The script that Obama-hating, town hall disruptors are reading from is an old one.

They’re just upgrading it with some fresh hate.

Their forebears, in fact, wrote that script in the late 1950s – the last time that a black man, Martin Luther King Jr., was making headway in changing an oppressive system that wasn’t working for millions of Americans.

That system was segregation. Those Americans were black folks. And once the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional, they did what racists do.

They stoked fears by making stuff up.

In some Southern cities, white parents received fliers with cartoon strips showing a black boy and a white girl meeting in school, kissing and marrying – thereby showing that school integration would result in the “mongrelization” of the white race.

Also in the South, a billboard showed King at an integrated gathering at Highlander Folk School, a liberal leadership training school in New Market, Tenn. That billboard, however, was emblazoned with the words “Martin Luther King at Communist Training School.”

And we all know how segregationist senator Strom Thurmond once railed about how integration was a communist plot.

Back then, communism was the great fear – and by disparaging integrationists as communists, racists tried to frighten people into tolerating segregation or to shout down those who knew better; to bludgeon them into accepting the status quo rather than allow someone - some “other” like King - to turn the United States into a Soviet satellite.

So now, we have our first black president, Barack Obama. Like King, he's trying to fix another American dilemma – our dysfunctional health care system.

Just as segregation kept millions of black people in the South on the margins of life, lack of health insurance marginalizes nearly 50 million Americans, as well as millions of others who are increasingly grappling with high insurance costs and gaps in coverage.

And for doing that, Obama, like King, is being lambasted as the enemy of America. He’s being called a socialist. A terrorist. And a Nazi. 

Just like King’s detractors did back in the day, those who are bent on destroying Obama’s presidency are hoping that such ridiculousness can gin up enough fright to scare people into working against their own best interest.

It’s no accident either.

These people who are showing up at town hall meetings, those who are having red-faced, screaming fits over esoteric constitutional concepts that have little to nothing to do with health care reform, aren’t there to solve the problem. They’re there to stop progress.

Now, I don’t believe that everyone who voices concerns about the health care proposals in Congress at a town hall meeting is a racist or hates Obama. This is, after all, a major piece of legislation that could impact everyone for years to come, and people have the right to have their questions answered.

But when some people come out to these meetings hurling insults and screaming not over something say, like, the possibility of lives being lost and billions being spent in an unnecessary and unjust war, but over efforts to devise a health care system to cover everyone, it doesn’t take much to see that this vitriol isn’t about the plan.

It’s about the man.

It’s about whites who feel disenfranchised because a black man now sits in the Oval Office. They couldn’t stop Obama from being elected, so now, they're bound and determined to prevent him from governing.

And the way they’re trying to do that is by “otherizing” him and those who support reform.

They refer to themselves as "real Americans,” and circulate paranoia about health care reform being a secret plot to kill old people. They scream about wanting their country back .....

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The title to article should be"IT'S NOT THE PLAN,IT'S THE KLAN".And people like Uncletom is the ring leader.

by   
Tgn222
August 19, 2009, 6:12 pm
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The point in the article "They refer to themselves as "real Americans,” provides important insight to Republican code language. When republicans use the words "Americans" or "American people" they are ONLY talking about WHITE people. That term is designed, in their code, to exclude all others. These people HATE Democracy and the democratic process. Hence their actions in the health care debate. The name calling is related to their love of disguising who they really are by****igning the racist, communist, terrorist, etc label to others. Jesus would have been a liberal socialist.

by   
Drwill911
August 19, 2009, 3:56 pm
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"...OBAMA is one man and even though he has the title of POTUS he cannot and should not govern alone..."

Why the hell not? Dumya Bush did, and with a far smaller majority than this Demwit is enjoying. Look, he's already won the election. Now he needs to grow a spine and some balls, and PRESIDE! Screw the Repugs! And, let those Blue Cross mongrel traitors know that if his policies fail, THEY will not be re-elected. Blue dogs like MacCaskill owe their seats in legislature to Obama.

by   
Covertrage
August 19, 2009, 2:15 pm
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Obama has pretty much abandoned his base to pursue support that is never going to be his. When is he going to get it through his fuzzy head that the right don't care how beneficial his policies are? All they care is that they are the policies of a Black man of whom they do not approve and are never going to support. Write the Repugs off, Demwit!

by   
Covertrage
August 19, 2009, 2:10 pm
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this article is preaching to the choir!! onlywhites can change things when they decide to use common sense instead of being played on their fears by WHOMEVER is doing it. i said it before the election and nothing has changed: OBAMA is one man and even though he has the title of POTUS he cannot and should not govern alone. i agree that there are three branches of government and that's to create checks and balances. but OBAMA will not accomplish much if he's the only one willing to change how things are done in DC.

by   
Msstarr82
August 19, 2009, 11:56 am
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I partly agree with Reality_Check, most people don't understand how government works. Even Ms Weathersbee ignorant statement, "They couldn’t stop Obama from being elected, so now, they're bound and determined to prevent him from governing." There are three branches of government, and the executive brance is just one of them.
The other childish posts from the reverse racist that think that anyone that disagrees with President Obama is a racist. This is the excuse for anything that they see wrong with America.

by   
Uncletom
August 19, 2009, 8:31 am
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By reading the below posts, I can tell that you people have no clue on how politics work in this country. I have always been fearful that if we ever was fortunate to have a AA POTUS that people who did not understand how our GOV works would think.....He's black ...Why don't he just write a blank check and pass every law to help AAs. Educated people under stand that we have a government based on checks and balances and nothing is easy. Our POTUS is doing a great job an he don't have to "Man up" ...Do your part, be proactive and educate yourself... Empower Yourself

by   
Reality_Check
August 19, 2009, 7:31 am
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WELL, I THINK THAT IT HAS COME TO THE POINT THAT OTHER NATIONS NEEDS TO STEP IN AMERICA AND GET RID OF THE PEOPLE THAT HATE. WE ARE IN DEBT, OWE MONEY TO OUR ENEMIES "CHINA" AND THESE "WHITES" PEOPLE THAT LOVE AMERICA NEEDS TO FIGHT THE TALIBAN THEMSELVES. MILITARY GOVERNMENT THAT THEY HATE STEP BACK AND LET THE ENEMY IN AMERICA TO FIGHT THE PEOPLE THAT LOVE THE AMERICAN SYSTEMS SO MUCH.

by   
Hotrod7
August 19, 2009, 7:16 am
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I am disappointed in Obama because he is being too calm and cool about this. He won the election; act like it. First thing is to go after the blue dog democracts; they are the problem not the GOP. The GOP is not going to give him any break; get use to it. Obama has 60 senate votes; get them onboard. If Obama doesnot pass the healthcare reform; he will lose the Democractic base and the next election. It is time to man up!

by   
Crg246
August 19, 2009, 7:09 am
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i can't stand rednecks who thinks that the white house is theirs and we (blacks) are still in the plantation! we aren't anymore! pres. obama need to bring out his blackness and put certain jerks in their place now.stop being nice to gop and be a man for once.i still support him but it's time for him to man-up his political responisbilities for his supporters.we are tired of getting played by all politicans who don't man up their words.he's against white folks who don't like him so he can't persuade them at all.pres. obama better start fighting back and leave GOP ALONE!

by   
Quita32
August 19, 2009, 5:50 am
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