wish i could get a hold of this woman just for a little “talk” oh well karma is a mother f isn’t it/
This is a very scholarly and intelligent article. Which means it will never be read by nor change the minds of the people to which it is directed.
if iwas awhite teabagkkker i would feel like chyt bashing president obama he was elected by a majority of americans the majority rules white black brown yellow red native americans asians ,you old gezzars are embarrassing america .
Another teabagger repugnican, I can only say, how repugnant can one be.
Marilyn Davenport, a member of the Orange County Republican Party and teabaggers you have really hit the bottom of the barrel. You are not conservative in thinking. You have to have a brain to be able to think to be conserative. You are all puppets and too ignorant to understand when you are being led down a path that will come back to haunt you. Racism, hypocrisy, and stupidity is very much alive in America.
First: please don’t put yourself in that abhorrent boat and categorize all white Southerns in a single sweep. That is as far from the truth as the bigoted principles posited by the so-called preacher. Having been born and raised in the South, but lived all of my adult life in every corning of the USA, I have found bigotry alive and well all over this country. The only difference between a Southern redneck and a northern redneck, or northwestern redneck, is the part of the country you find them.
That said, it is truly sad that people find it necessary to insult Mr. Obama simply because he is African-American. Most don’t come right out and say it like the idiot behind this photo (you were quite the gentleman calling her a “lady”… I had a few more colorful epithets) but if you dig deep enough, it’s clear they have little beyond skin color and grasp at straws to justify their hatred.
I had hoped before I died of old age that we would see the end of bigotry and hatred – yes, I know – silly dreams. But I am too old to change…so I keep hoping. But I would CHOOSE to be related to chimpanzees before being related to that “lady” who sent this photo around. Chimpanzees have a whole lotta class and are pretty damned smart.
Well done article! These self righteous a**holes cannot be reasoned with, no matter how many proven facts they are presented with. @Jon Bon Jovi, as a native Southerner, I often think something similar regarding birth control when I see these idiots out in public. Unfortunately, that rotten attitude is prevalent across the nation, not just the south. I think the Duggars are a great example of religious nuts & the need for birth control. Gross:p
I have to seriously question the dramatics exhibited by the fellow on the Revolutionary War outfit (uniform) in the following video from Lawrence O’Donnell’s The Last Word.
SEGMENT VIDEO NOT POSTED BY AUTHOR….The specific segments of the 7:00 minute video that drew my interest is at the 2:00 minute mark and runs to the 2:50 mark of the video. So, focus there for a bit.
PICTURE NOT POSTED.. by author….
The following picture is a bit fuzzy but it appears clear to me that many who perpetrated the historical act of dumping tea into the Boston Harbor dressed as Native Americans tribesmen. Historians have come to believe that the majority of the tea party ‘dumpers’ were not dressed as Native Americans. However, none of the revolter(s) would have adorned the factually incorrect uniform worn by Mr. William Temple. Temple worn the uniform of the Continental Army!
Temple did succeed in wearing the colors of the era. However, how dare the Tea Party leader strive for a realistic representation of the Tea party as performed in Boston Harbor. He obviously relishes wearing the uniform of the day for the Continental Army.
More serious matters.
Temple states that Boehner and the House of OZ must not take one step to raise taxes, they must refuse to raise the debt ceiling and generally do not cooperate as responsible legislators.
Temple (The Reverend Temple) spoke at a Tea Party Conference that happened to coincide with Boehner’s speech to the Economic Club in New York City.
Temple showed typical Tea party crass and gutteral rhetoric via the following verbiage.
…….tea partyers back in Washington, who accused Boehner and his lieutenants of preparing to sell them out to the White House in “a cowardly act of treason against coming generations.” The Rev. William Temple, chairman of the tea party’s Founding Fathers, who appeared — as apparently is his custom — in a tri-cornered hat and full Colonial-era regalia, sneered at Boehner as “a wimpy RINO,” (Republican In Name Only) and derided him as “our tearful House speaker.” Temple said the tea party would give lawmakers “something to really cry about in 2012″ by turning the debt ceiling vote into a litmus test: “If you vote to raise the debt ceiling, you get a ’0′ for the year from the tea party. If you don’t vote to raise the debt ceiling, you get a ’100′ and you’re a hero.”
For sake of full disclosure I am posting a link to the article from which I extracted that set of vile rhetoric.
The Reverend Temple
The article continues.
That’s fiery, and worthy of fancy dress, but no sooner had Temple drawn his line in the sand than he and the other factional leaders in attendance began pointing to ways around it. All involved extracting concessions from the Democrats on what the tea party spokesmen consider “core value issues.”
Part of the conventional wisdom about the tea party has been the notion that it’s a populist movement overwhelmingly concerned with economic rather than social issues. As we’re discovering, that’s not the case.
What was particularly interesting about Monday’s news conference was that Temple and other tea party leaders indicated they might “possibly forgive Boehner and the House Republicans a small bump in the debt limit” if the GOP limits the role of women in combat and reinstates the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with regard to gays and lesbians serving in the military. Temple put his case this way:
“When the Pentagon’s own studies show that military effeminization [sic] may have an extremely costly impact on recruiting and retention, when Islamists have shown their willingness to sexually brutalize American female reporters, why would John Boehner’s House Republicans be caving to political correctness? Why would House Republicans who know better be fostering inappropriate attractions in the intimacy of tents, bunks, barracks, platoons, subs, tanks, convoys, cockpits, latrines, showers, toilets and locker rooms when we are fighting wars in three Muslim nations?”
Other tea party spokesmen made similar points, and former Iowa gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats insisted that the connection of gay rights and economic policy was legitimate.
It pays at times to seek a bit more information than is available or broadcast via television news. Apparetnly, Reverend Temple will negotiate or compromise on his stated words if the GOP will back track on DADT and other social issues.
Tea Party Leader: We’ll Take The Debt Ceiling Hike If You Put Gay Troops Back In The Closet
Raise the Debt Limit or backtrack on DADT
This man will screw-around with our national and economic foundation for sake of revisiting policies and practices of a be-gone era!
I have long taken a position that the Tea Party is a dangerous and authoritarian subculture. While they speak of issues related to taxes and spending, I suggest also that those issues keep bad company. The good reverend’ tickles his audience’ with typical Tea party rhetoric and immediately eases off to real agenda deliberations. In this case issue related to women in the military and gays in the military.
A friend in Oklahoma told me a couple of years ago that she recently watched a television special about how the Ku Klux Klan of that state had found safe haven in the local tea party. Her quote to me was, “hell the local KKK grand PUPA (Our whatever he is called) said to the reporter, “we do not need to practice civil disobedience these days, we are having much more success within the tea party”.
As I was searching around for information for an article that I posted over last weekend, I found a video of David Duke speaking about his affinity for the Tea Party.
DAVID DUKE VIDEO OMITTED BY AUTHOR
David Duke and the Tea Party
A few points come to mind. I repeated that I have herd no one in leadership of the Tea Party denounce or even question the GOP Medicare Killing Ryan Bill. I am, reminded of the Tea Party Committee Member (from California) and her Obama Chimpanzee email.
No one from the Tea Party has spoken-up about GOP union busting measures in strategic states. I also have not heard the Tea Party come-out against Ryan’s’ ill-fated budget plan that would have killed Medicare (as we know it).
It appears that the Tea Party has been successful at hijacking a dying GOP sentenced to death by George Bush (W) and Dick (28%) approval rating) Cheney.
Awesome article.
Religio is crazy from the get, how can you expect a rational response from someone who (claims to) believe the ridiculous children’s scare-stories in the bible? OK, 2000 years ago, science was non-existent. Therefore, what we knew and believed THEN is oviously still true, right? THe earth is flat, the sun sleeps in the ocean and wakes up on the mountain and the Easter Bunny delivers goose eggs to all the good suckers of the world.
They are not going to get it, it is not possible (and not even their fault, they were brainwashed before they had a brain, so it never switched on…) All you can do is shut them up. In convents, perhaps – put ALL believers in monastery/convent Homes For The Afflicted.
As nice as the article is, it will not change the mind of these people. Republicans are exactly the image of the IUnited States we do not want to export. I came to realize that not all Republicans are racists, but all racists are Republican. Again I ask the Republicans, where are the JOBS? Your idea of small government is to erase all the rights we have, control our lives, religion and give to corporations.
I don’t think you could reasonably compare Teabaggers to brine shrimp without insulting the brine shrimp.
That preacher you mentioned sounds like a real “servant of the Lord.” Absolutely convinced of his superiority over absolutely everyone else, and not afraid to attach moronic mythology to it to justify it.
People like this (and most of the South, from my experience living here) are why man invented the condom.
too bad they teach “Abstinence Only” in most of the Southern schools… sigh. haha
Tell me about it. But of course, if the idiots weren’t multiplying in droves, I’d be living in a ghost town.
Great post about an infuriating subject. And you’re right: Comparing a teabagger to an ape is a disservice to the ape. After all, researchers have found that apes can think logically and be taught how to meaningfully communicate with human beings.
One of the best articles I’ve read, ever.
I am a Latina that was raised in a white Christian community in the 60′s. It was difficult, I cried everyday as a little girl. Now, I pray that God open the eyes of the ignorant…eternity is a long time to pay for foolishness.
Scripture tells us that we are all made in God’s image.
when someone hurts you, they are hurting Jesus. Put all your anger and disappointments in the Lord’s hand.
Peace be with you,
Maria Gloria Gomez