Congressmen are abused by protesters at D.C. demonstration against health care bill

By WILLIAM DOUGLAS
McClatchy Newspapers
Mar. 21, 2010

Awww, poor babies got mean insults yelled at them, lets all feel bad for them as they sell out the country and tear the heart out of our dying republic. They can loot the treasury for trillions and defecate on the constitution, that's all perfectly civil, but god forbid a few protesters (who have no power to steal from anyone and are in no position of authority) call them a bad name, that's pure evil!

Fact Sheet: The Truth About the Health Care Bill (If you read this you're a racist)

Picture from the latest very evil tea party protest.

Watch the Traitors Sell out America Live on CSPAN...
WASHINGTON | Demonstrators outside the U.S. Capitol, angry over the proposed health care bill, shouted obscenities at members of the Congressional Black Caucus and spat on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat.

The protesters used a racial epithet toward Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, and confronted a gay congressman with taunts.

Capitol Police escorted the congressmen into the Capitol after the confrontation. At least one demonstrator reportedly was arrested.

“They were shouting, sort of harassing,” said Lewis, a civil rights icon who was nearly beaten to death during an Alabama march in the 1960s. “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 across from the Capitol when protesters shouted, “Kill the bill. Kill the bill.”

“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.

“It surprised me that people are so mean and we can’t engage in a civil dialogue and debate,” Lewis said.

Cleaver said he was a few yards behind Lewis and distinctly heard “nigger.”

“It was a chorus,” Cleaver said. “In a way, I feel sorry for those people who are doing this nasty stuff — they’re being whipped up. I decided I wouldn’t be angry with any of them.”

Cleaver’s office said later in a statement that he was also spat upon and that Capitol Police had arrested his assailant.

“The man who spat on the congressman was arrested, but the congressman has chosen not to press charges,” the statement said.

“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,” the statement said. “That being said, he is disappointed that in the 21st century our national discourse has devolved to the point of name calling and spitting.”

Protesters also used multiple anti-gay slurs as they confronted Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is a homosexual.

Frank told The Boston Globe that the incident happened a short distance from the Capitol. Frank said the crowd consisted of a couple of hundred people and that they referred to him as a “homo.”

“I’m disappointed with the unwillingness to be civil,” Frank told The Globe. “I was, I guess, surprised by the rancor. What it means is obviously the health care bill is proxy for a lot of other sentiments, some of which are perfectly reasonable, but some of which are not.”

“People out there today, on the whole, were really hateful,” Frank said. “The leaders of this movement have a responsibility to speak out more.”

Thousands of demonstrators gathered Saturday outside the Capitol as the House Democratic leadership worked to gather enough votes to enact a health care overhaul proposal that has become the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s domestic agenda. Most were affiliated with tea party organizations that originally sprang up during last summer’s protests of the health care proposals.

Heated debate has surrounded what role race plays in the motivations of the tea party demonstrators. Former president Jimmy Carter asserted in September that racism is a major factor behind the hostility that Obama’s proposals have faced.

The claim brought angry rebuttals from Republicans.

On Saturday, Frank, however, said he was sorry that Republican leaders did not do more to disown the protesters.

Some Republicans “think they are benefiting from this rancor,” he said.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said Saturday’s ugliness underscored for him that the health care overhaul is not the only motivation for many protesters.

“I heard people saying things today I’ve not heard since March 15th, 1960, when I was marching to try and get off the back of the bus,” Clyburn said. “This is incredible, shocking to me.”

He added: “A lot of us have said for a long time that none of this is about health care at all. It’s about extending a basic fundamental right to people who are less powerful.”













All original InformationLiberation articles CC 4.0



About - Privacy Policy