Not drinking the Kool-Aid (Or the FlavorAid, either)
The recent goings on regarding what has been presented as "Health Care Reform" have trigged some strong feelings. What I've seen is not quite what is being portrayed. For one, I don't see "the right" crying or whining, I see them preparing. Before the election in 2008, there was group that called itself "Recreate '68" and that might be happening: we could be in for a (media-produced) long hot Summer.
I've seen claims of violent threats and racists comments made by Tea Party folks. What I have not seen is evidence. There is or was a video of folks barging through a Tea Party event, evidently trying to bait things, with a claim of the 'N-word' being shouted out at them. Except it's not in the audio. Nor does anyone's heard turn as if to see who said such a thing. One would expect someone would have reacted to such a thing. Instead, there is no reaction. Why not? As those opposed to the Tea Party ideals of smaller, more responsible governance like to claim that Tea Party types are primitive, similar to very simple organism (a silly premise with which I disagree) let's go along with that for the moment: There is no response because there was no stimulus.
Andrew Breitbart is betting on this. He has offered to write a check for $10,000 (to the United Negro College Fund) if someone can produce actual evidence of the racist shout. It's been at least a couple days and nothing has come of this yet. This, in an era of a camera on almost every phone, handheld video recorders, and such. Also, if it was real, it would have been played on the news ad nauseum by now.
Day By Day sums it up:
Meanwhile, health insurance rates are already going up... as predicted by those who have some grasp of economics.