Meet The Republican Party Base

GOP: The Party of Legitimized Hate.

I'm really sick of the mainstream media and hacks like David Brooks insisting that there is no difference between teabaggers and Daily Kos. Voicing an opinion, even a hateful one, is not criminal, nor should it be. But I remember when incitement to violence was regarded as akin to shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre -- where the First Amendment ends. We've seen teabaggers harass Parkinson's disease sufferers and threaten gun violence if health care reform passes (above). There was a time not so long ago that simply wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt could get you arrested. Now you can threaten gun violence against public officials and not a peep is uttered.

Here's what happened at today's tea party rally in Washington:

Preceding the president's speech to a gathering of House Democrats, thousands of protesters descended around the Capitol to protest the passage of health care reform. The gathering quickly turned into abusive heckling, as members of Congress passing through Longworth House office building were subjected to epithets and even mild physical abuse.

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-M.D.) had been spit on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-G.A.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a 'ni--er.' And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a "faggot," as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president's speech, shrugged off the incident.

But Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed such treatment since he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in the 1960s.

"It was absolutely shocking to me," Clyburn told the Huffington Post. "Last Monday, this past Monday, I stayed home to meet on the campus of Claflin University where fifty years ago as of last Monday... I led the first demonstrations in South Carolina, the sit ins... And quite frankly I heard some things today I have not heard since that day. I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus."

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Republican Party base.