09-20-2009, 12:34 PM
Just check out some of the signs at these tea party gigs--the ones with the monkeys are especially clever--and you might suspect that Obama's color is as much of an issue for these folks as his policies, most of which they probably would be incapable of understanding or articulating. Ever since Tricky Dick's Southern Strategy, the Republican party has cultivated and fed off of thinly-disguised racism, masquerading as redneck, love-it-or-leave-it populism. Even David Brooks wouldn't deny this, although he underplays it and prefers to talk in terms of "class" rather than race. But you know, maybe we should ignore the obvious and stretch for a more benign, charitable interpretation. Let's see...the monkey sign people and the others around them who think the signs are funny don't have to be racists. They might, for example, be PETA people.