Rep. Charlie Rangel Compared the Tea Party to What?

Talk about unproductive, “mean,” and divisive, Rep. Charlie Rangel went on a rant on NY1. He said this about the Tea Party movement:

“They are mean, racist people,” the 83-year-old lawmaker said. “Now why do I say that? Because in those red states, they’re the same slave-holding states. They had the Confederate flag. They became Dixiecrats; they had the Confederate flag. They’re now the tea party; they still got the Confederate [flag]. I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” he continued. “There is nothing the president can do–not love of country, not love of party–that they’re not prepared to kill themselves to get to him.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t fear the Confederate flag. I was born and raised in the South, and it’s the best place in the whole country, in my biased opinion. Rep. Rangel and I are of different generations (and I’m no spring chicken), but I’ve never met anyone I’d classify as a racist. In 2014 and beyond, I don’t imagine I ever will. Even if I met an actual racist, and not just someone who disagrees with liberals, what power would they have over me?

To keep bringing up American slavery, a sad chapter in our country’s history, is to lose the argument. If Rep. Rangel thinks conservative whites are anything like the “group we faced in the South with those white crackers and the dogs and the police,” he and I must be occupying different planes of existence.

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